Posted: 12/01/06

Glad tidings… to all people

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

Luke’s Gospel account of Christ’s birth describes how angels announced to shepherds good tidings of great joy for all people. But 2,000 years later, more than one-fourth—perhaps many more—of the world’s people still haven’t heard the good news or seen evidence of it.

Estimates vary widely regarding the number of least-evangelized people and unreached people groups.

The Joshua Project, a ministry of the U.S. Center for World Mission, identifies 6,514 unreached people groups numbering 2.6 billion—40 percent of the world population.

The Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board identifies 2,040 unreached people groups of 100,000 or more. The board’s global research department also lists 3,349 people groups, with a total population of more than 614 million, who are unreached and not engaged by anyone.

Various groups define “unreached” in different ways, but many missions agencies and networks agree at least 28 percent of the world’s people lack access to the gospel.

A Wolof Christian tells a Bible story in a village northeast of Dakar, Senegal. She was disowned by her family after becoming a believer, and her children were taken away because of her faith in Jesus. (IMB photo)

Surprisingly, many missions groups across denominational lines also have strikingly similar goals—to share the gospel through both word and deed in culturally relevant ways and that result in church-planting movements.

“It’s a holistic approach. Sometimes we speak in terms of transformational church planting movements, where congregations plant congregations that then plant congregations, all of which transform their communities,” said Kent Parks with Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Global Missions.

Not all unreached people groups live in remote, inaccessible locations, said Parks, a Hardin-Simmons University graduate who has spent much of his life in Southeast Asia.

Some live in major urban centers, but they lack access to the gospel because of cultural, political, socio-economic or language barriers, he noted.

Effectively presenting the gospel message to unreached people involves approaching them at their level of understanding and in a culturally appropriate way. For example, rather than presenting a systematic list of spiritual laws or steps toward God, many missionaries have found the best way to present biblical truth is through chronological storytelling.

“It has nothing to do with intelligence. It’s just that their minds are geared differently, and they are oral-preference learners,” Parks explained.

The chronicling approach allows people from storytelling cultures to grasp the essence of biblical teaching in ways that create disciples with transformed lives, he added.

“It’s obedience-based—not knowing everything Jesus commanded but doing everything Jesus commanded,” he said.

The Fulani of Nigeria, West Africa, are primarily nomadic cattlemen who consider themselves to be the “keepers of the torch of Islam.” (IMB photo)

Jesus Christ set the example for effectively communicating the good news to unreached people, Parks said, quoting Eugene Peterson’s The Message paraphrase of John 1:14—“The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.”

“It involves moving into the neighborhood and in culturally relevant ways living out and speaking out the gospel,” he said.

Emphasis on cultural relevancy and communicating the gospel through both words and actions are woven throughout the Ethne initiative—an international movement focused on making disciples among the world’s least-reached people.

Parks serves as co-facilitator for the ongoing Ethne initiative. He and his wife, Erika, along with Stan Parks of WorldconneX, the missions network launched by the Baptist General Convention of Texas, were among the planners for the Ethne ’06 conference in Southeast Asia earlier this year, but three-fourths of the leaders of the global network—and about 90 percent of the participants—are non-Western.

“One of the strengths of Ethne is that it is built on what has gone before,” he said.

Specifically, it grew out of the AD 2000 & Beyond Movement, the Great Commission Roundtable and Singapore ’02. But it also is closely linked to the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization and the World Evangelical Alliance Missions Commission.

“We’re not just doing our own thing,” Parks said.

Several strategy groups developed from the spring Ethne conference, including a frontier crisis response network that links groups in disaster relief with the goal of enabling long-term teams to live among unreached people.

A strategy group focused on prayer initiatives offers Texas Baptists an opportunity for personal involvement, Parks noted. Ethne is developing prayer resources about unreached people groups that will be available online at www.ethne.net. Online pray-er requests are available in at least four languages. A prayer resource DVD produced by Ethne has six audio language tracks and subtitles in 17 languages.

A Bambara mother beams with pride as she lifts her child into her arms. About 4 million Bambara live in Mali, West Africa. More than 85 percent follow Islam. (IMB photo)

WorldconneX has online links to a variety of resources that can help churches connect with groups focused on unreached people groups. Visit www.worldconnex.org.

The International Mission Board also has developed PeopleLink, an initiative to connect churches to un-reached people groups in a variety of ways, including intercessory prayer. For details, visit www.imb.org/WE/pplink.asp.

A key way churches can become involved in meaningful, strategic ministry among unreached people groups involves prayer and vision trips. These trips allow participants the opportunity to “pray on-site with understanding” and build lasting relationships.

Some people groups respond negatively to short-term “drive-by” missions volunteers who enter an unfamiliar culture, work on a project and then move on, Parks said.

On the other hand, he pointed to the example of a man who said he might be willing to listen to what a volunteer told him because the Christian took time to “sit and drink tea with us.”

Relationship-building involves not only investing time with unreached people, but also working with Christians from other cultures who already are bridging gaps and developing strategies to bring about long-term transformation among the least-evangelized people.

“Find ways to do something strategic—to be part of a bigger plan,” Parks urged.

“It’s a growing movement, and I don’t want Texas Baptists to be left behind.”

Looking at the international scope of Ethne and what he sees as the movement of God among non-Western Christians, Parks expressed optimism about 21st century missions.

“God is putting humanity back together and breaking the Babel curse,” he said. “God is continuing a process that started at Pentecost, weaving us back together.”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.

Posted: 12/01/06

Glad Tidings:
What's your mission?

More than 4,000 people traveled on a Buckner mission trip in 2006, helping to share the gospel and show love to hundreds of orphan children and broken families in the Rio Grande Valley, Seattle and seven countries around the world.

“Your faith gets stretched in a way that we don’t allow it to stretch when we’re at home,” said Longview Baptist Church member Charles Risinger, a three-time Buckner mission trip participant to Latvia. “You see how God makes things happen when you realize that it’s just not humanly possible for you to have done it yourself.”

Thousands of people find their calling in missions each year when they seek to comfort God’s children through Buckner mission trips.

For more information on upcoming missions opportunities with Buckner, contact the Buckner missions office at 1-877-7ORPHAN or email missions@buckner.org.

2007 Buckner Missions Calendar

Kenya

March 7-17 Orphan/Construction/Medical

West Texas (KE07-0008)

May 31-June 30 Orphan Ministry

Interns (KE07-0001)

July 5-August 4 Orphan Ministry

Interns (KE07-0001)

July 25-August 4 Orphan Ministry/SOS

Individuals (KE07-0006)

China

Oct 4-14 Shoes for Orphan Souls

Individuals Needed (CH07-0002)

Romania

May 31-June 30 Orphan Ministry

Interns (RO07-0001)

July 5-August 4 Orphan Ministry

Interns (RO07-0001)

Oct 18-28 SOS/WDLM

Individuals Needed (RO07-0002)

Peru

March 17-25 Shoes for Orphan Souls/WJIE

Individuals Needed (PE07-0002)

July 5-August 4 Orphan Ministry

Interns (PE07-0001)

Dec 8-16 Orphan Ministry/Christmas

Individuals Needed (PE07-0007)

Latvia

May 31-June 30 Orphan Ministry

Interns (LA07-0001)

July 5-August 4 Orphan Ministry

Interns (LA07-0001)

November 1-11 Shoes for Orphan Souls

Individuals Needed (LA07-0002)

Rio Grande Valley

March 11-16 KidsHeart/CBF Churches

July 14-20 KidsHeart/CBF Churches

Guatemala

March 10-17 Shoes for Orphan Souls (SOS)

FamilyLife (GU07-0024)

May 31-June 30 Orphan Ministry Interns (GU07-0001)

July 5-August 4 Orphan Ministry

Interns (GU07-0001) July 7-14 Orphan Ministry Individuals Needed (GU07-0009)

July 17-22 Mother-Daughter ministry trip

Individuals Needed (GU07-0011)

Russia

May 31-June 30 Orphan Ministry Interns (RU07-0001)

July 5-August 4 Orphan Ministry Interns (RU07-0001)

October 11-21 Shoes for Orphan Souls Individuals Needed (RU07-0002)

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.

Posted: 12/01/06

Glad Tidings:
BGCT offers multiple missions opportunities

By Barbara Bedrick

Texas Baptist Communications

DALLAS—As sparkling lights and Nativity scenes take center stage this season, a group of college students at First Baptist Church in Canyon hopes to bring light to nonbelievers a world away in Southeast Asia.

A youth musical mission team plans to travel to Japan where members will bear witness to their faith through caroling. Meanwhile, another group of college students will ring in the new year sharing the gospel in Russia.

“First Baptist Canyon is one of many Christmas mission teams we helped coordinate this year,” said Brenda Sanders, Director of Go Now Missions, a collegiate missions sending arm of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

Go Now Missions exists to help both campus and church groups mobilize today’s college students for service. Many of these college groups plan spring break or summer missions trips.

“We work one-on-one with churches to set up a mission trip that fits their specific interest or mission area,” Sanders said.

Congregations participating this past year include First Baptist churches in Arlington, Lubbock, Belton and Canyon. More than 400 student missionaries were sent out to evangelize nationwide and around the world in 2006.

For more information, visit www.gonowmissions.com, e-mail gonowmissions@bgct.org or contact Brenda Sanders at (817) 277-4077 or (888) 288-1853.

Collegiate projects are only one of many ways Texas Baptist churches can participate in missions through the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

“No matter where God is leading you, we are here to resource and help you in any way, any shape,” said Steve Seaberry, director of Texas Partnerships.

Key international partner locations are Nigeria, Ukraine and two South American countries. Within the United States, Texas Baptists have a partnership with Baptists in New England. Other locations include China, Spain, Portugal, Germany, South Africa, Australia, Hong Kong, Estonia, Republic of Georgia, Brazil, Eastern Cuba and Jordan.

Partnership resources include orientation manuals, team orientation sessions that include training and spiritual preparation, interactive cross-cultural workshops to help church members adapt to a new culture and supplemental travel insurance.

The Partnerships staff will work with a church through every step of mission trip planning, including promotional materials, workshops and partnership speakers. Churches searching for a mission project outside of Texas can review a listing of potential projects by geographical region (PDF) or by project type (PDF) at www.bgct.org. Select “Missions & Ministry” and “missions opportunities” from the menu. For more information, e-mail partnerships@bgct.org or call (214) 828-5180.

Christians who travel internationally—for business or pleasure—can find out more about how to combine their travels with missions service as Texas Envoys. For details, e-mail partnerships@bgct.org or call (214) 828-5182.

The current Border/Mexico Missions emphasis is the BGCT partnership with the Mexico Baptist National Convention, which is opening doors for Baptist churches to adopt an unreached indigenous people group in the Mexico interior.

Ten mission fields have been identified where national missionaries are trying to reach 14 indigenous Indian groups. There are at least 56 different indigenous Indian groups in the Mexico interior that still speak their native dialects. Once a church decides which group or field it wants to adopt, the Border/Mexico (River Ministry) Missions office can provide cultural materials and spiritual guides for that specific people group including:

–training and orientation for mission groups, leadership equipping conferences for border leaders and churches

–speakers for churches to promote border / Mexico missions

Group leaders also can attend training conferences in January and February and schedule a personal consultation with border missionaries to get a project assignment. For more information, contact Dexton Shores at (210) 293-0485 or (888) 333-2363.

Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas offers missions opportunities including Baptist Nursing Fellowship, international initiatives, Missionary Parents Fellowship, missions camping, Project HELP: Poverty, Pure Water/Pure Love, restorative justice ministries, student missions and WorldCrafts. For more information, visit www.wmutx.org or call (214) 828-5150 or (888) 968-6389.

Texas Baptist Men offers a variety of mission opportunities including disaster relief and agricultural and building projects for men and women. Visit www.baptistmen.org or call (214) 828-5350 for details.

Other missions opportunities include:

–Key Church Missions Mobilization. For information, e-mail missional@bgct.org or call (214) 828-5384.

–LifeCall Missions. For details, e-mail cecildeadman@bgct.org or call (214) 828-5293.

–International Learning Adventures. For information, e-mail missional@bgct.org or call (214) 828-5370.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.

Posted: 12/01/06

Houston Baptist University inaugurates president

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

HOUSTON—Houston Baptist University installed Robert Sloan as the school’s third president Nov. 29, and the newly inaugurated president used the occasion to underscore his commitment to the integration of faith and learning—a recurring theme during his tenure as president of Baylor University.

Sloan told the diverse assembly—including the executive directors of the rival Baptist General Convention of Texas and Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, as well as representatives from about 100 universities—his last two or three years at Baylor had been “difficult and challenging.”

“I honestly never thought I would be a college president again,” he acknowledged.

But after he and his wife, Sue, spent considerable time in prayer and reflection, Sloan said he became convinced God had called him to Christian higher education.

Two factors made Houston Baptist University particularly attractive—its strong Christian commitment and its urban setting, he noted.

“Houston Baptist University has sought to be faithful to its confessional self-identity and to embrace it in an urban setting,” he said.

Commitment to the sovereignty of Jesus Christ means a Christian worldview should permeate every academic discipline, he asserted.

“There is no sphere of reality—no corner of the universe—outside the lordship of Jesus Christ,” Sloan said. “Therefore, we need fear no inquiry. We are to be fully engaged in the life of the mind.”

Few evangelical Christian universities exist in urban settings, and its strategic location gives HBU a special mission, he added.

“Our calling is in an urban setting, and we are to bear witness in the great city,” Sloan said. “Our witness must be borne in a city where the peoples of the earth come together—a center of culture and commerce.”

In the keynote address earlier in the inaugural ceremony, Ed Young, pastor of Second Baptist Church in Houston, likewise had stressed the importance of a distinctively Christian university in a culture dominated by secular “barbarians.”

“Barbarians are individuals who live by power for pleasure without principle,” Young said.

Duane Brooks, pastor of Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston, presented the spiritual charge to the new university president, encouraging Sloan to emulate “the ancient image of the shepherd (rather) than the modern image of the CEO.”

Brooks urged Sloan to lead in a loving way—love for God and for the people whom he will lead. Based on what he already had observed and knew about his former teacher, Brooks said Sloan was “immanently qualified” to carry out that charge.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.

Posted: 12/01/06

Too many Christians fail
to recognize opportunities

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

BROWNWOOD—Christians miss divine appointments because too many churches fail to challenge members to recognize international contacts as missions opportunities, said Mary Carpenter, director of cross-cultural studies at Howard Payne University.

“Christians are traveling and doing business globally, but too often we, as churches, are not training them to think globally,” she said.

Carpenter recalled a Baptist deacon whose business sent him to South Asia, where he addressed 90 students of the Koran. He failed to seize it as an open door for Christian witness because nobody in his church helped him see it that way, she lamented.

“It’s not just a matter of sending people around the world. Our global members already are there,” said Carpenter, who served several years with her husband, David, as a mission worker in Albania.

“Our churches should train, equip and release members to be on mission as they travel anyway. Churches need to catch up to the place where business is already.”

If churches want to make a global impact, they should “tap into” the resources they already have, and that involves conducting a self-inventory and exploring identity, she said.

“The first step for a church that wants to develop a global strategy is to ask: ‘Who has God created this church to be?’”

If a congregation already has a history of church planting locally and a passion for starting new work, it makes sense for that church to be involved in a similar mission globally, she noted.

Likewise, Carpenter noted, a church should ask whom God has placed in their spheres of influence and on their hearts.

For instance, if a congregation is filled with second-generation immigrants or refugees, that church might likely have valuable contacts in their homeland and a passion for displaced people, she said.

“Look at the skill sets in a particular church,” Carpenter suggested. Members with expertise in business, agriculture, engineering, medicine or other fields likely would be best equipped for missions activities that enable them to use their abilities.

Carpenter recommended that churches “shop agencies”—compare the various denominational and parachurch missions-sending agencies to see which is the best fit for a specific congregation. “Ask: ‘Who will our church work best with? Which agency will let the church set strategy, while providing the expertise the church needs?”

At the same time, she suggested churches “think outside the agency box to get the job done.”

As a church develops its strategy and God places a particular people group on the hearts of church members, they must be humble enough to recognize someone of another race, nationality, language or vocational background might be better equipped. In that case, the church assumes the role of enabler and equipper.

“If I can’t go, who can? The church’s calling may be to help send others who will be the best fit for the job that needs to be done,” Carpenter said.

As an educator, she draws encouragement from the missions commitment she sees in the rising generation and from their desire to develop skills that will serve them wherever they serve God.

“This generation is willing to risk all. Out of their brokenness and dysfunctional families, they see missions as having real possibility for healing,” she observed.

They are preparing for missions service by majoring in fields like business, education or political science that will give them entry into countries that may be closed to traditional missionaries, Carpenter said.

“We are actively recruiting cross-cultural studies minors who major in other disciplines,” she noted.

Pastors and church leaders need to help church members already in the workforce think in similar terms, she added.

“On the back row of many churches are people who know how to navigate the world, but they don’t know how to connect that part of life with their life at church,” she said.

“We need to help people make the connections.”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.

Posted: 12/01/06

Stop inflammatory rhetoric
about gays, theologian urges

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

WASHINGTON (ABP)—An evangelical theologian told her colleagues recently they must “cease and desist” publishing materials with “inflammatory language” about homosexuals.

Linda Belleville made the comments in an address to fellow members of the Evangelical Theological Society during the group’s annual conference in Washington.

The gay-rights community “delightfully exploits” such statements, which betray a lack of knowledge, Belleville said. She is a professor of New Testament at Bethel College in Indiana.

She also is the director of the Chicago chapter of Exodus International, a group that believes homosexuals can change their sexual impulses through prayer and therapy and begin living a heterosexual lifestyle. Gay-rights groups and many mainstream psychological groups, however, have condemned such attempts at changing sexual orientation.

Exodus fielded 400,000 phone calls about homosexuality last year, but those calls should be going to churches, Belleville said. She continued that churches often make the mistake of treating homosexuality like alcoholism or an act that can simply be stopped.

One myth among evangelicals is “homosexual today, heterosexual tomorrow,” she said. According to her, too many people call homosexuality a sin and write the sinner off as someone who is struggling.

“The last thing they need is to go into a church service and hear homosexuality preached on and the ‘sin’ word over and over again or to hear people say ‘just stop it,’” Belleville said. “There is a need to transition from a victim to a victor. There is the need to detox from years of repressed anger and pain … and to affirm healthy, strong relationships.”

The Christian community should extend unconditional love and forgiveness to gays when “mistakes are made. And they will be made,” she said.

Girls often pick up on clues on femininity from their fathers, Belleville asserted. If the father regards feminine things as negative, she said, the girl likely will think acting feminine is weak or undesirable.

“What’s necessary is … to help that person through therapy to understand what’s going on,” Belleville advised church leaders. “For lesbians, they have to … literally get their anger out. Once there is recognition (of childhood issues), then they start to work on building relationships. Sometimes if the father’s still living, they start to work on that relationship there.”

Evangelical leaders involved in counseling gays can help resolve past hurt by providing support groups, a Christian community and therapy, Belleville said. But the church should understand that people wanting to leave the homosexual lifestyle operate on a continuum of progress rather than a target of instant success.

“There is a long-term growth process,” she said. “Homosexuality is not a problem but a symptom of unresolved issues.”

Women especially struggle to leave homosexuality for a heterosexual life, she said. Once a woman leaving the lesbian lifestyle enters a church, Belleville said, she should get involved with activities that affirm strong images of womanhood—such as joining a women’s softball team.

“For a gal to get to a point where she feels safe with a male, that’s very, very hard,” she said. “There needs to be a church that stands along, a group that stands along, through this.”

Of course, Belleville continued, the ultimate decision to switch lifestyles comes from the individual.

“I have to say that the key factor, the absolutely key factor, is the person’s will,” she said. “They have to want to change. And they need to have a supportive community and those who can reflect healthy masculinity and healthy feminity to them. Progress will take place.”

Homosexuality as the definitive part of one’s identity reduces people to sex, she said.

“That’s why ministries like ours go back to telling people, ‘No, you are a child created in God’s image … and are someone of value.’”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.

Posted: 12/01/06

Star Wars Force followers claim
more Jedi than Jews in Great Britain

By Al Webb

Religion News Service

LONDON (RNS)—A pair of London science fiction enthusiasts are petitioning the United Nations to formally recognize the Jedi Knights of Star Wars fame as a legitimate religion.

Umada and Yun-yun—known in real life as John Wilkinson and Charlotte Law—base their case on the results of Britain’s 2001 census in which some 395,000 followers of the Star Wars cult recorded their faith as “Jedi.”

This, they contend in their protest letter to the U.N., makes the Jedi Knights Britain’s fourth-largest religious group, ahead even of Judaism, Sikhism and Buddhism.

“Like the U.N., the Jedi Knights are peacekeepers, and we feel we have the basic right to express our religion through wearing of our robes,” their letter said.

Umada and Yunyun also insisted the United Nations change its International Day of Tolerance to the Interstellar Day of Tolerance for its annual observance in November.

“Tolerance is about respecting difference wherever it lies, including other galaxies,” the two worshippers of The Force said.

“Please don’t exclude us from your very important work,” they said, signing their missive, “May the Force be with you.”

In addition to the sizable contingent in Britain, the Star Wars movement claims to have some 70,000 Jedi Knights in Australia, 53,000 in New Zealand and 20,000 in Canada.

But in New York, the U.N. remained unmoved by the force of either numbers or persuasion.

“The United Nations is not in the business of certifying religions—with or without lightsabers,” outgoing Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, told a news conference.

The spokesman said the secretary-general would not grant the London Jedis’ request. When pressed for further comment, Dujarric replied, “If I could be transported to another planet right now, I would.”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.

Posted: 12/01/06

Laredo church prays for
release of kidnapped members

By George Henson

Staff Writer

LAREDO—At press time, members of United Baptist Church in Laredo continued to pray for the safe return of the congregation’s treasurer and his son, along with another man.

Librado Pina Jr., United’s treasurer and a Laredo businessman, was kidnapped along with his son, Librado Pina III, two hunters and a cook from a ranch owned by Pina in Mexico near the border. The ranch is leased for deer hunting.

Witnesses told police 30 to 40 armed men took the five men from the ranch Nov. 26.

Mike Barrera, pastor of United Baptist Church, said Nov. 29 that law enforcement officials had told him that one of the hunters, David Mueller from the Sweetwater area, and the cook, Marco Ortiz, had been released on a remote stretch of highway that day.

At that time, there was no word of the location or condition of the other men.

The other hunter has been identified as Fidel Rodriguez Cerdan, a Mexican citizen.

The church prayed for strength during the ordeal, Barrera said.

“The Lord works in mysterious ways, and, of course, this has been devastating,” he said. “But we had an all-night prayer meeting and to hear the beautiful prayers and the beautiful music—it’s been helpful for the church and family.”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.

Posted: 12/01/06

MySpace lets youth ministers
peek into teenagers’ lives

By Chansin Bird

Religion News Service

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (RNS)—Youth minister Lara Blackwood starts her day the same way most of the young people at her church do. She signs on at MySpace.com.

“Any time they post a new blog, I get a message in my e-mail and cell phone that such and such has posted a new blog,” said Blackwood, youth minister at First Christian Church of Fayetteville, Ark., and a regional youth minister for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana.

“If the title tells me, ‘Gosh, prom was fun,’ I’ll read it within a couple days. If it says ‘I hate my life; I want to die’—which I’ve read some similar to that—I’m on immediately.”

More youth ministers are discovering the promises and pitfalls of social networking websites such as MySpace.com as they use them to stay connected with their students. It’s a place where students can be honest about their lives and keep an open dialogue with their ministers.

MySpace is one of the hottest sites on the Internet. New York-based hitwise.com rated it No. 1 for the week ending Nov. 11, accounting for about 5 percent of all U.S. Internet traffic. Alexa.com, another ratings website, put it in the No. 3 spot among U.S. websites. Either way, MySpace has more than 100 million accounts with a demographic that is dominated by teens and 20-somethings.

While the site has allowed ministers to advertise activities and keep in touch with students, youth ministers and students alike can be bombarded with pornography, and teens can be subject to predators.

“Social networking is what being a teenager is about,” said Kenda Creasy Dean, associate professor of youth, church and culture and director of the Tennent School of Christian Education at Princeton Theological Seminary. “For people my age (in their 40s), technology is a tool. For kids, technology is the air they breathe. It’s social glue.”

Students in Blackwood’s previous youth group in Abilene initially encouraged her to get an account so she could read their blogs. Her involvement grew from there.

She keeps in touch with her former students, encouraging them and offering advice when asked, on MySpace more than anything else. She currently is working on building her roster of “friends” with the students in her new youth group so she can send out mass announcements about upcoming events.

“They’ll get the word faster if I post it as a MySpace message than if I try to call them,” she said. “Most of them check their profiles so many times each day.”

Julie Richardson Brown, minister of youth and young adults at Beargrass Christian Church in Louisville, Ky., also has used social networking sites to promote church events. Part of the appeal of MySpace for students is the community aspect, she said.

“I think they long to be part of something bigger than themselves and desire to be part of a community,” she said. “My hope is to make them part of a Christian community.”

Among some Catholic youth workers, MySpace is approached with caution.

“I would encourage our youth ministers to set up their own websites connected with their parishes but to also monitor MySpace,” said Eileen McCann, a consultant for youth and young adult ministries at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “I would advise them to get on MySpace for information but not communication.”

Ministers might be surprised at what they find on their students’ profiles. Some teenagers present themselves online in a different way than they present themselves at church.

“It’s definitely something you can talk about, though,” Blackwood said. “They’ve opened the door to that conversation. It’s easier for me to have a conversation about drinking if on MySpace they’re talking about it all the time. We can actually have a conversation that’s real.”

Some youth ministers serve as watchdogs as they scan their students’ sites. Students post full names and even personal calendars on their profiles. Blackwood says it’s her responsibility to help students be aware when they’re posting too much personal information.

“It can definitely be a dangerous thing for them to have a profile,” she said. “They do it without even thinking about it. They may not say they go to such and such high school, but if they post a picture from homecoming and they’re wearing a letter jacket, you can figure out what high school they go to. It’s easy to hone in on someone with things like that.”

Michael Davison, an associate regional minister for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Kentucky, said he is concerned young people see the Internet as far-reaching but think there is still anonymity in it.

“They are surprised when I say, ‘I saw your MySpace page.’ They’re shocked that an adult might see what’s on their site,” Davison said.

“Most of them don’t equate the website with the fact that everyone in the world has access to them. The young people I work with understand I’m Internet-savvy, and yet they’re surprised when I mention I stopped by their MySpace.”

The church needs to recognize MySpace can be used in good and bad ways, Dean said.

“It’s more helpful for parents, youth ministers and churches to become aware and conversant with MySpace than to spend all our time railing against it,” she said.

Travis Avenue Baptist Church in Fort Worth is trying to familiarize parents with MySpace.

When Wes Black, a professor of student ministry at Southwestern Baptist Theologi-cal Seminary, led an instruction session there for parents recently, 30 attended, along with some teenagers enlisted to teach.

“Most of the questions dealt with (parents) struggling with the technology,” Black said.

“They brought laptops, and we met in a room with wireless access.”

Princeton professor Dean thinks few parents will be able to keep up with their tech-savvy kids and said it’s more likely for a youth minister to be on MySpace.

“By definition, youth ministers are people who want to connect with teenagers,” she said. “We all can be conversant in it. And we need to be. This is the world we live in.”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.

Posted: 12/01/06

On the Move

• Harvey Abke to First Church in Fresno as pastor.

• Steve Akin to First Church in Athens as minister of missions, where he was minister of music and missions.

• John Barnard to First Church in Brenham as student minister.

• David Beirne to Travis Church in Corpus Christi as pastor from Fox Avenue Church in Lewisville.

• Josh Broughton to First Church in Center as minister of youth and activities from Little Flock Church in Long-view.

• Linda Sue Caster has completed an interim as children’s minister at First Church in Granbury.

• Alan Cox to First Church in Athens as associate minister of worship.

• Blain Craig to Oak Crest Church in Midlothian as pastor.

• Allison Eyre to First Church in Bellmead as minister to youth.

• Pat Githens to Westside Church in Corsicana as pastor.

• Genoa Goad to Cisco Association as director of missions from First Church of Howardwick in Clarendon, where he was pastor.

• Dago Gonzales to First Church in Smithville as music minister.

• Julian Gonzales to Jerusalem Church in Runge as pastor.

• Brady Herbert to Park Meadows Church in Waxahachie as youth pastor.

• Everett James to Pleasant Olive Missionary Church in Waco as interim pastor.

• David Kello to Calvary Church in Weimar as pastor from First Church in Andrews, where he was minister of education and administration.

• David Kirkpatrick to First Church in The Woodlands as interim pastor.

• Craig Klempnauer to Old Time Church in Riesel as pastor.

• Lisa Law to First Church in Granbury as associate pastor of childhood education.

• Joe Loughlin to Western Heights Church in Waco as intentional interim pastor.

• Rick Mayberry to Freeman Heights Church in Garland as minister to students.

• Dan McClinton to First Church in Waxahachie as minister of Christian education.

• Clair MacPherson has resigned as pastor of Water Street Church in Waxahachie.

• Rusty Mott to Freeman Heights Church in Garland as minister of worship.

• Larry Newberry has resigned as minister of worship at Tabernacle Church in Ennis.

• Dwight Reagan to First Church in LaGrange as interim pastor.

• Bryan Saffle to Utopia Church in Utopia as pastor from Belmont Church in Odessa.

• Sean Torrence to First Church in Ovilla as youth pastor.

• Jonathan Tripp to Mildred Church in Corsicana as minister of youth/students.

• Dave Wilkerson to Ranchhouse Cowboy Church in Maypearl as pastor.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.

Posted: 12/01/06

Fisherman finds letters sent to God

By Wayne Parry

Religion News Service

NEWARK, N.J. (RNS)—A fisherman who found a bag of 300 letters to God floating in the ocean off Atlantic City will give most of them to the daughter of the dead minister for whom they were intended.

Bill Lacovara, an insurance adjuster, said he plans to give the letters to Vanessa Cooper, the daughter of Grady Cooper, a former associate pastor of the Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Jersey City who died nearly two years ago.

Lacovara found the letters in a shopping bag in the surf under a pier in October. About 150 of the letters were too damaged by the water to be legible. He placed the remaining ones up for auction on eBay but canceled the auction after more than 25 people pushed the price past $550.

Lacovara and his family have received many hostile letters and phone calls from people upset that the letters were put up for auction, but he said it never was his intention to profit from them.

“I apologize to anyone who was insulted,” he said. “It was never my intention to offend anyone. I was looking at these more like antiques.”

Lacovara said he heard from individuals and churches across the country who were interested in obtaining the letters so their own congregations could pray over them.

Many of the letters were addressed to Cooper, but many more simply said “Altar.” According to the text of several of the letters, they were intended to be placed on a church’s altar and prayed over by the minister, the congregation or both.

It’s still not clear how the letters, some dating to 1973 and most unopened, ended up in the ocean. Lacovara speculated that someone cleaning out Cooper’s former home found the letters and, instead of tossing them in the garbage, set them out to sea as a sort of final tribute to the authors.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.

Posted: 12/01/06

Studies shed light on
religion’s role in American life

By David Briggs

Religion News Service

PORTLAND, Ore. (RNS)—Who’s speaking in tongues? Do chastity pledges work? What do religious consumers buy?

Exploring a world immersed in faith and mystery, religious research scholars provide hard sociological data to give some practical answers about the role of religion in American life.

More than 500 researchers who attended a joint meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion and the Religious Research Association reported these findings:

• Chastity pledges

Studies by scholars at the University of Texas at Austin found religion and chastity pledges have “robust protective effects” on the incidences of premarital sex, and their restrictive influences may improve marital and health outcomes for young adults.

A lot of kids are not virgins on their wedding day, including a majority of religious individuals and abstinence pledgers, researchers Jeremy Uecker and Mark Regnerus said. But religion plays an important role for many people who abstain.

Nearly 40 percent of 15-year-old to 25-year-old virgins said their primary motivation for abstinence was that premarital sex was against their religion or morals. Twenty-one percent, the next highest group, said they abstained because they had not yet found the right person. A study of married adults who were virgins until their wedding day revealed 48 percent were consistent pledgers, compared with 9 percent who never pledged.

The study also throws cold water on the growing popular legend that teens who take chastity pledges are more likely to practice oral sex—or other forms of sexual substitution—to remain “technical virgins.” The opposite is true, researchers found.

• What would Jesus buy?

A lot, if a growing religious marketplace is any indication.

Nearly half the respondents to the 2005 Baylor Religion Survey reported spending money on religious goods in the past month. Twelve percent reported spending $50 or more, while 22 percent spent less that $25.

Religious greeting cards were the No. 1 product, followed by religious nonfiction books and religious music. Religious-themed clothes and religious bumper stickers were the least popular categories.

Of interest, slightly more people bought religious jewelry than purchased devotional material or sacred texts.

• Wealthy Jews, poor Adventists

Remember when mainline Protestants were at the top of the nation’s economic ranks?

Episcopalians still are up there, but a study shows Jews are No. 1, with a median household income in 2000 of $72,000. Episcopalians are second, with a median household income of $58,000, followed by two groups on opposite sides of the theological spectrum—Unitarian-Universalists at $55,000 and evangelical born-again Christians at $54,000.

Rounding out the Top 10 in rankings reported at the conference and in the new book Religion in a Free Market by Barry Kosmin and Ariela Keysar are Hindus, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Methodists, unspecified Protestants and Catholics. The median household incomes of all these groups were at least $5,000 above the $42,000 median household income in the United States in 2000.

On the lowest end of the scale were groups such as Seventh-day Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses, with household incomes of $30,000 or less.

• Church growth

Worshippers’ race, gender and personal income don’t matter much in determining factors of congregational growth. Nor does it matter whether the pastor is male or female or the congregation is theologically conservative.

What does help a Presbyterian Church (USA) congregation grow, even when the church overall—along with most mainline denominations—continues to decline, is sharing authority, welcoming new members and making children’s and youth ministries a priority.

In a study combining membership data with the results of a random survey of 523 congregations, denominational researchers Perry Chang and Ida Smith-Williams found churches that empower lay leaders were more than twice as likely to grow as churches that did not share authority.

Being able to welcome new members and make them feel part of the community and to care for young people also were factors associated with growing congregations.

Looked at from the other side, churches with large numbers of older worshippers were least likely to attract new members.

• Speaking in tongues

A national study of U.S. congregations found speaking in tongues is not limited to traditional Pentecostals. Researcher Keith Wulff of the Presbyterian Church (USA) found 8 percent of respondents reported having spoken in tongues.

Twenty-one percent of people who reported speaking in tongues were conservative Protestants, but 5 percent were Catholics and 3 percent were mainline Protestants, according to Wulff’s research.

• Congregational satisfaction

A national survey of Catholics in the pews found churchgoers generally were satisfied with life in their parishes.

Ninety-four percent of several hundred church members surveyed said their pastor or pastoral administrator is well liked, while three-fourths said their parish is close to ideal or ideal.

Adult education and outreach ministry to the community were two areas active Catholics reported could use improvement, sociologist James Davidson of Purdue University said.

• Pastoral satisfaction

Studies comparing Eastern Orthodox and Catholic clergy show what many spouses could confirm: Marriage can be a blessing and a significant source of support, but it also can be a source of stress in a profession that demands long hours.

Researchers from the Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute of the Graduate Theological Union and the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., found the greatest source of clergy satisfaction reported by 95 percent or more of both groups was in celebrating the liturgy and administering the sacraments.

Differences emerged in their personal lives. On the question of where they received strong support for their ministry, 90 percent of the Orthodox priests said it came from their wives. In response to a separate question, 79 percent said they saw their wives as partners sharing in their parish ministry.

While celibate Catholic priests also said they appreciated family support, that support declined over time as parents died. Seventy-two percent of priests younger than 45 said their family was a strong source of support, compared with 59 percent of priests age 65 and older.

Orthodox clergy, however, also reported stresses related to family life. Thirty-seven percent said providing financially for their family was a great problem, while two-thirds said having more time to spend with their family would be helpful to their ministry.

David Briggs writes for The Plain Dealer of Cleveland.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.