Posted: 3/17/06

BWA president offers global
perspective on the church

Baptist World Alliance President David Coffey recently spoke at several Texas Baptist churches, institutions and events as a part of his visit to the United States. Terri Jo Ryan, religion reporter for the Waco Tribune-Herald, interviewed him.

Q: What are some of the differences you’ve observed between Texas Baptist life and that in Great Britain?

A: I think the biggest difference is your Sunday school system. You have what is probably a core element of Baptist life in Texas—that is, the commitment to Sunday school. We don’t have that. We’ve tried that, but it hasn’t worked. I think there are lots more similarities, such as a commitment to local and global missions and your commitment to the fact that the world doesn’t stop at the Texas border, that there is life beyond there.

I think musically, you’ve got a much stronger tradition. … There has been a worship renaissance, not just in Baptist life in Britain but in many evangelical circles, which has re-established the Reformation principle of putting worship back as the property of the congregation, not a group of professionals.

There is a gain and a loss in that. The gain has been evident. It has made worship more a corporate experience. If you worship in the average Baptist church in Britain, the sense is that everybody is participating.

The loss is the loss of the traditional choir. And historians, I think, would be amazed to see the demise, even in my lifetime, of the church choir. Very, very few churches now have church choirs. They have music groups—there’s been a huge shift in that direction.

Q: So, there is a movement toward contemporary Christian music, then, on your side of the world?

A: Oh, huge. When I travel around the world, one of the disappointments I have, if I have a disappointment, it’s that you can be in South Africa, you could be in Hong Kong, you could even be in places in South Korea and Great Britain, and there’s almost a global hymnody. You long sometimes for that indigenous culture. But it’ll pass. Music has trends and phases, and it may have lasted the last 10 to 20 years, but there’s quite an influence in the United Kingdom now from places like Taize (France, an ecumenical monastery) and … the Celtic influences, a sort of blended worship. The majority of our Baptist churches are less traditional and more informal.

Q: How vital is the role of churches there? We are always hearing that Christianity seems irrelevant in the postmodern age, specifically in secularized Europe.

A: Institutional Christianity is in decline. You can’t deny that because the statistics are there. … But I think there are people, commentators and important sociologists like Grace Davie (director of the Centre for European Studies at the University of Exeter, U.K.) who have surveyed in Europe who would say that the continuing presence of religious symbol is going to be very important. … We have every 10 years a major census in the United Kingdom. In the last census (2001), it was revealed that 75 percent of the population when asked their chosen religion put down Christian. In this non-church-going age, only 10 percent of the population across Europe, a mean average, is going to services each week. All institutional Christianity has suffered.

But Christianity as a movement … especially in the United Kingdom, makes me spiritually optimistic. … I believe that every human being is made in the image of God, and the heart is restless until it rests in God. There is always that soul quest—the spiritual quest. The difference nowadays is that people don’t necessarily turn to Christianity or the church to fulfill that quest when there are all theses other avenues . … Some things about the church change—the structures, the outward form. But the core, the good news of Jesus Christ, doesn’t change though the centuries.

Q: What is the role of the Baptist World Alliance in fostering Christian unity? What should that role be?

A: One of the core values of the Baptist World Alliance since its inception has been that it stands for unity—unity among the various shades and differences of opinion among Baptists. It takes its place within the world communion of the Christian churches.

One of our great former presidents, Alexander Maclaren, at the very founding meeting of the BWA, was bold enough to get all the delegates there to quote the Apostles’ Creed, and we repeated it in Birmingham last year in England for our Centenary Congress.

He wanted to demonstrate that Baptists were part of the one universal church of Jesus Christ. Now, how we express that, in terms of our outward commitment, will vary. I do believe there is one true church, and Baptists are a part of it. But there will be some who say, “I cannot express that in friendship.”

I am one of the presidents of Churches Together of England (an ecumenical body), and I don’t deny that there are some very deep differences—sometimes to a breaking point—between Christian denominations. But I have to believe there is one true church of Jesus Christ, there is one true spiritual church of Jesus Christ, and Baptists are a part of it. … In a world that is so broken with division, I think I would affirm the principle of Jesus in that he prayed that his church would be one, so that the world would believe. The world finds it difficult to believe when it sees a disunited church.

Q: What kind of a witness is this to the world at large when there are major fault lines in Baptist life?

A: We know from Christian history as well as Scripture itself that there are times when Christians disagree so deeply that there is a parting of the ways. Barely is the young early church, as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, hardly out of that first century before there are deep divisions showing up.

What I find difficult to cope with is what I call unnecessary division. There is what I call core doctrine, surrounding the central events of the life of Jesus, the unity of the Godhead—and it’s when people start to sort of subdivide which is what I find sad and unnecessary. It damages the integrity of the mission, no two ways about that. … There is an intimate relationship between the unity of the church and the witness of the church to a watching world. Now, we can have deep differences with those who are of other faith traditions, but if Baptists are not able to unite around a core of values that they believe, then I always find that a deep sadness.

Q: Can you speak about the Southern Baptist Convention’s withdrawal from the BWA more than a year ago? Any hopes of a reconciliation between it and the BWA?

A: We were saddened by the withdrawal of the Southern Baptist Convention. There was no rejoicing on the day that happened. We were sad because it was one of those moments, probably the most serious moment in terms of unity that we had faced in 100 years of our history; it happened on the eve of our centenary, it happened under the leadership of one of the most dynamic and gospel-loving presidents, Dr. Billy Kim, and I know he carried it as a heavy burden in his own heart that this had happened.

Speaking about the hopes of reconciliation, I was one of the 10 representatives of the Baptist World Alliance that met with the Southern Baptist Convention in Nashville just before the split took place. We met in April (2004) when the decision to resign came in June. In the statement that was signed that day, although it became obvious on the horizon that there were no possible grounds for reconciliation, we did agree there would be regular meetings, there would be opportunities for SBC and BWA people to meet. I now count it as my responsibility at some point in the coming months to contact Morris Chapman (president of the SBC Executive Committee), whom I know well, and say, “Is it time that we had the first meeting since the withdrawal?”

Q: As a European and a Christian, can you speak to the concerns many have about the rise of a militant brand of Islam on the continent and Great Britain? What role can the BWA play in seeking peaceful relations between Christendom and moderate Islam?

A: What it has exposed is that the people who perpetrate such acts, these terrible atrocities, are a minority within the Muslim community. And we have had to work hard in the United Kingdom for peaceful relations.

I was a signatory with the Jewish, the Muslim, the Catholic and the Anglican leaders, of a statement (issued three days after the London bombings last July), where together we called such atrocities evil and barbaric. And we called for peace and calm and good community relations.

We’ve just founded, within the past month, the council for Christians and Muslims. We have a council for Christians and Jews. At the initiative of the archbishop of Canterbury, that came into being this year. The idea is to bring together a dialogue of Christian and Muslim scholars who will be able to speak together about these things. … I think Christians should be working so that Huntington’s Thesis (the clash of civilizations will dominate global politics, and the fault-lines between civilizations will be the battle lines of the future) doesn’t come true in our lifetime. It’s possible among people of good will.

When I’ve been in these Muslim-Jewish-Christian dialogues, their concerns are our concerns—their concerns for family values, their concerns for peaceful communities, their concern for law and order, and there are many, many people of good will.

Baptist life began in Europe in the 17th century, and some of the great things that were written in those early days about religious liberty were not just for religious liberty for Baptists but for all. We wanted everyone to have the freedom to exercise the soul competency the way they wanted to.

Q: What challenges do you see the world Baptist movement facing in the near future, and the rest of the 21st century?

A: As a Baptist Christian, I believe one of the goals of our world alliance is to share the faith that we have in Jesus Christ. We have to share it sensitively and appropriately, but every human being has a right to hear the good news of Jesus Christ in words or a form they can understand. We need to realize there are still millions of people who do not have access to words of Scripture. So there is a huge commitment to distributing the Bible so that people have the opportunity to read for themselves.

Baptists in many parts of the world have been at the forefront of the Make Poverty History movement. … We’ll be rolling out this summer a coordinated program on HIV/AIDS, to stand beside people who are sufferers.

We’ve already had some major international conferences on human trafficking. Drug trafficking is less of a problem than human trafficking. The trafficking of human beings at a time when, in Britain, we are approaching the bicentennial of the abolition of the slave trade, is a sad irony. This year the film of the life on William Wilberforce, Amazing Grace, will be released. I’m hoping there is going to be a new awareness of how setting the slave free is still a very key element of our commitment.

Religious liberty is high on the agenda. Whether it be North Korea, Turkmenistan, Eritrea or Burma, there are many, many oppressive regimes.

We were founding members of the U.N. as a (nongovernmental organization), and I’d like to see us strengthening our role there so we can have face-to-face conversations with the governments there. We have a human rights visit to Vietnam this May, and Texas Baptists are coming with me, so we will be meeting with government officials there.

Q: Any final thoughts?

A: If there were such a thing as back to basics, my own commitment as a Christian of 45 to 50 years is to be a serious follower—a serious disciple of Jesus Christ. That is my life’s commitment. I became a Christian when I was 17 or 18, and I promised to serve Jesus until the end, and where I saw his footprints I wanted to follow myself.

So for all the complexity my life is leading me into, one day I won’t have any titles like president. I will be, if God spares me, an old man, and the only title left to me will be disciple of Jesus. So therefore, that’s my priority. I’ve been working on the title I will carry for the longest time. I recommend that to any Christian—always be a disciple, a learner. I am always seeking to learn what he wants me to be.

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: 3/17/06

DOWN HOME:
A tornado, rain and a prairie set on fire

The radio announcer mispronounced Darrouzett (dare-uh-ZET), but he got all the others right—Booker, Follett, Lipscomb and Higgins.

And before he finished the list, I knew why he was reciting the names of every village in Lipscomb County: Grassfires.

Sure enough, local officials were thinking about evacuating the entire northeast corner of the Texas Panhandle. An incendiary mix of undiminished drought, unrelenting wind and unending prairie engulfed the county. And the flames threatened everything.

Most of his listeners never knew the announcer botched the pronunciation of Darrouzett. “Lipscomb County, where’s that?” they might have mused. Much closer to Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado and Kansas than to Dallas.

But sitting in my car, driving home from work, I felt the heat of those grassfires. I felt part of my heritage was about to go up in flames.

Mother grew up in Lipscomb County, in Higgins, where old-timers still recall the tornado that devastated the community April 9, 1947—the last monster calamity to strike that part of the world.

By the time I was born, Mother and Uncle Norman were grown, of course. Grammar and Popo, my grandparents, had moved over into Oklahoma, but they still owned the family home. When Popo took me with him to check on things, I soaked up the place and the people who had shaped my family and contributed to who I was.

In 1987, we went back to the cemetery to bury Popo. Grammar showed me the eight graves Popo and another man hand-dug after the twister tore up their town.

Listening to the announcer talk about the threat to Lipscomb County, I couldn’t help but think about the specter of flames sweeping right over Popo’s body. I’ve never seen a burned-over cemetery. Still, I can imagine that if the grave markers don’t get too charred, the place might be pretty if spring rains ever come again and grass springs green and new again.

Homes and stores and churches and the school are a different matter. All the markers that hold memories for generations—not to mention the shelter and livelihood of folks who live there today—could be gone in a matter of minutes.

Given their choices, I’d imagine most folks would take their chances with a prairie fire as opposed to a tornado. But a conflagration that spreads out for miles and eats up hundreds of thousands of acres of farms and ranchland is a ferocious beast. And 59 years from now, a middle-aged Texan will remember his grandparents talking about how they survived the Fire of ’06.

As I write this, I don’t know “the rest of the story.” The weather forecasters are talking about the possibility of precipitation. But today, the wind still blows in Lipscomb County and across the Panhandle. And farms and ranches and homes and towns sit before the fickle mercy of nature.

Pray for rain.

–-Marv Knox 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: 3/17/06

Cultural changes call for fresh expressions

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

DALLAS—Cultural changes require God’s people to be open to fresh expressions of the gospel, Baptist World Alliance President David Coffey told a Texas Baptist conference.

“When there is a change in culture, that constitutes a fresh calling from the missionary God,” Coffey said at Epicenter, an event sponsored by the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

Cultural upheaval may be “the headache of the traditional church,” but it can become “the heartbeat of the fresh-expression church,” he asserted.

Churches respond in healthy ways to societal change by asking critical questions, telling their story in new ways, reflecting theologically, listening carefully and drawing conclusions thoughtfully, Coffey said.

“Recognize God’s hand in social upheaval and cultural changes,” he said.

Societal change sparks spiritual hunger, and Christians can point people to a relationship with God that truly satisfies.

Like a vendor who distributes tiny samples of a tasty treat to passersby to whet their appetites, Christians should display God’s grace in a way that causes people to hunger for more, Coffey said.

“We are God’s free samples,” he said.

Christians need to pray for spiritual discernment and missionary intelligence so they will know which traditional expressions they should retain and which they should leave behind, he said.

Fresh-expression churches may find it easier than traditional churches to reach people with the gospel, but they could be challenged when it comes to making converts into disciples, Coffey said.

Churches need to distinguish between a blind allegiance to traditionalism and a genuine need for the richness found in tradition, he noted.

“Fresh-expression churches should have a respect for the past,” he said.

“You don’t have a church for today without having the church of the past.”

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: 3/17/06

Chat rooms provide open
window into students’ world

By Greg Garrison

Religion News Service

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (RNS)—The three college students accused of setting fire to nine Alabama churches left a computer chat room trail that was a window into their personalities.

Within hours after Ben Moseley, 19; Russell DeBusk, 19; and Matthew Cloyd, 20, were arrested March 8 on arson charges, reporters were mining their personal postings on the Facebook website. All three had registered for the site when they were Birmingham-Southern College students; Cloyd later transferred to the University of Alabama-Birmingham.

The students didn’t talk directly about the fires, but they bragged about excessive drinking and partying in messages rife with obscene language.

In one of the few posts not full of obscenity, Cloyd wrote Nov. 28: “Moseley/Monday night/Case of Beer/Powerful Rifle/Lots of Ammo/Green 4Runner/2 complete idiots/1 pack of camel lights/0 law enforcement officers/33 dead innocent whitetailed deer/insanely high speeds.”

The postings illustrate how many students inhabit a cyberspace world in which peers celebrate wild antics under the illusion they are anonymous and isolated, possibly endangering their futures.

“That’s a bizarre phenomenon,” UAB President David Pollick said. “It seems to be giving people a license in words and deeds. It gives one a sense of anonymity, of isolation. That’s an illusion. They do that without regard that they’re creating a living vitae for themselves. They wrote their own letter of reference.”

Internet experts agree.

“A lot of kids don’t understand that anybody who wants to—police, parents, employers—can see what they’re writing,” said attorney Parry Aftab, executive director of the nonprofit WiredSafety.org, which offers tips on Internet safety.

Personal pages, even old postings kept in archives, can be used in background checks when teenagers apply for colleges and scholarships, or when students leave college and apply for jobs, Aftab noted. Some firms hired to run background checks on applicants already use them. School administrators monitor them. Police can find evidence of crimes.

“We now have law enforcement who are using Facebook postings to prosecute students,” Aftab said. “Schools have prevented kids from enrolling or expelled students because of postings. It can prevent them from getting jobs because of their postings.

“You are dealing with kids in college who are bright enough to know the difference, but they don’t get it,” Aftab said. “If they are in a computer room typing things in with their friends, they think those are the only kids who are going to see it. It’s open to tens of millions of people.”

In theory, Facebook users from one college cannot view users from another college unless they are linked as friends and have a valid college e-mail address to sign up. But people often steal or borrow what they need to get online.

“Anybody can get on there,” Aftab said. “It’s not as hard as they think. It doesn’t take much.”

Social networking websites such as MySpace, Xanga, Bebo, Friendster, LiveJournal and Facebook allow individuals to chat and design their own profile pages with photo galleries, graphics, sound and video clips, profiles and journal entries.

They are popular with students but also attract many adults—including sexual predators.

Dan Bowman, a counselor for Personal Relationships Inc. who has led seminars on Internet safety at churches, said most parents he counsels are shocked when they see their kids’ profiles on Facebook.

“I’ve had parents cry, reading that their kids had sex or did drugs,” Bowman said. “It’s like a competition to see how wild they are. They feel comfortable saying provocative things. It provides a forum for deviant behavior.”

Facebook, founded in 2004, is based in Palo Alto, Calif., and has several million registered college student users. Faculty and alumni of schools can register, and it has recently expanded to high schools. For college sites, a school e-mail address is required to join and to post interests, background, contact information and pictures.

“Facebook’s pretty good at policing their site, but it’s almost impossible when you’ve got millions of students,” said Aftab, who has worked with Facebook and other websites on security issues.

Pollick said he’s troubled by the cyberspace culture that seems to obsess the current generation of college students.

“It’s mind-boggling,” Pollick said. “This is part of the climate in which we educate.”

Behavior glamorized on the website may have created such an approving atmosphere of risk-taking and prank-pulling that it could promote not only uncivil but illegal acts, Pollick suggested.

“What is it that would make somebody think that would be acceptable behavior?” Pollick said of torching rural churches.

“You look at their families, their life patterns, there would be nothing to indicate this type of action, this type of blindness. The parents are sitting there wondering how this could happen.”

Some say the cyberchats betray a glimpse of students wallowing in a moral quagmire.

“Knowing young people, one thing led to another, it totally went overboard, way beyond any sense of moral responsibility,” said Duane Schliep, pastor of Rehobeth Baptist Church in Bibb County, which was burned to the ground Feb. 3.

“Students today have created a gray world between what is clearly wrong and clearly right,” Pollick said. “How does that become rampant burning of churches? I don’t have an answer for that. I don’t think anybody does. We are recognizing our own limitations.”

Greg Garrison writes for The Birmingham News in Birmingham, Ala. 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: 3/17/06

Graham preaches ‘last
evangelistic sermon’ in New Orleans

By Bruce Nolan

Religion News Service

NEW ORLEANS (ABP)—Billy Graham seems to have closed out his 60-year career as the country’s most famous evangelist after calling thousands to Christian faith in wounded New Orleans with the acknowledgment, “This is probably the last evangelistic sermon I’ll ever preach.”

Frail and tentative, the 87-year-old Graham shuffled behind a walker toward the pulpit set at one end of the New Orleans Arena as a crowd his organization estimated at 16,300 stood in a sustained roar of applause March 12.

His son, evangelist Franklin Graham, gently assisted him into place. Thousands of flash bulbs exploded. An overflow crowd of 1,500 watched outside on jumbo TV screens.

Graham preached on his feet 22 minutes. The arena’s lighting caught his swept-back silvery hair.

His familiar square jaw was taut, but his voice has grown thin with the years.

Graham told a few well-received jokes and spoke ad-miringly of Mayor Ray Nagin and the Herculean task of recovery facing him.

“How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. It’s the only way,” he advised Nagin.

But the core of his message—much abbreviated from that of 417 earlier crusades—was simple Christian evangelism—a call to repentance, acceptance and the assurance of salvation through Jesus Christ.

Graham preached out of his own infirmity, several times referring to his multiple ailments. He begged his audience’s forgiveness in advance should he lose his way in his notes, which he did briefly, once, to no ill effect.

He referred to a recent period of illness that included four brain operations. He spoke of sensing the nearness of death and the certainty of salvation.

When he finished, Graham sat back in a lift chair that raised him to the appropriate height behind the pulpit. As hundreds filed forward in the traditional altar call, he admonished them to “be careful of those people in wheelchairs. I’m one of them.”

Buses outside the area advertised they came from as far away as Kentucky and Georgia, but the crowd was overwhelmingly local and badly battered by Hurricane Katrina.

Pastor Louis Jones said he came because he needed to be encouraged.

He lost his church in the 7th Ward, as well as his cars and his home in eastern New Orleans.

His wife, children and grandchildren live near Dallas while he remains in the city, trying to assist his scattered congregation and working his job in the U.S. Postal Service.

To top it off, he said, a brown recluse spider bit him while he was gutting his house, hospitalizing him for two days.

“I’m learning patience,” he said. “But I hope to hear some words of encouragement tonight. I always find the word (of God) encouraging. It strengthens me. Sometimes a preacher needs to be preached to.”

Many in the crowd said they came for similar reasons—to hear a bit of encouragement in familiar words from an iconic figure in American religious life.

Some added more. Lesha and Michael Freeland brought their two sons She said she wanted 9-year-old Christopher to see Graham in the flesh.

Although Christopher probably is too young to appreciate Graham’s appearance, she said, she “wanted him to be able to say one day that he had seen him.”

What they saw before Graham’s appearance was 90 precisely choreographed minutes of Christian rock mixed with videotaped testimonies, bluegrass music and exuberent traditional hymn singing.

In a highlight before Graham’s appearance, 97-year-old George Beverly Shea, a longtime, faithful Graham musical sidekick, sang How Great Thou Art to affectionate applause that nearly rivaled Graham’s.

But many said they felt the night was Graham’s—and another moment of history wrought by Hurricane Katrina, one in which timeless Scripture was intersecting with the end of a mortal life span.

Graham seemed draped with the same sense of closure.

“I’m looking forward to that big reunion up there,” he said at his sermon’s end. “God bless you all.”

Bruce Nolan writes for The Times-Picayune in New Orleans. 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: 3/17/06

Churches broke tax laws, IRS reports

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)—An Internal Revenue Service report determined nearly three-fourths of the churches and other charities it investigated violated federal tax laws during the 2004 election.

The report, released by a special IRS task force, shows many of the churches and charities referred to the agency during 2004 engaged in illegal electioneering. Since 1954, churches and other charities organized under Section 501(c)(3) of the federal tax codes have been prohibited from clearly endorsing or opposing candidates. However, they may speak out freely on legislative or ballot issues.

In 82 cases where a decision has been reached, the IRS found violations in 60 cases. Another 28 cases still are open.

IRS officials determined violations by three organizations were sufficiently serious to recommend revocation of their tax-exempt status. Another 55 violators were sent written warnings. The other less-serious violations involved cases in which the IRS “believes the organization engaged in prohibited campaign activity, but the activity appeared to be a one-time, isolated violation, and the organization corrected the violation where possible,” the report said.

In five cases, the IRS found non-political violations of tax law. In the remaining 18 cases, the groups were exonerated.

Citing “taxpayer privacy rights,” the IRS did not identify any of the churches or charities or specify the violations.

Some social conservatives have criticized the IRS in recent years for what they perceive as uneven enforcement of the law, singling out churches and other nonprofits for endorsing conservative candidates while ignoring similar violations in favor of liberal candidates.

But the report said the violations it investigated covered “the full spectrum” of political ideology.

The report noted there are more than 1 million 501(c)(3) organizations in the United States, but only a handful of IRS agents who devote significant time to monitoring their compliance with election laws.

It also noted an investigation of IRS enforcement of the electioneering law for the Treasury Depart-ment had “concluded that there was no evidence of political bias or direction (in IRS investigations into church electioneering), but did make several recommendations for improving the process.”

In response to those recommendations, the report said, IRS officials would provide more detailed information to churches—including a set of guidelines—to instruct them on how to avoid violating the law. It also recommended continuing to use the task force to study complaints about electioneering. 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: 3/17/06

Kid’s TV more violent than prime-time

By Enette Ngoei

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)—With cartoons leading the way, children’s television programs may be more violent than prime-time programming, a study by the Washington-based Parents Television Council indicated.

The report found 3,488 instances of violence—an average of 7.86 violent instances per hour—in the 443 hours of children’s programming analyzed. There were also 858 incidents of verbal aggression, 662 incidents of disruptive or disrespectful behavior and 275 instances of sexual content.

Brent Bozell, president of the Parents Television Council, pointed to a 2002 study by the council that found the six broadcast networks combined averaged only 4.71 instances of violence per hour of prime-time programming.

“There is more violence aimed at young children than at adults on television today,” Bozell said.

The study focused on before- and after-school and Saturday- morning programming for children ages 5 to 10, looking at eight networks—ABC Family, Cartoon Net-work, Disney Channel, Nick-elodeon, ABC, Fox, NBC and WB.

The Cartoon Network ranked highest for the total number of violent incidents, although the ABC Family Channel had the largest number of violent incidents per episode, with an average of 10.96 instances. The WB had the highest levels of offensive language, verbal abuse, sexual content and offensive or excretory references.

Jim Babcock, representative for the Cartoon Network, said he had not thoroughly reviewed the report.

“We are confident that our standards and practices policies ensure that the programming on our air is age-appropriate.” Babcock said. “All of our shows undergo several reviews throughout the production process to make sure that they are suitable for their intended viewers.” 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: 3/17/06

Lotz announces retirement,
Kazakhs pull out of BWA

By Robert Marus

Associated Baptist Press

FALLS CHURCH, Va. (ABP)—Leaders of the Baptist World Alliance learned at their March Executive Committee meeting that General Secretary Denton Lotz plans to retire and the Baptist Union of Kazakhstan has decided to leave the international federation.

Lotz, 67, said the process for selecting a new general secretary will begin immediately, and he hopes to announce a more specific time frame for his departure when the BWA General Council meets July 3-8 in Mexico City.

The BWA personnel committee will serve as the search committee. Baptists from each of the BWA’s six continental regions are represented on the panel.

Lotz, who has led the organization since 1988 and who earlier served as its evangelism director, said he and his wife, Janice, had turned to Scripture, prayer and the council of wise friends in making the decision.

He also said he made the decision in complete freedom, with no pressure to retire.

BWA President David Coffey said the announcement causes a “heaviness of heart,” but it “takes a really good leader” to know when it’s time to make such a change. He added it is a “great time to be a Baptist Christian” because the world body has attained a new level of maturity. As a result, Coffey said, this is a good time to begin the process of choosing a new general secretary.

Lotz and Tony Peck, secretary of the European Baptist Federation, also announced a Baptist denomination from Central Asia had withdrawn from both BWA and EBF. Leaders of the Baptist Union of Kazakhstan cited many of the same reasons leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention claimed when that body voted to withdraw from BWA in 2004, he said.

“They’re concerned about issues like holiness of life; they’re concerned that sin is taken seriously,” Peck said. “They’re concerned about the excesses of the charismatic movement. They don’t believe in women pastors.”

SBC leaders, in recommending to the denomination that it end its 99-year-old relationship with BWA, accused the worldwide umbrella group of being too tolerant of member bodies that, in turn, tolerated affiliated congregations or institutions with doctrinal stances they oppose.

They also disagreed with BWA’s recommendation that the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, a moderate group that split from the SBC, be admitted as a full-fledged member.

BWA leaders responded that Baptist polity would not allow them to prescribe the doctrinal standards of member bodies.

EBF and BWA officials made much the same argument to Kazakh Baptist leaders and other Central Asian Baptist leaders during a meeting in Kyrgyzstan in February, Peck said. Leaders from the Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists of Kyrgyzstan had expressed similar concerns, but had not announced any formal action to EBF or BWA, he added.

“I think the main issue is not those (doctrinal) issues themselves. It was what they are asking of the EBF and the BWA,” he said. “And we tried to remind them that we are not a church. … We are a fellowship of member bodies.”

But, Peck added, “this is quite a difficult idea for the Central Asian Baptists to get their mind around” in a region where Baptist denominations tend to be very conservative and authoritarian.

“We’re not set up to be an organization that disciplines and excommunicates member bodies,” Peck said.

EBF is composed of more than 800,000 baptized believers in approximately 50 national or regional Baptist bodies across Europe, Russia, Central Asia and the Middle East. The Kazakh Baptist group has 10,774 members in 289 churches, the EBF’s website says.

Peck also reported three other groups have joined the EBF in recent months—small Baptist unions in Sweden and Kosovo, as well as a newly founded Baptist church in Baghdad.

Ferrell Foster of BGCT Communications contributed to this story.

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: 3/17/06

Nehemiah’s Vision seeks to rebuild homes

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

VIDOR—Southeast Texas Baptists have formed a nonprofit ministry to rebuild homes destroyed by Hurricane Rita, but they need skilled volunteers to help them in the months ahead, organizers insist.

Last October, representatives from churches in Golden Triangle Baptist Association and Sabine Neches Baptist Area created a home-repair and reconstruction ministry they call Nehemiah’s Vision, drawing inspiration from the Old Testament story about rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem.

“We’re focusing on homes that either were not insured or people whose insurance didn’t cover the damage they sustained. A lot of them are single-parent families or elderly people,” said Montie Martin, director of missions in Golden Triangle Baptist Association.

Leaders of Nehemiah’s Vision committed to procure materials and mobilize volunteers who could help displaced people return to homes severely damaged or destroyed by the hurricane, as well as provide spiritual counsel to the families as they put their lives back together.

“By the end of spring break, we will have completed more than 100 homes,” said Terry Wright, pastor of First Baptist Church in Vidor.

And more help is on the way. The Texas Baptist Men Executive Board voted last month to partner with Nehemiah’s Vision. TBM volunteers will begin work in Southeast Texas sometime after they complete work in Cross Plains, where they will build houses for uninsured elderly whose homes were destroyed by wildfires, said Bill Pigott of TBM Builders.

But considering all the low-income families in Southeast Texas displaced by Hurricane Rita, up to one year’s worth of work still lies ahead, Baptists there noted.

Nehemiah’s Vision needs volunteers skilled in every aspect of construction, from foundations to finishing. The organization has purchased a 250-bed former retirement facility to house long-term summer volunteers, and churches with showers and kitchens are opening their doors to short-term workers, Martin said.

“We’ve had people who can only give one day to the project and others who have volunteered for up to two weeks, and we can use them all,” Wright added. “We need skilled labor, but we can put unskilled volunteers to work tearing out sheetrock.”

For more information about Nehemiah’s Vision, call (409) 769-1616, e-mail nehemiahsvision@sbcglobal.net or visit the Golden Triangle Association website at www.gtba.org. 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: 3/17/06

Texas Tidbits

CLC director search committee named. Jim Nelson, vice chairman of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board and member of Hyde Park Baptist Church in Austin, has been named chairman of the search committee appointed to seek a new director for the BGCT Christian Life Commission. Other search committee members are Ken Hugghins, chairman of the CLC and pastor of Elkins Lake Baptist Church in Huntsville; George Mason, pastor of Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas; Michael Bell, BGCT president and pastor of Greater St. Stephen First Baptist Church in Fort Worth; Patsy Ayres, member of First Baptist Church in Austin and former member of the CLC; Janie Sellers, member of First Baptist Church in Abilene and a member of the CLC; and Ellis Orozco, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in McAllen and a former member of the CLC. Suzii Paynter, the CLC’s director of citizenship and public policy, is interim director. She assumed leadership of the commission weeks after the death of Phil Strickland, longtime CLC director.

Brumley returns to Mercer from Baylor. Larry Brumley has resigned as interim vice president for marketing and communications at Baylor University, effective May 31, to join the administration at Mercer University in Macon, Ga. Mercer President-elect Bill Underwood—Baylor’s former interim president—made Brumley his first administrative appointment, naming him to the position of senior vice president and chief of staff, effective June 1. Before joining the Baylor administration in May 1997 as associate vice president for communications, Brumley served six years as associate vice president for university relations at Mercer. A 1982 Baylor graduate, Brumley earned a master’s degree in mass communication from the University of Oklahoma. He and his wife, Emily, are the parents of two daughters: Laura, a Baylor freshman, and Amy, a high school sophomore. They are members of First Baptist Church in Waco.

Piper gifts fund BUA student village. Baptist University of the Americas received a $1 million gift and $2.5 million interest-free loan from the Christ Is Our Salvation Foundation established by the Paul and Katy Piper family. Groundbreak-ing on Piper Village, an apartment-styled student housing community, is slated for late spring this year, with completion of its first phase planned for the fall 2007 semester. Upon completion, Piper Village will provide two- and three-bedroom apartments and support facilities to accommodate up to 48 families and 64 single students. The five apartment buildings will be the first phase of development on a new 75-acre campus located across the interstate from the current campus on San Antonio’s south side. The Piper gift will be paired with funds from a $3 million matching gift fund launched last year by philanthropists John and Eula Mae Baugh of Houston.

DBU business college accreditation reaffirmed. Dallas Baptist University’s College of Business was awarded reaffirmation of accreditation by the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs. DBU will receive a certificate of accreditation during the association’s annual conference in Chicago this summer. Accredita-tion certifies that the teaching and learning processes within the university meet rigorous educational standards established by the association.

ETBU campaign tops goal. East Texas Baptist University’s “Securing Tomorrow … Today” fund-raising campaign for student scholarships exceeded its $130,000 goal by more than $12,000 in 2005.

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: 3/17/06

Recent Wayland grad brings
ministry training to secular job

By Jonathan Petty

Wayland Baptist University

SAN ANTONIO—Banking may be his business, but Russell Cruzan tells anyone who asks that ministry is his life.

Cruzan, who recently graduated from Wayland Baptist University-San Antonio with a master’s degree in Christian ministry received the First Baptist Church of San Antonio Award as the outstanding graduate student receiving a degree in religion.

The award is based on a student’s willingness to learn and teach the Bible, missions involvement, service to others and impact on the world around them.

Cruzan, a member of Beth Ha Tikvah Messianic Congregation in San Antonio, insists ministry is just a part of his everyday life.

While a master’s degree in Christian ministry may not improve his standing as a training officer with the International Bank of Commerce, Cruzan said he can apply much of what he has learned both to his ministry and his secular career.

“I develop people as well as training classes and materials,” he said. “Because so much of what we do in ministry is in front of people and is preparation and delivery of sermons or classes, obviously this ties right in with what I do careerwise as well.”

Cruzan views his interaction with people on a day-to-day basis in the community as an opportunity to build relationships in which he can share his faith.

“I take witnessing as an extension of my social interaction,” Cruzan said. “I tried the approach where I just walked up and started talking to people and had zero results with that.”

Instead, now Cruzan brings his faith into his job and his volunteer work around the community.

“A lot of wise people over the years say that when people know you and know you care about them, then you begin to do things from a witnessing standpoint that you can’t do any other way,” Cruzan said. “I’ve discovered in my life that is true.”

Cruzan serves as the director of adult education and is the head deacon at the Messianic congregation, but he is not Jewish.

“A Messianic congregation is not just for Jewish people,” he said. “It is a congregation for anyone who is a believer in Jesus. We just worship in a Jewish context.”

Cruzan, who has been involved in lay ministry since the mid 1980s, said completing his master’s degree is a great benefit to his work and ministry.

“I woke up one day and said, ‘Yikes, I’m almost 40.’ I just decided that I wanted to get my education affairs in order,” Cruzan said.

“I literally woke up saying I want to serve the Lord, and I have unfinished business that is tied to my ministry initiatives and aspirations and what I think the Lord would have me do.”

It wasn’t until he ran into a graduate at a pastor friend’s barbecue that Cruzan seriously looked at Wayland.

Growing up Baptist, Cruzan was attracted to Wayland, and he has encouraged other members of his congregation seeking religious, faith-based education to try the university.

Going to school full-time, working full-time and performing “quasi-full-time ministry” can really take its toll on a person, Crusan acknowledged.

Now, he figures it’s his turn to focus on work and ministry while his wife pursues her degree, beginning next semester. 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: 3/17/06

ETBU grad shares faith through illusions

By Leann Callaway

Special to the Baptist Standard

MARSHALL—When Christian illusionist Drew Worsham makes someone float in the air, performs card tricks or causes objects to disappear, his illusions generate a sense of anticipation. And after capturing the audience’s attention, Worsham shares a powerful message.

“Every performance is an opportunity to use the gifts God has given me, and I am passionate about using these gifts to further his kingdom,” Worsham said. “I am privileged each time I step on a stage—whether that is in a church, on a college campus, a coffee shop or a sidewalk in the middle of a busy downtown.

“I perform and entertain for one reason—to build relationships and earn my right to share what Christ has done in my life. People are the reason for this ministry; illusions are simply the tool that opens the door for me to share.”

While growing up in Nacogdoches, Worsham’s interest in illusions began at an early age. “When I was 6 years old, I found a Magic with Mickey Mouse book and began making quarters disappear and pencils stick to my hand,” he recalled. “I would watch David Copperfield and any other specials on television with my family and thought it was the coolest thing ever. I also quickly learned that while performing illusions, it was easy to captivate an audience.

“I grew up in an amazing Christian family, and … I’ve always had a lot of support throughout my life. My family encouraged me toward my dreams and taught me at an early age that Jesus died to become my Savior.”

Later, Worsham discovered how he could use illusions to glorify God. While performing illusions at children’s birthday parties, he would close the show by telling the audience that God loved them. A youth minister who attended one of those parties asked Worsham to perform for a church event.

As word spread about Worsham’s talents, he received many invitations to perform at other church events. During his freshman year at East Texas Baptist University in Marshall, Worsham met Christian illusionist Brock Gill, who became his mentor and helped him establish his ministry.

While at ETBU, Worsham joined Bel Air Baptist Church in Marshall.

Since graduating in May 2005, Worsham has juggled a busy schedule performing at church events around the country, including children’s ministry events, youth camps, retreats, Disciple Now weekends, conferences, Upward sports award nights and other evangelistic outreach events.

Last summer, Worsham and musician Josh Martin—also from ETBU—teamed up with North American Mission Board’s Power Plant ministry, a camp designed to engage students in church planting and evangelism.

“There is nothing really magical about me,” Worsham said. “I never thought that I would be in this position. I was that kid at youth camp who watched the worship bands and the speakers and thought that they had the coolest jobs. They had the responsibility of sharing with a room full of waiting youth that Christ loved them.

“It’s proving to be a harder calling than I thought at a younger age. I love what I get to do, and I am thankful that God is using me in this season. I have no idea what is in store for the future. … The one thing I do know is that God is leading, and I’m trying my best to keep up.”

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.