Posted: 3/03/06

Texas Baptist Forum

Baptismal confession

I asked Jesus to be my Savior and Lord when I was 4 years old. The reason wasn’t only because I didn’t want to go to hell, but also knowing that I would be living my life without God really bothered me.

At the time, I knew I should be baptized, because God commands it and it’s also a way for me to show the people around me that I have become a Christian. I didn’t want to be baptized because I was afraid of how deep the water was. I wasn’t afraid of water, just of being held under too long.

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“For people everywhere, the United States is a partner for a better life. Short-changing these efforts would increase the suffering and chaos of our world, undercut our long-term security and dull the conscience of our country. I urge members of Congress to serve the interests of America by showing the compassion of America.” George W. Bush In his State of the Union address, urging congressional support for foreign aid “As long as I serve on the Supreme Court, I will keep in mind the trust that has been placed in me.” Samuel Alito U.S. Supreme Court justice, in a letter to author/activist James Dobson, read by Dobson on his radio program (New York Times) “I figure that if Jesus could die so that all of my wrongs could be forgiven, I can certainly extend that same grace to you." Mandisa Hundley American Idol contestant and worship leader at Christian women’s conferences, responding to judge Simon Cowell after he criticized her weight (RNS/BP)

Last year, I saw people younger than me be baptized, and that helped me to not be so afraid.

This morning, I will be baptized to show the people around me that I am a Christian and that I’m following what Jesus told me to do, which is to be baptized.

Being baptized doesn’t make me a Christian. It just shows on the outside what happened on the inside when I became a Christian. When I became a Christian, my sins were taken away. When they put me under water, it shows my old life being buried, and when they raise me up, it shows me rising with a new life.

Jonathan Mooney

Alvin

Editor’s note: Uncoached and unprompted, Jonathan wrote this letter and gave it to Assistant Pastor Gene Tipton shortly before Tipton baptized him at Heights Baptist Church in Alvin earlier this year.

Integrating atmosphere

I enjoyed reading the articles that discussed whether an atmospheric model or an integrating faith and learning model is best for Baylor University (Feb. 20). And I appreciate the new president’s call for a balance in which both models apply.

Personally, I don’t see how you can have a Christian atmosphere without an integrating faith and learning approach to learning.

David Blagg

Dublin

Glimpse of God

We were delighted to see the attention the Baptist Standard recently gave to discussions about the character and future of Baylor University.

Our only real disappointment with the articles was the oft-repeated but mistaken claim that the “integration model” requires that Christian faith must somehow be forced into every subject and every class.

As a statement by the provost’s office in October 2003 makes crystal clear, faculty members have never been required to integrate faith and learning in the classroom.

At Baylor, the integration of faith and learning has nothing to do with “creationism,” overt demonstrations of piety in the classroom, or “Christian mathematics.” It has everything to do with examining the ways our scholarly assumptions interact with ideas, allegiances and institutions that make up the world that God has created and redeemed.

These assumptions vary from subject to subject, and there is no “one-size-fits-all” approach. Whether and to what extent these questions are brought into the classroom depends on many factors, the most important of which is the judgment of the individual instructor.

The integration of faith and learning is a task that can only be done well in a community of learning where scholars trust, learn from and challenge each other.

We believe that when every voice is heard and weighed, when no one is silenced or unduly privileged, something of the truth that sets us free will reveal to us a glimpse of the face of God.

C. Stephen Evans, university professor of philosophy and humanities

Barry Hankins, professor of history and church-state studies

Barry Harvey, associate professor of theology

Ralph C. Wood, university professor of theology and literature

Baylor University

Waco

Theory v. law

It is quite distressing to hear of ministers who decry the opponents of Darwin’s theory of evolution, a theory that assumes spontaneous origin without mention of a possible divine author of creation. Can’t people of God recognize a godless declaration, an atheistic philosophy, imposed as fact upon our schoolchildren for generations?

Darwinian theories of evolution are theories only, never attaining status as scientific law.

They are based entirely upon suppositions by a segment of scientists that we and our environs came about by happenstance alone during billions of cosmological years.

Life for us on this planet can exist only when thousands of variables are adjusted and maintained in coordination. Odds against that occurring at random are in the megamillions. 

With a lifelong background of science, I, too, believe in evolution, designed and engineered by a supreme being.

I also believe the Law of Increasing Entropy that states, when applied to the closed system of our universe, that all systems tend to become totally random and disorganized. It is natural law, affirmed by Einstein, not a theory. It negates spontaneous evolution entirely.

The universe heads toward chaos unless there is a divine power countermanding it by intelligent design.

Of the 50 U.S. states, all 50 begin their constitutions recognizing a higher being.

Would that preachers display such unanimity!

Val F. Borum

Fort Worth

Override of liberty

To use the powers of government to pass science off as religion or religion off as science is wrongheaded. A free and thinking people do not need government telling them their faith in God is nothing more than a scientific theory or that their scientific theories must conform to another person’s religious beliefs.

Within his first encyclical, Pope Benedict XVI uses words that echo the U.S. Constitution’s first and 14th amendment guarantees of freedom from state-sponsored religion. He writes, “The state may not impose religion, yet it must guarantee religious freedom and harmony between followers of different religions.”

Counter to this, some religious zealots are bent on pressuring local public school boards into requiring teachers to insert into their lesson plans a new certitude of these true believers, intelligent design creationism. They are free to believe what they will. However, this attempt to use government to promote their religious ideology should be troubling to all people who prize freedom of conscience.

State-sponsored proselytization is a greater threat to our religious freedom than it is a mistaken sally into the domain of science.

Science has and will continue to weather all sorts of misdirected and dead-ended efforts. However, our freedom of conscience may not fare so well.

The override of this liberty would mark the entry of our nation into an intolerant period in which all sorts of intellectual and spiritual pursuits were subject to suppression.

Sam Osborne

West Branch, Iowa

Man’s logic

Brent Walker makes very good points about the religion/evolution debate (Jan. 23). I am a science teacher and Southern Baptist.

I believe that God spoke, creating everything we see, touch, taste, feel and smell. Every argument starts with basic facts—evolution from geological history (of which there are no eyewitnesses) and “intelligent design” from the basis of the Word who created it (also no eyewitnesses). 

It was man’s logic and rationale that “created” all living things through evolution.

Once you get a few basic logically sounding “truths,” such as “all processes occurred in the past the same way that they are occurring in the present” and “younger layers of earth are deposited on older layers,” then we developed radioisotope dating and geological relationships. Suddenly, we discover that our earth is billions of years old! And there is a chain of increasingly more complex living things until ultimately an animal developed by chance called man.

Creationism is a “belief.”

If you evaluate the basis of scientific proofs, you will realize that it, too, is a “belief” system. Their “laws” are based on what is the most logically reproducible explanation that people can “think” of, using only things we sense today. It is not based on eyewitness reports of what happened those billions of years.

So we perpetuate the lie that is being taught in school because it is the most provable by our senses and man’s rationale. A belief system based on man’s logic—evolution.

Steve Livengood

Stamford

A recovering Baptist

I’m celebrating my sixth year of sobriety as a recovering Baptist. Yet I fell off the wagon and visited the Baptist Standard website, in particular, the Texas Baptist Forum. I was shocked, though I shouldn’t have been, by the same tired, worn-out diatribes—inerrancy, evolution, if you show the Super Bowl at church, you’re going to hell, blah, blah.

I don’t miss the turmolic, hair-splitting, scriptural-dissecting, ungodly, un-Christlike nonsense.

I now attend a nondenominational Christian church. I am free to believe God took as much time as he deemed necessary to create the world. If he took a handful of dust or a series of apes, he did it!! If he took 10 million years, he did it!! That’s all that should matter.

I’ll never accept the 10,000 years, plus or minus, that the literalists insist it took for creation, and I’ll never accept that believing in a longer-than-literal creation will somehow bar me from the kingdom. I will recognize reasonable scientific descriptions that some things existed earlier than others, some things adapted, and some things did not adapt and died off, much as humankind will, given our willful bent towards self-destruction, alienation, segregation and ignorance. In all, creation was a grander, much more complex event than could have ever been put in the pages of a book.

I believe Jesus died for all of our sins—period. Let me grapple with my Bible, my science book and my own fate.

Hope to see you all at the finish line.

Mark Clark

Flower Mound

Using government to promote religion is greater risk

To use the powers of government to pass science off as religion or religion off as science is wrongheaded. A free and thinking people do not need government telling them their faith in God is nothing more than a scientific theory or that their scientific theories must conform to another person’s religious beliefs.

Within his first encyclical, Pope Benedict XVI uses words that echo the U.S. Constitution’s first and 14th amendment guarantees of freedom from state-sponsored religion. He writes, “The state may not impose religion, yet it must guarantee religious freedom and harmony between followers of different religions.”

Counter to this, some religious zealots are bent on pressuring local public school boards into requiring teachers to insert into their lesson plans a new certitude of these true believers, intelligent design creationism. They are free to believe what they will. However, this attempt to use government to promote their religious ideology should be troubling to all people who prize freedom of conscience.

State-sponsored proselytization is a greater threat to our religious freedom than it is a mistaken sally into the domain of science. Science has and will continue to weather all sorts of misdirected and dead-ended efforts. However, our freedom of conscience may not fare so well.

The override of this liberty would mark the entry of our nation into an intolerant period in which all sorts of intellectual and spiritual pursuits were subject to suppression.

Sam Osborne

West Branch, Iowa

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: 3/03/06

CYBER COLUMN:
Grace reigns

By John Duncan

I’m sitting here under the old oak tree, remembering Don Knotts in his passing at 81 years of age and Mayberry RFD. I must tell you that I did not spend much of my childhood watching programs like the Andy Griffith Show and the nostalgic town Mayberry.  Later in life, I learned to watch cable TV’s Nick at Night and see Don Knotts in his quirky role as Deputy Sheriff Barney Fife. Laughter reigned.

I find myself reflecting that we live in the dream of a Mayberry world that in actuality is an iPod world. I live in Granbury, Texas, a place where people once referred to our town very much like Mayberry. After all, we had a Dairy Queen, a drive-in-theater, a local radio station that aired high school sporting events, old roads where once in a while a tractor slowed traffic, and a lake where fishermen could fish on the grassy banks on a warm day. Mayberry reigned.

iPod has arrived now in the 21st century. Dairy Queen has been replaced by Chili’s. The drive-in theater is still open, but a newer theater with stadium seating airs the latest flicks. The local radio station has surrendered to the satellite radio in cars and on computers. Traffic is now slowed by sprawling roads and busy intersections and drive time takes longer than it used to, no matter the destination in our town. Fishing has even changed—high-powered boats and sophisticated technology that measures the depths of the lake and even tells you if fish school nearby. Just the other day, I saw young man jogging on the street with headphones in his ears and his iPod blasting the musical tunes of who knows, Lifehouse? Carrie Underwood singing Jesus Take the Wheel? Or maybe Coldplay? Or just maybe, Casting Crowns belting out Lifesong. iPod reigns.

I remind myself of the old quote: Three things in life remain constant—death, taxes, and change.

I sit here and ponder the church of the 21st century: Do we long for a Mayberry church in an iPod world? Anyone who lived in the fabulous ’50s would probably answer a resounding yes. But what about a person born in 1990? They much prefer iPod, I am sure.

The landscape in Granbury changes daily: Home Depot, Loews, new roads, new construction, new schools, and traffic with drivers zipping about while talking on cell phones.  The landscape of denominational life, church life, and the Christian life changes daily, too. Pity the poor pastor who faces the challenges of navigating the worship styles, the expectations, the challenges, the struggles, the shifting dynamic of stewardship (from giving tithes to giving to a cause), and the complex problems churches and people face. Or celebrate the fact that Christian leaders stand on the brink of the greatest opportunity to produce life change by the power of the Gospel.

God’s truth remains. Jesus is our One constant. And the gospel speaks to an iPod world just like it did in a Mayberry world.

So here I am, sitting under the old oak tree, sipping lemonade. In a Mayberry, world lemonade was lemonade. In an iPod world, lemonade might be raspberry or strawberry or the pick of your choice. We live in the age of multiple choice. Yet one simple constant remains: Jesus Christ. I long for a Mayberry world, but I live in an iPod world, so all I can do is adapt in the complexity of the times, but cling to the glory of the gospel in its simplicity.

Augustine in his Confessions in the fourth century spoke of God’s light, change in his own life, Jesus his anchor, and concluded that a thirst and hunger for God answered his deepest questions in the complexity of life: “In this way, O Lord, you create happiness and give it to us to ease our lives.” In a Mayberry world where people often long to go back to remember happiness, Augustine invites us to live in the present moment and to look toward the future to discover our true happiness and ease in the light, strength, and humble mercy of God. May God’s grace reach us to find happiness in him. Grace reigns!

John Duncan is pastor of Lakeside Baptist Church in Granbury, Texas, and the writer of numerous articles in various journals and magazines. You can respond to his column by e-mailing him at jduncan@lakesidebc.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: 3/03/06

RIGHT OR WRONG?
What to do with worn out Bibles

We have several old Bibles that probably need to be destroyed. We want to be respectful of God’s word. What should we do?

This is a great question, particularly for Christians who have a high view of the sacredness of Scripture. Without being too facetious, it also is a great question, because it is nice to be reminded that there are worn-out Bibles.

Too often, our Bibles sit on shelves in pristine condition, rendering moot the question of how to dispose of them.

I am assuming the Bibles are worn past the point of giving them away to someone or donating them to a library, and thus they actually need to be destroyed.

The problem for Christianity is that there is no official designation of how to handle the disposal of Bibles. Islam provides very strict rules for disposing of copies of the Quran, as does Judaism with old Torah scrolls. Some of the difference comes with Christianity’s view of Scripture.

Most Christian traditions see the sacredness of Scripture in the meaning of the text as the revelation of God. The value is in the revelation, not the physical ink and paper. Part of this distinction developed from the fear of breaking the commandment concerning worshipping an idol, even if it was a Bible. The Bible is the word of God, but it is not God. Christians worship the Word who became flesh, not the words written on paper.

Thus, there is nothing in Christian tradition or theology to keep you from simply placing the old Bibles in the trash. Let me make a comparison. Recently, as my church observed the Lord’s Supper, we found that a box of the bread had become very, very stale. The wafers tasted absolutely horrible. Now, the Lord’s Supper shouldn’t make you wince when you take it. Therefore, we threw the bread away. No ceremony; we just pitched it in the trash. Were we being sacrilegious? Were we casting away the body of the Lord? Obviously not.

Neither are you destroying the Word of God when you throw away an old Bible. No individual Bible has that power. Let’s face it; even the original manuscripts were destroyed long ago.

However, many, if not most, Christians are uncomfortable with that solution. Baptists, particularly after the last 25 years of arguments over the Bible, might even feel they had committed the unforgivable sin. Others would surely at least suggest it. So what is a viable alternative?

The most generally acceptable solution appears to be either burying or burning the old Bible.

One method would be to take the old Bible to a remote place and bury it where it will likely not be trampled on. Burning the Bible could follow the rules of respect for the destruction of an old American flag by burning.

An interesting idea might be to contact your church and see if the church would be interested in having a ceremony. The church could announce the ceremony and ask the congregation to bring all their old Bibles together and have a time of celebration regarding the wonderful use these Bibles had served.

Done correctly, it could be a good time of worship and thankfulness to God for the blessing of his word.

Pray about your options, and then follow through as God leads you. Then buy a new Bible and wear it out too.

Van Christian, pastor

First Baptist Church, Comanche

Right or Wrong? is sponsored by the T.B. Maston Chair of Christian Ethics at Hardin-Simmons University’s Logsdon School of Theology. Send your questions about how to apply your faith to btillman@hsutx.edu. 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: 3/03/06

Number of NAMB missionaries dropped

ATLANTA (ABP)—The number of career missionaries funded by the North American Mission Board has dropped 10 percent since 1997, the Georgia Baptist state newspaper reported, despite promises the restructured Southern Baptist agency would expand mission work in America.

The decrease is among a number of efforts by NAMB that have failed to meet expectations since the Southern Baptist agency was formed in 1997, according to a news analysis by the Christian Index newspaper. Both NAMB and the Index are based in the Atlanta area.

Bob Reccord directed the massive Southern Baptist Convention restructuring effort in the mid-1990s and later was tapped to lead NAMB, the centerpiece of the new denominational structure. But the mission board has not lived up to its promises, the Index reported, and Reccord’s leadership has raised concerns among Georgia pastors and former employees.

Other NAMB shortcomings cited by the Georgia Baptist paper included:

• Lack of a consistent evangelism strategy, illustrated by the failure of two national evangelistic campaigns.

• Loss of momentum in church-planting efforts.

• Outsourcing of jobs to a secular company started by a friend of Reccord’s, while NAMB employees were laid off.

• A drop in NAMB cash reserves from $55 million to $23 million.

NAMB officials insist the charges distort the facts and ignore successes. The Index analysis looks at the North American Mission Board since it was formed in 1997 by combining three Southern Baptist Convention entities.

The report concludes that, while NAMB has accomplished much, it has failed to produce the anticipated results.

After the newspaper initially released its story, NAMB issued a response through Baptist Press, the information service of the Southern Baptist Executive Committee.

NAMB criticized the article for a lack of balance and for not including NAMB responses to key charges.

“The North American Mission Board is extremely disappointed that the (Georgia) Christian Index would bypass accepted journalistic standards by running a story about NAMB that (a) hides behind anonymous ‘critics’ conveniently labeled as ‘observers’ or ‘onlookers’ or ‘some who assert’; (b) fails to include NAMB responses to these criticisms as provided by NAMB executives during a recent two-hour interview; (c) contains inaccuracies and innuendoes even after being told the facts by NAMB representatives; and (d) times the release of the article for maximum damage to North American missions,” the statement said.

NAMB announced in January 2000 that it had reached the SBC’s Bold Mission Thrust goal of 5,000 missionaries in North America. But the actual number of missionaries on the field depends on how you count them.

The number of long-term, NAMB-funded missionaries actually has dropped since 1997, the paper says, while self-funded volunteers now make up more than half of the missionary total.

NAMB regularly claims more than 5,300 North American missionaries are funded through the SBC’s Annie Armstrong Easter Offering. A closer look shows only 2,942 are long-term missionaries funded by the offering. The remaining 2,422—or 45 percent—are self-funded volunteers who serve through NAMB’s Mission Service Corps.

When Mission Service Corps was founded in 1977, its workers were categorized as volunteers. To avoid any confusion, the Home Mission Board—NAMB’s predecessor—included them in the total missionary count but kept the volunteer designation. Volunteers had to serve a minimum of two years before they were listed in the missionary personnel count.

NAMB, on the other hand, removed the volunteer status, lowered the service requirement to four months and commissioned them as full-fledged missionaries, which blurred the line of who’s who in the headcount.

Meanwhile, the number of NAMB-funded career missionaries actually has declined by 329 since NAMB’s first year—a drop of 10 percent—while the MSC volunteers have jumped by 827, or 34 percent.

NAMB acknowledged the number of nonvolunteer mission workers—what NAMB calls “career” and “limited-term” missionaries—has declined since 1997.

NAMB said the drop is explained by the rising cost of health benefits, a rash of recent early retirements, and the inability of state conventions to fund many jointly appointed missionaries.

But NAMB said the agency’s classification of missionaries has been handled consistently and openly. Furthermore, NAMB said information about its missionary total breakdown is available on its website at www.namb.net, under the tab “sending missionaries” as well as in its annual report to the Southern Baptist Convention. There are three broad categories of NAMB missionaries, the entity says—career, limited term and Mission Service Corps.

This article is based on a story by Joe Westbury, first published in the Christian Index, and is supplemented with new information from NAMB and Associated Baptist Press. 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: 3/03/06

Logsdon Seminary receives full ATS accreditation

By David Coffield

Hardin-Simmons University

ABILENE—Logsdon Seminary has been accredited by the primary accrediting agency for theological schools in North America.

The seminary, part of Hardin-Simmons University’s Logsdon School of Theology, received full accreditation from the Association of Theological Schools.

“ATS is the premier accrediting agency for graduate professional theological education. This accreditation confirms that Logsdon’s programs and degrees conform to the high standards mandated by the association,” said Tommy Brisco, the seminary’s dean.

Degrees offered at the seminary’s extension campuses at Wayland Baptist University in Lubbock and South Texas School of Christian Studies in Corpus Christi share in that accreditation, as do its distance-learning programs, he noted.

A school must meet curricular, management and academic-freedom requirements to achieve accreditation, and ATS officials conduct extensive on-campus investigations before granting initial accreditation. They also periodically review accredited institutions. ATS includes 252 graduate institutions in the United States and Canada.

“ATS accreditation is the recognized standard in the field of theological education in North America. For example, endorsement for chaplaincy often requires a master of divinity (degree) from a seminary with ATS accreditation, and many denominations require theological education at a school with ATS accreditation in order to receive ordination,” Associate Dean Robert Ellis said.

Hardin-Simmons University, founded in 1891, is affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The Logsdon School of Theology came into existence in 1983, and the seminary was established in 2004.

The other BGCT-related seminary, Baylor University’s Truett Seminary, also is accredited by ATS.

Royce Rose, director of the theological education for the BGCT, said accreditation further strengthens Texas Baptists’ educational opportunities.

“Though all of our liberal arts universities have regional accreditation through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, it is critical for a theological school to gain accreditation for graduate programs from the Association of Theological Schools,” Rose said.

“ATS is the most recognized accrediting association of theological schools. This accreditation gives students the assurance that the curriculum, faculty and services of the school have measured up to the critical standards of their peers in theological education.

“ATS is considered the benchmark for accrediting schools offering professional theological education in the theological community, and it provides accreditation to a specific North American standard, enhancing the seminary’s regional accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.” 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: 3/03/06

BGCT names ministry, resource leaders

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

DALLAS—The Baptist General Convention of Texas has named two leaders of its ministry, evangelism and missions team and filled two positions on its congregational leadership team.

Phil Miller, former associate director of the BGCT Bible Study/Discipleship Center, will now lead the convention’s ministry staff within the ministry, evangelism and missions team.

Miller’s group will help strengthen Texas Baptist ministry to church members. This will include Bible study, church music, discipleship, preschool ministry, women’s ministry and youth ministry.

Miller served in three full-time church staff positions in Texas Baptist churches before coming to the BGCT. He was minister of music and youth at Trinity Baptist Church in Corsicana; minister of music, education and college at Second Baptist Church in Huntsville; and minister of education and music at First Baptist Church in Denison.

He is a graduate of Texas Eastern University, now called the University of Texas at Tyler, and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he earned a master of arts degree in religious education.

Keith Crouch, former director of the BGCT Church Facilities Center, will lead the resources staff within the ministry, evangelism and missions team.

Crouch’s group will help provide materials and services to churches. This includes architectural services, personal and congregational stewardship assistance and soon will include the resources of BaptistWay Press.

“Throughout Keith’s 18 years of service with the Baptist General Convention of Texas, he has proven to be committed to the local church and has a vision for each congregation to succeed in their vision,” said Wayne Shuffield, director of the BGCT ministry, evangelism and missions team.

Crouch earned his bachelor’s degree in architecture and environmental design from the University of Texas at Arlington.

He is a state-licensed and state-registered architect, a registered interior designer, a member of the American Institute of Architects and the Texas Society of Architects. He is certified by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards.

Julie O’Teter started work Feb. 13 as the discovery team leader, and Emily Row will direct the leadership development team, effective March 20.

O’Teter will guide convention staff who help church leaders or potential leaders determine their gifts and God’s calling upon their lives, said Jan Daehnert, interim director of the BGCT congregational leadership team.

O’Teter has worked as a consultant in the BGCT Missions Equipping Center.

Previously, she served on staff at Park Meadows Baptist Church and First Baptist Church, both in Waxahachie. She has an undergraduate degree from Baylor University and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Texas at Arlington.

Row will guide staff work with emerging leaders, deacons, church administrators and intentional interim ministers, and she will work in the area of spiritual formation, Daehnert explained.

“Emily is one of those people who practices spiritual disciplines. We want our leaders to do the same thing,” he said.

Row returns to the BGCT Dallas offices after a stint as program coordinator for Texas Baptists Committed.

Prior to that, she served as a youth consultant for Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas.

She holds a bachelor’s degree from Hardin-Simmons University and a master of arts degree from Logsdon Seminary, and she is working on a doctorate in leadership through Dallas Baptist University. 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: 3/03/06

Follow Jesus; preach justice, author urges

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

WACO—God calls Christian ministers to follow Jesus’ example and preach social justice, author Tony Campolo said.

“Jesus came preaching the kingdom of God—transformed people living in a transformed social order,” Campolo told a ministerial ethics conference at Baylor University’s Truett Seminary, sponsored by the Christians Ethics Today Founda-tion.

“When you look at the Bible, there’s as much Scripture dealing with justice as there is love. Justice is love translated into social policy. We are called upon to preach justice.”

Before preachers can preach on ethics, they must live ethically, Campolo insisted.

“The integrity of the minister gives legitimacy to the message. You must incarnate the message,” said Campolo, professor emeritus of sociology at Eastern University in St. Davids, Pa.

Integrity involves everything from sexual purity and personal holiness to a rejection of consumerism, he insisted.

“Jesus calls us to live simply that others may simply live,” he said. “What is a reasonable lifestyle in today’s society for those who would be followers of Jesus Christ?”

Concern for social justice starts with charitable acts such as sponsoring a child in a Third World country.

“The problem comes when you begin questioning structures” of governments and economies, he insisted.

A preacher may be safe in promoting grassroots economic development in the Third World, but the sermon gets risky when it includes criticism of United States trade policies, he noted as an example.

Prophetic preaching represents “a struggle against principalities and powers,” which he defined as potentially demonic social institutions including governments, industries and mass media.

“But if you’re going to speak prophetically, first realize you’re not a prophet,” Campolo said, drawing a distinction between biblical prophets who spoke divine revelation and modern preachers who seek to explain and apply that revelation.

“You don’t have a direct word from the Lord. There’s room for dialogue. Entertain the possibility that you could be wrong. You can’t afford to abuse people from the pulpit.”

Ministers struggle with two conflicting roles—the pastor who seeks to unify the congregation and the prophet who speaks troubling words, Campolo acknowledged.

Guest speakers and “unpaid clergy” enjoy a freedom denied to pastors who depend on the support of their congregations, he noted, but someone needs to take up the prophetic mantle.

“We live in perilous times. We need prophets who will speak to principalities and powers,” he concluded.

Speaking at a student chapel service held in conjunction with the ethics conference, Campolo challenged ministerial students to “make a counter-cultural stand against the pressures of society.”

Prophetic preachers who surrender totally to God’s direction cannot fit in—either to a materialistic society or a denominational career ladder, he insisted.

“Be counter-cultural agents for Jesus Christ,” he urged. “You are not called to be custodians of institutions but agents of change.” 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: 3/03/06

Ethical preaching begins with clear calling

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

WACO—Ethical preaching begins with a minister’s clear sense of vocational calling, preaching professor Joel Gregory told a ministerial ethics conference at Baylor University’s Truett Seminary.

“The call is both vertical and horizontal. It comes from God, but it needs to be validated by other people,” Gregory said.

Reflecting on his own experiences, he recalled leaving a troubled, high-profile pastorate at First Baptist Church in Dallas and working as a door-to-door funeral salesman and later a magazine publisher. He finally returned to a preaching ministry when renowned African-American pastor E.K. Bailey and a few other ministers insisted he not deny his calling.

When asked by a female student what to do when doors close because some churches refuse to consider the possibility that a person might be called to preach, he replied: “Realize not everyone will validate your call. Not everybody validates mine.”

Ethics in the pulpit requires the preacher to recognize he or she totally depends on God—not the other way around, Gregory told the conference, sponsored by the Christian Ethics Today Foundation.

“Understand that preaching is a partnership with God; it is not a solo performance,” he said.

“Preaching is a partnership with God, but it is not an equal partnership.”

Ethical preaching demands respect for the scriptural text, the congregation and the “other voices” that have shaped the congregation’s faith—including former pastors, Gregory said.

“Yours is not the only voice they will hear,” he said. “You are not a solo performer. You are part of an ensemble of voices that resonates in many of the hearers.”

The best sermons “are for specific people in a specific venue,” and that means the preacher must know his congregation, he insisted.

The minister earns the right to speak God’s message to the congregation by day-in and day-out ministry to them, diligent study and thorough preparation, Gregory said.

“Select a text and take it seriously in its context. That means a willingness to do first-person exegetical work,” he said. “It means I must live with the text until I understand what it said so I can, in turn, declare what it says.”

Pulpit plagiarism presents a real temptation when “sermons are just a click away” on the Internet, Gregory acknowledged.

Preachers don’t need to footnote every reference book they use in sermon preparation, but they should give due credit when they quote anyone else or use their sermon illustrations, he added.

Gregory called for authenticity in the pulpit regarding delivery, dress and manner of speech. But that doesn’t mean using the sermon as a group therapy time, he added.

“Put away your anger before you enter into the pulpit,” he advised. “The sermon is not the time and the pulpit is not the place to exorcise your demons of anger.”

Preachers must recognize the fine line between manipulation and persuasion, particularly when it comes to offering a public invitation to make a faith commitment, Gregory said.

“Trust the word and the Spirit in the church to do the work,” he urged. And after the sermon, continue to pray for those who have heard it.

“I was late in learning this, but remember the importance of post-sermon intercession. God gives the increase,” he said. 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: 3/03/06

Victims urge BGCT to release list

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

DALLAS—A support group for abuse victims has asked the Baptist General Convention of Texas to publish its list of ministers involved in clergy sexual misconduct.

Miguel Prats, Texas coordinator for the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests and Other Clergy, said the convention is allowing ministers who have committed child abuse in one congregation to serve in other churches by not publishing its list of clergy members involved in sexual misconduct.

The BGCT keeps a confidential list of individuals who are reported by a church for sexual misconduct, including child molestation and extramarital affairs. Designated individuals from churches can write and find out if specific people are on the list, but they cannot find out why a person was reported.

BGCT staff members have publicized how the list works at numerous conferences and meetings across the state and on the Internet. The overwhelming majority of people on the list are there because of sexual misconduct between two adults, not for inappropriate action with minors, said Jan Daehnert, BGCT congregational leadership team interim director.

Prats cited the plight of one current Austin resident who was molested in 1969 by a youth minister serving in the Dallas area. The minister left the congregation shortly after the incident was discovered and went on to serve at several other Baptist churches.

The BGCT has produced several materials that detail the ills of clergy sexual misconduct, Daehnert said. The convention advises every church to report incidents of child abuse to the local authorities and urges congregations to ask whether someone is in the file before hiring him or her. It is doing as much or more than any other Baptist body to prevent child abuse, he asserted.

“The Baptist General Conven-tion of Texas takes issues of clergy sexual misconduct very seriously,” Daehnert said. “We grieve when any minister takes inappropriate actions, especially toward a minor. It is an abuse of authority and power, but it is also shameful to the body of Christ.

“We are doing all we can to prevent sexual misconduct from occurring in our churches. The Baptist General Convention of Texas is the first state convention to my knowledge that has taken a strong stance to help churches report predators and help victims. We are encouraging churches to report issues of misconduct and urging search committees to check with us before hiring anyone.”

But Prats said his organization wants more. It wants the convention to share openly the list with other Baptist conventions and with the public. Doing otherwise, he said, is “hiding” the problem. “We find the BGCT has an obligation to protect other people.”

Daehnert agreed that protecting children is of highest importance, but unlike other denominational bodies, the convention has no authority over local congregations. It cannot investigate activities or remove pastors because every local congregation is autonomous.

At this point, the most the convention can do is keep the list it will share with churches that inquire, Daehnert said.

“We’re not hiding. We’re glad to help. We’re just sticking to our process,” he said.

Churches provide information about clergy sexual misconduct in confidence, Daehnert said. Removing that confidence would make churches less likely to report abuse because many times congregations try to protect the identity of victims as much as possible.

“We don’t publish the list because the list is given to us in confidence by congregations that have had ministers confess or where substantial evidence has been uncovered,” Daehnert said. “Those congregations have reported something that is very troubling. They share with us in confidence their experience.” 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: 3/03/06

Abuse means betrayal, panelists say

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

WACO—Sexual misconduct occurs among ministers at a rate higher than among other trusted professions such as doctors and lawyers, a retired seminary ethics professor said.

At its heart, clergy sexual abuse represents betrayal by a minister who abuses the trust of a vulnerable and wounded person, Joe Trull told a ministerial ethics conference at Baylor University’s Truett Seminary.

Trull participated in a panel discussion on clergy sexual abuse during the conference, sponsored by the Christian Ethics Today Foundation.

“Clergy sexual exploitation is not primarily about sex. It is an abuse of power expressed in a highly destructive sexual manner,” Trull said.

While pedophile priests in the Roman Catholic Church have captured much of the media attention, clergy sexual abuse is “not just a Roman Catholic problem,” he said.

Several studies during the last 25 years across denominational lines have demonstrated consistent results—about 10 percent to 12 percent of ministers acknowledged they engaged in sexual intercourse with church members, and roughly one-fourth to one-third admitted to sexually inappropriate behavior, he noted. In more than 90 percent of the cases of sexual abuse in Protestant churches, the misconduct occurs between a male minister and female church member.

Quoting Marie Fortune, a recognized authority on clergy sexual abuse, Trull said abusive ministers usually fall into two categories:

• Predators. Typically, they are manipulative and controlling, but they also can be charismatic and charming. They seek out powerless and vulnerable women—generally—whom they can use. They are sociopaths who will continue to abuse their position if given the opportunity, leaving behind a trail of victims, Trull asserted.

• Wanderers. Generally, they are less successful professionally and personally than predators. Because they feel inadequate, they may give in to temptation and violate a boundary with another needy person. Typically, wanderers feel shame and guilt for their one-time failure. Given time and professional help, they often can “find their way back to wholeness and restoration,” Trull said.

When a minister abuses an individual, the church also feels victimized, and it may react in inappropriate ways, said panelist Philip Wise, pastor of Second Baptist Church in Lubbock.

“Churches often do what families do—keep it quiet and try to heal the hurt,” he said. “But often, people who cross a barrier once will cross it again unless there are appropriate consequences that occur and appropriate protections put into place.”

James Carter, retired director of church-minister relations for the Louisiana Baptist Convention, agreed. “What often happens in a church (when abuse occurs) is that they circle the wagons and try to keep it quiet. Often, they pass along the problem to somebody else.”

Ministers can avoid many problems by making it a policy never to be alone with a person of the opposite sex other than a spouse, Carter said. In private counseling sessions, he suggested always making sure someone is in a nearby room.

Wise told the conference he will counsel “anybody, anytime” about spiritual matters, but he refers all other counseling needs to qualified professionals. Knowledge of church members’ intimate secrets can render a minister ineffective in his role as pastor to those members, he noted.

“As a pastor, there are some things I don’t need to know,” he said.

Churches benefit from having gender balance in their ministerial staff when it comes to offering pastoral counsel, said Julie Pennington-Russell, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Waco. Depending on the nature of the counseling, some topics are best dealt with by a counselor of the same sex, she noted.

“My policy is that I don’t counsel people more than three times. After that, then I refer them,” she said, pointing out the danger of boundary violations in extended counseling relationships. 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: 3/03/06

Imperatives sum up pastoral ethics

WACO—A Lubbock minister summed up pastoral ethics in three simple imperatives: “Follow Christ. Keep your integrity. And be nice.”

Pastoral ethics represents a “widely ignored but badly needed emphasis” in Christian life, Philip Wise, pastor of Second Baptist Church in Lubbock, told an ethics in ministry conference at Baylor University’s Truett Seminary.

Wise suggested pastors establish parameters for ethical behavior by following three principles:

• Follow Christ. Don’t focus on problems or follow unworthy examples, Wise urged. Instead, follow Jesus’ example. “It’s difficult to be unkind and un-Christian when your eyes are on Jesus Christ,” he said.

• Keep integrity intact. Too many pastors surrender to pressures to “avoid controversy, fit in and not rock the boat,” Wise said. Sometimes integrity demands a minister take unpopular stands, he insisted. “When it comes to your personal integrity, no one can take it away from you. You have to give it away.”

• Be nice. Pastors should practice humility, realize they don’t have all the answers and recognize other people’s ideas matter, he said.

“Apply the Golden Rule in relationships with others,” Wise said. 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: 3/03/06

Be colleagues, not competitors

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

WACO—Pastors need to realize that other ministers—whether lay or ordained, inside their congregations or in sister churches—are colleagues, not competitors, said Julie Pennington-Russell, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Waco.

“Relationships are crucial. But if you feel like a failure in that area of your ministry, please know you’re not alone,” Pennington-Russell told a ministerial ethics conference at Baylor University’s Truett Seminary.

Many ministers have difficulty sharing their duties, recognizing church members as colleagues in ministry and moving from the role of ministry-doer to ministry-equipper, she noted.

“A whole lot of our identity is wrapped up in the notion of clergy, and it can be threatening to think of church members muscling in on our turf,” she said.

“But when we let God lead us away from being in competition with our lay colleagues, the opportunities become limitless.”

Pastors multiply their effectiveness and contribute to church health when they call out and equip gifted church members for service, she noted.

Pastors who serve on a church staff with other ministers can create a positive climate by making sure members of the ministry team invest time in getting to know each other, Pennington-Russell added.

“Senior pastors need to be careful about the language they use in talking about their colleagues,” she said. “When a pastor talks about ‘my staff,’ it reveals a level of insecurity—the need to put one’s brand on folks. I don’t own them.”

Pastors also benefit from collegial relationships with ministers in other churches—and not just like-minded ones, she noted.

“The Holy Spirit blows and does work in all kinds of congregations and through all kinds of ministers,” she observed. “We should honor our brothers and sisters who serve in other churches. And we should reach out, not just to the ones who are like us and who believe like us.” 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.