Posted: 3/03/06

Panhandle-Plains conference
taps changing demographics

By Teresa Young

Wayland Baptist University

PLAINVIEW—Reaching the changing West Texas populations with the gospel will require intentional efforts, a worker mentality and an attitude of acceptance, panelists told participants at the 85th annual Panhandle-Plains Pastors’ and Laymen’s Conference at Wayland Baptist University.

Panelists invited participants to examine changing demographic trends—particularly the explosive growth of the Hispanic population, as noted by Jesse Rincones, pastor of Alliance Baptist Church in Lubbock. He pointed out 1,300 of the 5,700 Baptist churches in Texas are Hispanic, and within the next decade, half of the Hispanic population in Texas will be age 25 or under.

Newly elected officers of the Panhandle-Plains Pastors’ and Laymen’s Conference are President David Lowrie (center), pastor of First Baptist Church in Canyon; President-elect Richard Laverty (right), pastor of First Baptist Church in Perryton; Secretary/Treasurer Charles Bassett (left) of Wayland Baptist University; (not pictured) First Vice President Ackey Martinez, youth director at First Baptist Church in Brownfield, and Second Vice President Carl Williams, layman at Colonial Hill Baptist Church in Snyder.

Steve Vernon, pastor of First Baptist Church in Levelland and president of the 2006 conference, served as moderator for the panel discussion, which also included Stacy Conner, pastor of First Baptist Church in Muleshoe; Mateo Rendon, a Hispanic strategist with the Baptist General Convention of Texas; and Charles Davenport, a retired pastor from Tulia now serving as a BGCT congregational strategist.

Texas Baptists need to return to the command of Jesus to become workers in the harvest, Rendon said. Quoting Matthew 9:37, “The fields are white to harvest, but the workers are few,” he emphasized that congregations must develop a worker mentality in order to reach not only the Hispanic population in West Texas but all populations.

“The question to ask is how many of the workers are out there working? I would venture to say that a third of these congregations are what we’re counting on,” Rendon said. “What we need to see is that percentage of workers doing the will of God increase.”

Rendon and Rincones pointed out that knowing how to reach the Hispanic population first involves defining the population and its subsets.

For instance, Rendon said, the recent immigrants who speak little English and come from a primarily Roman Catholic background will be a different audience altogether than the third- and fourth-generation Hispanic young families whose children speak little to no Spanish and who may be further removed from Catholic influence.

“You are probably closer to reaching Hispanics than you think,” Rincones said. “The language barrier is not there as much as it used to be, but the cultural differences remain. The question is how we embrace this change biblically and with a Christian view.

“The only way to reach Texas is not through a Hispanic perspective or a white perspective but a Christian perspective and a realization of the need for the gospel.”

The key to reaching any population is to be relational and meet the needs of people, Rincones stressed. New strategies like cowboy churches, college worship services and other efforts are examples of how churches are reaching different populations by focusing on common interests, and reaching different cultures has the same principle, he said.

Churches need to be intentional in their partnership efforts, he em-phasized. Planning combined services or activities between the traditionally Anglo churches and the Hispanic churches in a neighborhood can build the camaraderie and trust levels needed to work together and really reflect the body of Christ, he said.

Taking it one step further, Rincones said the two churches could even share members with each other in order to make both churches blended and benefit from the shared experience.

Blending of communities, even in the congregations, is likely to happen by chance and time, Rincones said. But churches would be better served to pursue those efforts intentionally and build trust and bonds between the cultures. Cooperation with other churches also is essential, he added.

“We’re going to have to redefine how we’re doing church,” Rendon said. “We must get away from the spirit of competition and get back to a spirit of companionship.”

Davenport said the changing population during his ministry has proved that models of the past likely need tweaking if the church is going to be effective at reaching its entire community, regardless of culture.

“Years ago, the idea was to build or buy a building and start a Mexican mission, and we thought we’d done our duty. But that wasn’t really the case,” Davenport said.

“We have problems in reaching other populations as well, even the Anglo population. I think we’re going to have to realize that we’re going to have do something different and distinct or we’re going to lose this world for the gospel.”

Intentionality also in-volves welcoming guests at church, Davenport said.

“We assume that everybody knows they’re welcome at our churches, but they may not know that,” he said.

“We have to be more assertive in making people know they’re welcome here, regardless of ethnicity.”

In an example of meeting needs and relating to people, Conner described an after-school program hosted by his church at which children play games, do crafts and study the Bible in the church one day each week.

“The group at that program looks like our local elementary schools, but those children are not available to us on Sunday mornings” be-cause they are in other churches, Conner said. “We’re just investing in the lives of these children and hoping it pays dividends later.”

The Pastors’ and Laymen’s Conference also featured messages by Joel Gregory, preaching professor at Baylor University’s Truett Seminary; Don Sewell of Texas Baptist Partnerships; David Wilson of Lubbock; Gil Ramirez of Levelland; and Michael Evans of Mansfield. 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

Rankin discusses private prayer language

By Trennis Henderson

Kentucky Western Recorder

BANFF, Alberta (ABP)—Acknowledging he has practiced a private prayer language for more than 30 years, Jerry Rankin candidly shared his views about the Southern Baptist International Mission Board trustees’ recent action on the issue.

Rankin, president of the mission board since 1993, addressed the topic during a question-and-answer session with Baptist editors meeting in Banff, Alberta, Canada, for the 2006 Association of State Baptist Papers annual meeting.

“I do have a private prayer language,” Rankin told the editors. However, “I don’t consider myself to have a gift of tongues. I’ve never been led to practice glossolalia publicly.

“I’ve never viewed personally my intimacy with the Lord and the way his Spirit guides me in prayer time as being the same as glossolalia,” he added. “I just want God to have freedom to do everything that he wants to do in my life, and I’m going to be obedient to that.”

The issue of a private prayer language, generally considered a form of glossolalia or speaking in tongues, came to a head in November when IMB trustees adopted a policy banning the future appointment of missionaries who practice a private prayer language. The mission board’s policy already excludes people who speak in tongues in public worship from serving as missionaries.

Although the new policy specifies it is not retroactive, some trustees expressed concern that the action is a slap at Rankin’s leadership. He confirmed prior to his 1993 election that his private prayer life included occasional experiences of “praying in the Spirit.”

Detailing his personal views on the issue, Rankin said, “I’m certainly not a cessationist”—someone who believes certain spiritual gifts recorded in Scripture, such as speaking in tongues, no longer function.

“I believe … as long as the Holy Spirit is operable in our lives and in the church and in the world, what the Bible tells about the work and functioning of the Holy Spirit is applicable,” he noted. “Now that may change historically, but I certainly don’t think we have the latitude to just disregard it.

“I just don’t see how you can be an inerrantist and be a cessationist,” Rankin said. But he acknowledged others hold the view that someone can’t be an inerrantist without being a cessationist.

Insisting that “I don’t consider myself a charismatic,” Rankin said his private prayer language remains just that—private. “No one’s ever heard me pray in anything other than English, so I think it is still very private and it will remain so,” he said, “but it’s nothing to deny.”

Rankin insisted he has been “very open with the board” about his personal prayer life. “I don’t advocate it. I don’t see it as normal or that I should propose that anyone ought to pray in tongues. It’s just what God has chosen to do in my life.” 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

Red River senior adult VBS sparks mission trip

By George Henson

Staff Writer

PARIS—Senior adults in Red River Valley Baptist Association decided they weren’t too old for Vacation Bible School, and that led them to realize they weren’t too old to participate in missions, either.

Last August, Gloria Parker—whose husband, Don, was pastor of First Baptist Church in Roxton—was upset when her church elected not to have Vacation Bible School for its children.

“I was grieved before the Lord that not only were our children not going to have Vacation Bible School, but neither would their families have the experience,” she recalled.

About that time, Parker’s fibromyalgia interrupted her sleep, and she was impressed in prayer that even if there were no Vacation Bible School for children, there could be one for senior adults.

No one in the association recalled a senior adult Vacation Bible School conducted in the past, but Parker was determined.

On a trip to a Christian bookstore in Dallas, she found a single kit left for adult Vacation Bible School, and “I thought that one probably had my name on it,” she recalled.

The Vacation Bible School was held five consecutive Mondays from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m.—90 minutes for missions and Bible study, with the last 30 minutes reserved for a meal. The first session was at First Baptist in Roxton, but the next four sessions rotated among other churches in the association.

The Monday afternoon sessions averaged more 50 participants, and a couple of weeks drew more than 70 people.

At one meeting, Parker asked participants for ideas for the future.

“One lady said she wanted us to do something outside ourselves, something that would benefit others,” Parker recalled.

That was the starting point for a mission trip to Alabama next month. A group of senior adults from the association will travel to Alabama to work with the E.L. Hodges ministry there.

The ministry collects excess Bible study materials and ships them around the world to ministries that cannot afford to pay for them.

The Texas group will sort the materials, and volunteers who are physically able will shrinkwrap and load them up for shipping, said Mike Cosgrove, director of missions for Red River Valley Association.

“It’s going to be a way for senior adults to do international missions without the expense of going overseas,” he said.

The trip will meet several needs for parti-cipants, he added.

“A lot of senior adults like to travel, but many also want to make a difference. This will also be a great time of fellowship for us,” Cosgrove said.

“I just wish they could be on the other end to see the joy on the faces when the containers are opened up,” he continued.

Playing a part in seeing that literature is used rather than being a thrown away especially addresses a desire for Parker, who is now a member at First Baptist Church in Paris after her husband’s retirement last September.

“I had a burden for years about literature that was thrown away, and I was thrilled that someone not only had a burden about it, but also was doing something about it,” she said.

And doing something is the job of everyone, regardless of age, Parker believes.

“The Lord will be coming back soon, we believe, and we all have a lot of work to do before he does,” she 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

Sri Lanka ministries
continue despite political unrest

By Craig Bird

Baptist Child & Family Services

BATTICALOA, Sri Lanka—Texas Baptist ministries in Sri Lanka continue despite ongoing political tensions.

Two Baptist General Convention of Texas-related groups—Baptist Child & Family Services and Texas Baptist Men—have worked in the Indian Ocean island-nation since January 2005. Both groups have based their ministries in the east coast town of Batticaloa, which straddles the uneasy ceasefire line between government troops and their adversaries for the past 23 years, the Tamil Tigers.

A foster care program, operated by the Baptist Child & Family Services overseas arm—Children’s Emergency Relief International—now has 70 tsunami orphans in care, and the six Sri Lankan staffers are “in the field each week and have reported no concerns or incidents,” an agency spokesman said.

Baptist Child & Family Services provides counseling to help people, like this couple still living in a refugee camp, deal with post-traumatic shock.

A Texas Baptist Men construction team has been on standby several months. Volunteers with TBM, who also drilled numerous water wells and built temporary houses in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami, plan to complete the last building of a Gospel for Asia training center when the parachurch organization gives the go-ahead, said TBM Executive Director Leo Smith.

First Baptist Church in Corpus Christi has partnered with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship effort to build houses and drill water wells. CBF reports its work also is advancing, but some trips into Tamil territory have been postponed in recent weeks.

CBF volunteer teams continue to travel and work in Sri Lanka, said Grace Powell Freeman, associate coordinator of CBF Global Missions. Career field personnel, redeployed to Sri Lanka after the tsunami, are concentrating on housing as well as training locals in well drilling because, as one field representative said, “if fighting does break out again, war and no-water are not good companions.”

A recent increase in reported violence and some major road closings during the weeks prior to a Feb. 22 meeting in Geneva between the sides was not much different than what the country has experienced for almost 25 years.

“Nothing is any more dangerous now than it’s been for the last four to five years,” said Basil Fonseka, national director of the Children’s Emergency Relief International program. “I contacted Samaritan’s Purse, World Vision and Habitat for Humanity, and all of them said things were relatively calm, and they had no big concerns.”

Batticaloa experienced a one-week curfew just before Christmas, and in late January, 10 people working for other relief agencies were kidnapped along with three policemen. The policemen and three of the workers have been released, and “positive negotiations are being held for the others” sources said.

Recently, two bombs were discovered in Colombo, the nation’s capital, located on the west coast, but neither detonated. In Batticaloa, government military posts and checkpoints are conspicuous every few blocks—normal for the past several years.

Occasional skirmishes and political assassinations have been standard since a 2002 truce halted an all-out war. Ongoing peace talks broke off in April 2003.

Fears that the truce might give way to open warfare again escalated in late 2005 but eased with the Jan. 25 announcement that the two sides would resume talks in Geneva Feb. 22. A major incentive for the resumption was the threat of Western nations, including the United States, to withhold $4.5 billion in aid unless there was progress toward a peace settlement.

The 2002 truce put a stop to most of the fighting that has claimed an estimated 65,000 lives since the civil war began in 1983. It pits the government, dominated by the country’s majority ethnic group, the Sinhalese, who are overwhelmingly Bud-dhist, against the predominately Hindu Tamils. Tamils make up less than 20 percent of the island’s population of 20 million but are concentrated in the northern and eastern areas.

Both the Muslim and Christian populations are estimated at less than 3 percent each.

In Geneva Feb. 22-23, the two sides “agreed to uphold their existing cease-fire … committed to respecting and upholding the cease-fire agreement … and agreed to reopen peace negotiations April 19-21,” the Associated Press reported.

In addition to its expanding foster care program, Children’s Emergency Relief International plans to put more volunteer teams in Sri Lanka in the coming months, concentrating on medical/dental efforts and providing post- traumatic shock counseling.

“I hope Texas Baptists, who responded with incredible compassion and zeal after the tsunami, will continue to pray for Sri Lanka,” said Baptist Child & Family Services President Kevin Dinnin, who led the first Children’s Emergency Relief International team that started the work with tsunami orphans.

“We covet the support for our staff and volunteers who do such a great job in difficult circumstances. But also remember to keep praying for those Sri Lankans who bore the brunt of the tsunami’s fury and have also been in the middle of civil war all these years.” 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

Texas Tidbits

Pro alums help improve Baylor Ballpark. Baylor University alumni Jason Jennings and Kip Wells recently contributed $50,000 each toward $400,000 in Baylor Ballpark improvements, including a new scoreboard. Jennings, a pitcher for the Colorado Rockies, and Wells, a pitcher for Pittsburgh Pirates, recently participated in an exhibition game against the 2006 Baylor squad at the ballpark.

Hardin-Simmons tops $100 million endowment. Hardin-Simmons University has exceeded $100 million in endowment, 10 months ahead of the goal President Craig Turner announced in his 2001 inaugural address. At that time, Turner launched the Securing the Future fund-raising campaign to increase the school’s endowment from $57.5 million to $100 million by the end of 2006. The campaign has netted $42.5 million.

Baylor University names interim CIO and dean. Baylor University has named Becky King interim chief information officer and William B. Hair III as interim dean of libraries. King has been director of information services, and Hair was associate dean and director of university libraries. They assume responsibilities previously held by Reagan Ramsower, vice president for finance and administration.

HSU trustees create new VP post. Hardin-Simmons University trustees created a new vice president of enrollment management position and named Shane Davidson, former associate vice president of enrollment services, to the post. In other administrative changes at Hardin-Simmons, Bill Ellis, former vice president for academic affairs, was named provost, and three vice presidents were named senior vice presidents—Wayne Roy in advancement, Chief Operations Officer Harold Preston in finance and Michael Whitehorn in student development.

UMHB offers Spanish classes in Mexico. Advance registration opens March 21 and 22 for intermediate and advanced Spanish classes the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor will offer July 1-Aug. 1 in Querétaro, Mexico. Cost for six credit-hours is about $3,500, including tuition, transportation, meals and lodging, excursions and some social activities. The price is subject to change, depending on the exchange rate and airfare roundtrip from Houston. This study abroad is offered each summer and will consist of four hours of class per day, taught by UMHB faculty or professors from the Universidad de Querétaro. Prerequisite for this class is a successful completion of first-year college Spanish or the equivalent. For more information, contact Judith Arnold, program director, at (254) 295-4631 or jarnold@umhb.edu.

Abilene magnet school on Hardin-Simmons campus. The Abilene Independent School District’s first magnet school, a health science academy, will be housed on the Hardin-Simmons University campus, adjacent to the Hendrick Health System hospital complex. The academy will be in Hardin-Simmons’ Holland School of Sciences and Mathematics. Students completing the program can receive industry-recognized certifications as pharmacy technicians, basic emergency medical technicians, phlebotomy technicians and certified nurse aides, as well as several levels of first aid and CPR. 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

TOGETHER:
Mandate & mission push Texas Baptists

Texas Baptists are a special kind of people. We believe God has given us a great mandate and a great mission—to love him as we love nothing else, to love our neighbors as we love ourselves and in that love to go everywhere calling people to follow Jesus Christ. And we believe that if God is in something, then he will provide a way to get it done.

Quite simply, Texas Baptists like being on the cutting edge of God’s purposes in the world. I was reminded of that this past week. It was an emotional and intense time.

Executive Director BGCT Executive Board

It may seem a bit mundane, but the reorganized Executive Board of the Baptist General Convention of Texas met for the first time Feb. 27-28. We had dreamed of an Executive Board that would be more actively involved in directing the activities of our convention, and at this first meeting, we began to see that dream come to life.

This change signals a new day in which Texas Baptists continue their long-established pattern of innovating and working to meet the ever-changing needs of our churches and the mission fields around us.

Texas Baptists also are “big tent” Baptists. We do not try to stand alone. Rather, we enjoy working alongside fellow Baptists throughout the United States and around the world.

Our new Executive Board illustrated this as it voted to begin a partnership with the fledgling Baptist General Convention of Missouri. We share a passion for helping churches reach the world for Christ.

But the BGCT tent is even bigger still. We have room inside for Baptists from throughout the world, as our membership in the Baptist World Alliance happily proclaims.

David Coffey, the new president of the BWA, came to Texas last week on his first major trip in his new role. David preached in three churches, two Baptist universities and at three BGCT events. Each time I heard him, I thanked God for preparing this man to lead the world Baptist family these next five years.

We had two goals in mind when we became part of the Baptist World Alliance:

One, we wanted to let the Baptists of the world know that we love them, believe in them and want to be full partners with them in evangelizing the world.

Two, we wanted the Baptists of Texas to know the Baptists of the world and experience how big our Baptist family truly is.

The BGCT believes in missions, evangelism, Christian education and benevolent ministries in the name of Jesus. We always have. And we are committed, as our constitution says, “to advancing all the interests of the Redeemer’s kingdom.”

The unity we feel with the Baptists of the world inspires and encourages us as we make new friends and share in the passion and pain, vision and victories of our brothers and sisters on every continent.

Texas Baptists are on mission to touch the world for Christ. We are not isolated. We are not content to care about Texas alone, even though it remains a great mission field with at least 10 million people who have no church home. We know that the lostness of the world is deep and tragic. And we are grateful for all those everywhere who want to see the love of Jesus Christ touch every life, every community, every people, tribe and nation of the world.

We are all loved.

Charles Wade is executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

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

Churches need to welcome guests

By Ken Walker

Baptist Press

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (BP)—When Thomas Hammond led a workshop eight years ago on how churches can become more visitor- friendly, he had no idea he would stimulate an ongoing series of sessions that continue today.

“I’m amazed at the ride because people have heard about it,” said Hammond, who estimates he has traveled to 20 states to present the workshop. “It’s meeting a need that we’ve neglected.”

The former pastor developed the lesson after he took a job as director of church evangelism with the North American Mis-sion Board and began the search for a new church. Although he had been a Southern Baptist for a long time, Hammond said he and his wife were ignored, ostracized or treated like outsiders when they visited churches in the Atlanta area.

“We hear preaching on the word of God, but we don’t experience it,” said Ham-mond, who left the mission board to become director of missions for the Metrolina Baptist As-sociation in Charlotte, N.C.

His unpleasant experiences prompted an effort to educate churches on how to prepare for visitors—he prefers calling them guests—on Sundays.

One reason churches fail to make a good impression on first-timers is because they focus on the wrong things, he said.

At a church training seminar sponsored by the Kentucky Baptist Convention, Hammond noted pastors devote considerable time to preparing Sunday morning sermons.

But he cited past research that shows most visitors decide whether to return in the first 10 to 12 minutes, long before the sermon’s delivery.

The decision is based on such factors as building appearance and the friendliness of greeters, Hammond said, and the truth is most Christians aren’t prepared to be welcoming.

“We tend to stop brotherly love within the four walls of the church,” he said. “What if we treated everyone who came to our services this Sunday as an angel, a special guest? Not necessarily for what they’ve done to this point, but for their potential.”

Hammond noted visitor parking as one area that shows whether a church is serious about welcoming newcomers.

While at the mission board, Hammond visited one church that had dwindled from 500 to 300 despite double-digit population growth in its area. When he surveyed the property and asked if they wanted visitors to come, leaders nodded yes. But Hammond said he didn’t believe them because they only had two visitor parking spaces.

After Hammond recommended they increase that number to the level of guests they wanted, the church set aside 20 prime spaces.

Over the next two and a half years, attendance doubled, not just because of increased guest parking but because they gained a more hospitable outlook, he said.

“It’s a change of vision, of re-understanding your purpose,” Hammond said. “It wasn’t just that. But once they got it all straightened out, God blessed them. When people get focused on something besides themselves, their arms are open to whoever God brings to them.”

Another change that can create a more welcoming atmosphere is exchanging the term “visitor” for “guest,” he said.

Nobody wants to be labeled a visitor. While visitors don’t come back, you can’t keep guests away, Hammond said.

Despite the truth that churches can’t grow without guests and they won’t grow if guests don’t return, most spend little time preparing for company, he added.

“How much time do you think the average church spends getting ready for people who don’t come to their church?” Hammond asked.

“Our focus on Sunday morning is on us,” he said. “What would happen if we spent 30, 40 or 50 percent of our time getting ready for guests? Would their experience be different?”

Hammond said some factors that create a good impression include:

• An attractive campus.

This means a clean, well-maintained building that is landscaped outside, is inviting cosmetically and has plenty of directional signs in the parking lot and for such key facilities as the nursery and the front entrance.

• Guest parking.

The parking lot should have an adequate number of guest spaces that are easy to identify. Not only must they be the best spaces, it helps to have greeters in the parking lot in addition to the front door, Hammond said.

• Friendly greeters.

These people should be the best of the best, he said. They should wear name-tags, escort guests to the welcome center and understand the value of this time.

Training all greet-ers in maintaining a cordial nature is a must, Hammond said. He recalled a visit where a greeter snarled at him to make sure he wasn’t a member using visitor parking.

“Preachers, it would scare us to death if we knew how people are treated in our parking lot,” Hammond said.

Some other steps Hammond outlined:

• Maintain a central location where guests are welcomed and receive information. He said this information should include such items as a campus map, newsletter, information on upcoming events, summary of all ministries and information on discipleship classes and recreation opportunities.

• Offer a clean, bright, cheerful and secure nursery.

• Teach members to make guests feel valued, have everyone who speaks introduce themselves, and provide a post-service reception where guests can meet the pastor and staff.

Churches need to be attuned to the fact that the main reason guests show up on a Sunday morning is they are hurting or have some kind of problem, even though they won’t share that initially, Hammond said.

“Most of the time when people come, they’re treated like an annoyance because they’re messing up our gig,” he said.

“They don’t know how to act; they’re not like us. They’re lost. Show them some love, and they’ll want to listen to what you have to say.” 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

WorldconneX adds three staff positions

By David Williams

WorldconneX

WorldconneX, a missions network Texas Baptists launched two years ago, is adding three staff positions to help churches send their members on long-term missions assignments.

The three new positions are team leaders for mobilizing churches, front-line services and systems support.

The team leader for mobilizing churches will challenge churches to engage directly in missions, provide coaching to help them be effective and plug them into affinity groups organized around people groups, geographical areas or missions approaches.

The front-line services team leader will provide cross-cultural training, consultation and connections with missions agencies and other groups on the mission field. In addition, he or she will help churches provide insurance, annuity and international monetary transfer for those they send.

Victor Upton joined the World-conneX staff Jan. 1 as systems support team leader. His responsibilities include website development, information services, financial business plans and infrastructures for missions engagement. Upton worked 19 years with American Airlines, where he was instrumental in developing its electronic ticket system.

The Baptist General Convention of Texas Administrative Committee approved additional funding last fall for the new positions to help churches engage more directly in strategic missions around the world.

“WorldconneX is not a missionary-sending agency,” said Bill Tinsley, WorldconneX leader. “Sending missionaries is the responsibility of the churches. Churches can fulfill that responsibility, as they have traditionally done, through missions agencies. Or, with some logistical and consulting help from us, they can set apart, send and support their own members whom God calls to missions. Smaller churches may want to join with other churches in sending those who are called.

“Front-line missions-sending chur-ches need coaches and partners to work with. They need cross-cultural training and strategy consultation. They need informational support and an infrastructure for handling logistics such as insurance, annuity and international money transfers. That’s where WorldconneX comes in. We are committed to becoming the go-to agency for churches who need help in sending their own people.”

WorldconneX will welcome resumes and recommendations for the mobilizing churches team leader and front-line services team leader until March 31.

For more information and job descriptions, visit the WorldconneX web site at www.worldconnex.org or call (214) 421-7999. Resumes and recommendations should be sent to Executive Committee Chairman, WorldconneX, 1409 S. Lamar, Dallas 75215. 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

EDITORIAL:
Offer letters to reduce global poverty

Can you afford to invest $1.17 and a few minutes to reduce global poverty? That’s the cost of three first-class stamps and the amount of time you’ll need to write your senators and congressional representative, urging them to direct an additional 1 percent of the federal budget to defeating global poverty, hunger and AIDS.

This is a goal already claimed—but not yet funded—by our government. The United States has joined 188 other countries in agreeing to the Millennium Development Goals, a set of eight objectives for overcoming poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental damage and discrimination against women. The cornerstone of the project is a worthy target—cutting poverty in half by 2015. President Bush has signed on to this grand plan. Last year, he pledged to double all foreign assistance in order to ensure progress.

Two obstacles stand between the president’s intention and reality. First is congressional approval; the House and Senate have to ratify a budget that includes such funding. Second is allocation of resources. Less than half of all U.S. foreign aid goes to poverty-focused development assistance, or programs that actually eliminate poverty. For example, last year, the United States spent $19.5 billion on foreign aid, but only $9.6 billion (49.2 percent) focused on poverty reduction and helping countries provide health care, schools, clean water, sanitation and roads—the kind of infrastructure necessary to help people climb up out of the pit of poverty.

Unfortunately, the need is overwhelming: Worldwide, more than 850 million people suffer from hunger. Six million children die from hunger-related causes each year. That’s almost 16,500 children per day, 685 per hour. They’re among the 50,000 people who die daily from such poverty- and hunger-related diseases as AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, malnutrition and dysentery.

The enormity of the problem can lead well-meaning people to despair. But Bread for the World, the multi-faith grassroots hunger-fighting lobby, has urged Christians to stand together to make a difference on behalf of the world’s poor. Bread for the World has called for an Offering of Letters—a letter-writing campaign urging Congress to increase the United States’ poverty-focused development assistance by $5 billion in the 2007 budget. That would elevate hunger-fighting funding from about $10.6 billion this year to $15.6 billion next year. It’s still about $18 billion below the level needed to stay on pace to cut poverty in half by 2015, but it’s a doable goal.

Some may say an additional $5 billion for poverty relief is excessive. But the new figure still is much less than 1 percent of the government’s $2.5 trillion budget.

Some may say international aid is a waste, that it props up corrupt governments. But most poverty-focused assistance programs work with responsible, democratically elected governments, local citizens, or U.S. and local nongovernmental relief organizations.

Some may say this is none of our business, that poor people are the responsibility of local churches or their own governments. But the Bible says otherwise. The prophet Isaiah promised: “If you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your light will become like the noonday” (Isaiah 58:10). Jesus admonished: “To the extent that you did it (fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, comforted the stranger, clothed the naked, and visited the sick and prisoners) to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to Me” (Matthew 25:40) and “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded” (Luke 12:48).

God will judge us by how well we cared for our poor neighbors, and in this small world in which we live, all people are our neighbors.

“One Spirit. One Will. Zero Poverty” is the theme for Bread for the World’s Offering of Letters this year. Please participate, and urge your church to participate. By encouraging our government to spend less than 1 percent of its budget—an amount we never will miss—we can take the next step toward eliminating poverty and all the diseases and maladies that plague the world’s poorest citizens.

You can find out more about the Offering of Letters by visiting Bread for the World’s website, www.bread.org. Pull down on the “Take Action” button, and you will find an array of resources, from Offering of Letters resource kits, to sample letters, to a handy tool that tells you how to reach your senators and representative.

Write today. People are dying of poverty.

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: 3/01/06

Family Bible Series for March 12

A Christian’s persistent
prayer strikes fear in Satan

• Luke 11:1-13

By Greg Ammons

First Baptist Church, Garland

“All we have left now is prayer.” How often have you heard this statement? What impression of prayer do you have when you hear this statement? Doesn’t it sound as if prayer is the last resort? Does God intend for prayer to be a last-ditch effort when everything else has failed? Does he intend for prayer to be a desperation shot at the buzzer?

As Jesus journeyed toward Jerusalem to die on the cross, he taught his followers wonderful lessons of discipleship. He was approximately one year from his crucifixion at Calvary. Many truths needed to be communicated to the disciples, and Jesus viewed prayer as one of these vital teachings. He said prayer was to be the first response, not a last- gasp effort. If we want to be effective followers of Christ, we must follow the example of Jesus and pray first.

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Pray intentionally (Luke 11:1-4)

Jesus had been praying in a certain place, and the disciples took note of his discipline. One of the disciples spoke up, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples” (v. 1). Previously, Jesus had taught his disciples about prayer in both word (Matthew 6:7-15) and action (Luke 9:29). Yet, somehow, on this occasion, Jesus’ example of prayer stirred a fresh interest in the subject.

Jesus responded to this statement by restating the previous principles he had taught them in the Sermon on the Mount. Now, several months later, he restated the same principles by giving his followers a variation of the same prayer.

The Model Prayer also is known today as “The Lord’s Prayer.” In it, Jesus listed elements that should be a part of an effective prayer. They simply are elements for inclusion and not magical words designed to be recited as a ritual.

Jesus was showing his disciples prayer must be intentional. Our Father desires praise, petition, forgiveness and deliverance to be vital aspects of our communication with him.

God invites his children to prayer as a vital link in their relationship with him. Prayer is not to be haphazard or reserved just for troubled circumstances. Communion with God on a daily basis is vital to a believer.

Is your praying intentional? Do you include these elements regularly as a part of your daily communion with God?

Pray persistently (Luke 11:5-10)

Jesus continued his teaching on prayer by giving his disciples a hypothetical situation. If a friend comes asking for bread at midnight, it is possible the request could be turned down because of the hour. However, if the friend persists, then a true friend would rise up in the late hour and meet the need (vv. 5-8).

In much the same way, Jesus urged his followers to be persistent in their prayer life. He implored them to ask, seek and knock. Everyone who asks will be given, those who seek will find and to him who knocks, the door shall be opened (vv. 9-10).

Too often, believers pray briefly and hurriedly, yet expect an instant answer. Although the length of prayer is not important to God’s answer, Jesus certainly taught his followers to be persistent in their prayer life.

The devil will fight the persistence of a Christian in prayer. Samuel Chadwick was a powerful British pastor who ministered in the late 1800s. He was known for his insightful prayer life. Chadwick once said: “The one concern to the devil is to keep the Christian from praying. He fears nothing from our prayerless studies, prayerless work and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom but trembles when we pray.”

Pray expectantly (Luke 11:11-13)

It is interesting that Jesus made reference to earthly fathers and how they enjoy giving good gifts to their children. He connected the goodness of earthly fathers to the goodness of God in regard to answered prayer.

Jesus asked: “Which of you, fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion” (vv. 11-12)? Our heavenly Father is loving and desires to give his children good gifts. Our heartfelt request will not receive a harsh answer. We can expect God to act according to his character. Thus, our prayers should reflect such an expectancy.

Jesus concluded by drawing a comparison, which was one of his favorite teaching methods. He often used the phrase, “how much more” in his teaching. Here he describes how our Heavenly Father exceeds all actions of a benevolent earthly father. Jesus asked, “If you, then, being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him” (v. 13)?

The legendary John Trapp said, “God never denied that soul anything that went as far as heaven to ask for it.” Believers in Jesus can expect good things from the hands of God. James makes it clear every good and perfect gift comes down from God himself (James 1:17).

Discussion questions

• Do you view prayer as a last resort or as a vital part of each day?

• What is the most difficult aspect of prayer to you?

• How long should a person pray for a specific need before stopping?

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: 3/01/06

Explore the Bible Series for March 12

Open up to an intense experience with God

• Isaiah 5:1-6:13

By James Adair

Baptist University of the Americas, San Antonio

This week’s lesson from the prophet Isaiah includes two well-known passages, the parable of the vineyard and the call of Isaiah, as well as a section containing six woes against evildoers. These two chapters discuss the problem of greed and the justice a holy God demands, and they suggest the proper human response to the divine call.

Isaiah 5:1-7

Mustang grapes played a small but not insignificant part in the summertime adventures of young boys growing up in South Texas in the 1960s and ’70s. Grapevines were ubiquitous in the trees alongside the Guadalupe River, and they invited us to take to them in imitation of Tarzan, proving our bravery by swinging far out over the river and back again, or sometimes just letting go and plunging into the cool water. (Warning: Do not attempt this at home! Grapevines can break—I speak from personal experience!)

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When not visiting the river, small shoots of grapevine were highly desired in certain circles, alongside rope, as a free but (I’m told) inferior alternative to cigarettes. Finally, the grapes themselves were good for munching on while walking by a stream or in the woods.

However, there was a drawback. Some mustang grapes are extremely sour, and once you got the flavor in your mouth, it was hard to get it out again. Isaiah tells a parable in which God plants a vineyard of domesticated grapes, but it yields wild grapes instead, despite God’s careful attention.

In response, God vows to remove the wall protecting the vineyard so it will be trampled and become a wasteland, and furthermore, God will command the clouds to withhold rain from the vineyard.

What is the reason for this harsh judgment? “He expected justice, but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry!” This passage contains two plays on words in Hebrew: justice (mishpat) vs. bloodshed (mishpach), righteousness (tsedaqa) vs. a cry (tse'aqa).

God demands his people treat others with justice and compassion. Many Christians are eager to decry modern society’s lax moral values, which they identify especially with sins related to sex (e.g., homosexuality and premarital sex), but are Christians equally concerned with the problems of poverty, lack of access to health care and war that afflict not only our own country but the rest of the world as well? Does God look at our world and see justice or bloodshed? As Christians, God calls on us to speak and act in ways that address all of the world's problems, not just a select few.

Isaiah 5:8-24

This series of six woes identifies sins characteristic of many of Judah’s leading citizens. The prophet singles out land grabbing, fiddling while Rome burns, defiance of God, Orwellian “newspeak” (i.e., calling something by its opposite), absolute certainty in one’s own wisdom and public corruption for particular reproach. People who practice these forms of unrighteousness overtly challenge the holiness of God, and Isaiah says God will not sit idly by and tolerate their behavior.

Isaiah 6:1-13

Have you ever had an experience so intense, so overwhelming, that years later, you still can remember it vividly? Maybe it was your first trip to the ocean, your first kiss, the first time you heard a particular song, a personal triumph, a wedding, a funeral.

Have you ever had an encounter with God that made such an impression that you’ll never forget the feeling you had at that moment?

In the year that King Uzziah died, Isaiah had such an experience while worshipping in the temple. Perhaps he had a particularly close relationship to the king—some scholars have suggested he was related to the royal family. The death of the king may have heightened Isaiah’s sensitivity to hear God’s voice.

Despite the loss of a beloved leader, Isaiah had a vision of God seated securely on the throne, unaffected by the temporary problems of the nation of Judah. Judah’s throne may have been empty, but the heavenly throne was occupied, so there was no need to fear.

In his vision, Isaiah saw strange heavenly beings (perhaps winged serpents) flitting about the throne praising God. They cried out, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

Though this short adulation has traditionally been interpreted by Christians as a reference to the Trinity, the repetition of a word is a typical Hebrew way of expressing the superlative degree: God is completely holy; none other approaches God in holiness.

That Isaiah understood the statement in this way is suggested by his cry, which echoes the appellation applied to God: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Isaiah’s statement is both profound and provocative. It is profound because he recognizes the true state of sinful, weak humanity in the presence of almighty God. It is provocative because the prophet is not afraid to claim the extraordinary: He has actually seen God!

Isaiah’s exclamation offers a challenge to us more than 2,500 years later: Can we look at the world as it truly is, a world all too often characterized by terrible evil and suffering, selfishness and greed, hatred and inhumanity, and still see God?

If we can’t, then we’d better keep our mouths shut about the problems of the world, because although we might be able to criticize, we won’t have anything positive to offer. However, if we are able to see God, even dimly, then we will be able to draw on our encounter with the divine to exhort and encourage those around us. It is only when we have an authentic encounter with God, one that makes an indelible impression on our souls, that we will be able to say, “Here am I, Lord; send me!”

Discussion questions

• Does your world view stop at recognizing the world’s ailments, or do you have solutions to offer?

• What can you do to help right a situation that obviously is not what God would have it be?

• Where will you be God’s hands and feet this week so that his power might be known?

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.

Storylist for week of 2/6/06