Posted: 2/17/06

Evangelical chaplains spark controversy

By Deborah Potter

Religion & Ethics Newsweekly

WASHINGTON (RNS)—The U.S. Armed Forces always have had chaplains, but as the number of chaplains from evangelical groups with a strong commitment to bringing nonbelievers to their faith has grown, so has a controversy about how the chaplaincy should carry out its ministry.

Historically, chaplains have served side-by-side with the troops in both peace and war, offering public prayers and private counseling—to all comers, of all faiths, believers and nonbelievers alike.

Chaplains’ “first obligation would be to (personnel of) their own denomination, but the next obligation is to anyone who comes to them for spiritual or pastoral counsel,” said Archbishop Edwin O’Brien, who oversees the military’s Catholic chaplains.

The number of Catholic and mainline Protestant chaplains has dwindled over the past decades as evangelical Christians have flocked to the chaplaincy. Some historians say the trend dates back to the Vietnam era, when Catholic and mainline Protestant churches were active in the peace movement while many evangelical churches supported the war.

Some evangelical chaplains now are telling service men and women that the only way to salvation is through Jesus Christ—an action O’Brien finds troubling.

“That is not accommodating the needs of others,” he said. “Some people don’t believe that, and it’s not my position as a chaplain to require that of them.

“I must respect who they are and what they are. Some evangelicals have stepped over the line.”

Others, however, note that bringing people to a personal encounter with Jesus is what evangelicalism is all about.

“I think a lot of evangelical conservative Christians see that as the basic work that they are to do,” said Kristen Leslie of the Yale Divinity School. “And that becomes a problem in a pluralistic environment where, because these are now employees of the government, you can’t do that.”

The issue publicly came to a head last year at the Air Force Academy, where complaints by Jewish cadets and others of proselytizing by evangelical officers and cadets led to a Pentagon investigation.

In response, the Air Force issued new interim guidelines telling chaplains to be “sensitive to those who do not welcome offerings of faith.”

In public settings where attendance is mandatory, chaplains were told to offer brief “nonsectarian” prayers.

That did not sit well with some evangelical chaplains and their supporters on Capitol Hill.

“Our men and women in uniform are in Iraq and Afghanistan to defend freedom,” said Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C. “And yet we’re having our chaplains being denied their freedom to pray in the name of their faith.”

Jones and 70 other members of Congress have been pressuring the White House to issue an executive order allowing chaplains to pray according to their faith.

A spokesman for Jones said the congressman recently discussed the guidelines with President Bush’s domestic policy adviser and now feels the White House “seems to be taking the issue seriously” and progress is being made.

Navy Chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt, a priest in the Evangelical Episcopal Church, says he was disciplined for some of his shipboard sermons. He has been working with Jones to overturn the interim guidelines. In December, he went on an 18-day hunger strike outside the White House to protest what he said were restrictions on how he could pray and preach.

“When the government says to me that, well, you can practice your faith in private but don’t say the “J-word” in public, because the Jesus word is insensitive, well, they’re characterizing “Jesus Christ” as an offensive word. And they’re turning my Lord into a slur,” he said. “Well, that is inherently offensive to me, and that is inherently discriminatory to people of my faith tradition.”

But Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, disagrees.

“When you’re hired as a chaplain, when you become an officer in the United States military, as every person in the military does, you give up certain First Amend-ment rights,” Lynn said. “But this is not fundamentally an issue of free speech. This is an idea of how the taxpayers are supporting religion in the military and legitimate restraints on what those chaplains can do.”

Klingenschmitt said the issue is his ability to practice his faith.

“When I evangelize and I invite sailors to come and hear my sermons and they disagree, that’s fine,” he said. “They are never punished for disagreeing with me.

“But when I refused to practice the faith of liberal senior chaplains, I was punished with the full weight of the United States government. So, who is proselytizing whom?”

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: 2/17/06

Bush challenges students to lives of service

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

BELTON—Former President George Bush stressed the importance of service, integrity and ties to family and friends during a lecture at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.

“There is no definition of a successful life that doesn’t include service to others,” Bush told a capacity crowd at the university’s Mayborn Campus Center, Feb. 10.

The UMHB College of Business sponsored the McLane Lecture, made possible by Baptist layman and Houston Astros owner Drayton McLane.

The nation needs “caring citizens who will make their community better than how they found it,” Bush said, challenging students to become “points of light”—a call to volunteer service that marked his presidency.

A person does not have to become president of the United States to make a significant difference in the lives of other people, he insisted.

“All you have to do is care. Roll up your sleeves, get off the sidelines and get into the game,” he urged.

Whether in business or public service, nothing substitutes for integrity, he added.

“I’ve always believed character matters,” he said. “Friendship, family and faith—you can build a life on these three things.”

During a question-and-answer session with business students, Bush responded to a query about his partnership with former President Bill Clinton in leading fund-raising efforts for disaster relief. The two former presidents helped raised more than $150 million for tsunami relief and about $100 million for Gulf Coast hurricane relief.

“It’s important to reach out and help. It’s important for people with different philosophies and from different political parties to demonstrate there are some things more important than partisan politics,” he said.

Prior to delivering his lecture, Bush received an honorary doctor of humanities degree from UMHB President Jerry Bawcom.

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: 2/17/06

John Lilley seeks balance as he leads Baylor University

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

WACO—Baylor University bills itself as “a Christian university in the historic Baptist tradition.” And when President John Lilley uses the phrase, he emphasizes every key word.

“It’s not in just any tradition and not even just any Baptist tradition. It’s the historic Baptist tradition,” he said, stressing the university’s leaders hold a distinctively Baptist understanding of religious liberty and noncreedal, biblical faith.

“In a Christian university, it re-quires balance” he said, touching on a favorite theme. “A Christian university is not a place where you park your brain at the door. We want to help students fully develop their potential—great hearts and great minds.”

Less than two months into his presidency, Lilley sees balance as a key governing principle—particularly in dealing with polarized constituencies within “the Baylor family.”

“Serious talk” and vibrant debate about important ideas should flourish on a Baptist university campus, Lilley said. He wants to create a climate of mutual respect and trust, where those conversations can occur.

“If we raise our spirits and lower our volume, that’s when we’ll really hear each other,” he said. “How we treat each other is important.

“Atmosphere matters. … If we treat each other badly in God’s name, shame on us.”

Lilley recognizes debate about how to achieve the integration of faith and learning led to misunderstandings and mistrust over the last several years.

“In some disciplines, the integration of faith and learning will be intensive. In some, it will be less intensive. But we’re going to be intentional about it,” he said.

Consequently, Lilley has instructed all academic departments to submit by March 1 a self-assessment of how they plan to advance Baylor’s commitment to being a Christian university.

As the school strives to integrate Christian faith into both classroom instruction and campus life, Lilley believes that goal can be achieved best with “a lighter touch” and a clear understanding that the administration is not seeking uniformity.

“We don’t sit over here at Pat Neff (administration building) and issue edicts,” he said.

Intentionality and a “lighter touch” also will guide faculty hiring practices—another hot topic at Baylor in recent years, Lilley said.

“Our intention is to communicate that Christianity matters as we talk to candidates. We want to help them see how they can fit in with the mission of Baylor University. We can do that through conversation—getting to know one another and learning about their faith journey,” he said, adding Interim Provost Randall O’Brien will conduct the interviews.

“It’s an intentional approach but not inquisitorial or confrontational. We’ll find out all we need to know. And through the process, even if candidates are not chosen, we hope we will have made friends for Baylor.”

Lilley emphasizes he sees the Baylor presidency as “a sacred trust” and “a calling,” and he expressed appreciation for the ongoing support Texas Baptists offer the university.

“Baylor is a special place, and it’s special to Texas Baptists,” he said.

In his first weeks on the job, he has met with numerous Texas Baptist groups—as well as faculty, staff, retired faculty and alumni. O’Brien sees Lilley leading by example as he seeks to unite Baylor’s varied constituencies.

“It’s therapeutic the way Dr. Lilley has come in here listening and come in caring,” O’Brien said. “He’s met with every group who wanted to meet with him, …. (and) they’ve found him warm and welcoming. He’s modeling what he’s calling for.”

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: 2/17/06

Intelligent design discussion moves to university campuses

By Sarah Price Brown

Religion News Service

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (RNS)—When Hannah Maxson started an intelligent design club at Cornell University last fall, a handful of science majors showed up for the first meeting. Today, the high-profile club boasts more than 80 members.

Until recently, the nationwide debate over whether intelligent design should be taught alongside evolution was centered primarily in public elementary and high school science classes.
Now the discussion is spilling over onto university campuses. At nearly 30 public and private universities across the country, students have started clubs aimed at promoting intelligent design. The clubs, sponsored by the Intel-ligent Design and Evolution Awareness Center—IDEA—a small, nonprofit organization based in San Diego, have been gaining members and visibility.
Proponents of intelligent design insist the theory, which says the universe is so complex that it must have been created by a higher being, is scientific. Opponents—including most of the nation’s scientific establishment—put their weight behind Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, and dismiss intelligent design as a religious idea based on the biblical creation story in Genesis.
When Cornell’s interim president, Hunter R. Rawlings III, denounced intelligent design as “a religious belief masquerading as a secular idea” in a speech last October, Maxson, a 21-year-old junior and president of the Ithaca, N.Y., school’s IDEA club, responded with a press release. Rawlings’ comments were a “gross misstatement,” she said, and “an insult to people of faith throughout America.”
Suddenly, Maxson, a self-described “bookish” chemistry and math major, found herself and her club in the spotlight.
“Before, we were just basically a science club,” she said. “Now, we have to defend our ideas everywhere.”
During one recent week, she was scheduled to speak about intelligent design at a campus discussion, make a presentation to a biology class and give an interview on local radio.
Intelligent design clubs at other universities also have been gaining momentum and attention. The first IDEA club meeting at George Mason University, a public school in Fairfax, Va., drew 20 people.
At a recent meeting, where a scientist guest speaker offered his criticisms of intelligent de-sign, 90 people attended.
Josh Norton, a 22-year-old math major who is president of the University of California at San Diego’s club, said his group was meeting every week in order to plan an all-day conference on intelligent design for the spring.
Casey Luskin, 27, founded the first IDEA club in 1999, at the University of California at San Diego. Luskin, then a college junior, had become interested in intelligent design after taking a biology seminar that taught about the theory. When Luskin graduated with a master’s degree in earth sciences in 2001, he founded the IDEA Center to help other students start their own clubs.
If a high school or university student contacts the IDEA Center about starting an intelligent design club, the center will provide a curriculum with suggested discussion topics, books, videos and a bibliography of sources.
Recently the center helped start clubs at the University of California at Berkeley and Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif. A few high schools, including one as far away as Kenya, also have started IDEA chapters.
The organization is “very grassroots,” Luskin said. Its seven staff members volunteer part-time. They operate on a budget of a few thousand dollars, which comes from individual donations, he said.
The group’s advisory board includes Michael Behe and William Dembski, fellows at the Discovery Institute in Seattle, a think tank that is the driving force behind the intelligent design movement.
Dembski became the Carl F.H. Henry Professor of Theology and Science at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary last June.
Luskin recently started working at the Discovery Institute as a program officer concerned with public policy and legal affairs. Still, he stressed that the IDEA Center remains independent and receives no funding from the institute.
But Victor Hutchison, professor emeritus of zoology at the University of Oklahoma, who attended some IDEA club meetings on his campus, said he could not separate the clubs from the broader intelligent design movement, spearheaded by the Discovery Institute.
“I find that they are espousing exactly the talking points of the creationist Discovery Institute,” said Hutchison, who described himself both as “an evolutionist” and “a person of faith.”
The way Hutchison sees it, the clubs fit into what he calls Discovery’s larger plan to attack evolution and replace it with the religious viewpoint of biblical creationism and eventually “establish a theocracy.”
The IDEA Center says intelligent design is a scientific concept, not a religious one. But students came to the meetings with their Bibles, Hutchison said. The IDEA Center also requires its club presidents to be Christian.
Luskin explained that as a Christian group, “we wanted to be totally open about who we thought the designer was.” But, he added, “this belief about the identity of the designer is our religious belief; it’s not a part of ID theory.”
Hutchison nevertheless sees the requirement as a contradiction. “It just proves they are lying when they say it’s not religious-based,” 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: 2/17/06

Evangelicals sitting on sidelines in immigration debate

By G. Jeffrey MacDonald

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Advocates at World Relief, the humanitarian arm of the National Association of Evangelicals, usually can expect a warm greeting from large evangelical groups wielding clout in the halls of Congress.

But this year, they’re getting a downright chilly reception to one of their priority agenda items—immigration reform.

As Congress grapples with legislation regarding an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants, the nation’s most powerful conservative Christian organizations have been watching from the sidelines. This occurs despite decades of evangelical initiative to make America a hospitable haven for religious and political refugees.

The search to explain the silence leads through several layers of reasoning.

For starters, the Christian Right says it has other issues at the moment, such as the confirmation of conservative judges and the battle against same-sex marriage. Beyond that, some suspect evangelicals don’t want to appear soft on lawbreakers of any kind. And on a level that plumbs the depths of what it means to bear Christian witness, evangelicals confide they still are struggling as a community to determine the right thing to do.

Among Southern Baptists, for instance, “there’s no consensus about what to do about the (illegal immigrants) who are already here or about how we would allow legal immigration,” said Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. Southern Baptists “see a basic distinction between people who are refugees, who are in fear of losing their life and home … and those who are coming over primarily for economic reasons and are not abiding by the immigration laws.”

Because mass deportation “isn’t realistic,” Land said, the denomination needs to wrestle longer with what to do.

Amber Hildebrand, a spokesperson for the Washington-based Family Research Council, explains: “It’s not that we don’t think (immigration policy) is important. There have just been other issues the FRC has chosen to focus on.”

Colorado-based Focus on the Family spokesperson Gwen Stein gives the same reason for her group’s reticence to take a stand.

The National Association of Evangelicals hasn’t taken a position on immigration since 1985. At that time, as President Reagan was ushering in what was in effect an amnesty program for illegal aliens, the NAE pledged “to eliminate the spirit of racism in any of our responses” and “show personal and corporate hospitality to those who seek a new life in our nation.”

Led by evangelical organizers at World Relief, 42 national religious groups and 69 local ones signed a statement in October calling for a process to let undocumented immigrants apply for legal status. Signatories ranged from the Union for Reform Judaism to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

In Congress, debate hinges largely on whether immigrants who pay a fine and other penalties should be able to then seek legal status. A bill proposed by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., would allow for such a process. President Bush’s guest worker proposal would require the undocumented to leave after a designated period. Whether family members should be separated or kept together also looms large as an issue up for grabs.

Evangelical groups, if determined to appear tough on illegal immigration, could endorse the House-approved bill, which provides for a fence along 700 miles of the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexican border, although it doesn’t address the question of what to do with undocumented immigrants.

But evangelicals who appear unsympathetic toward immigrants run other political risks. They could alienate business interests—political allies in industries known to employ thousands of undocumented workers.

They also could run afoul of a growing foreign-born constituency, said Manuel Vasquez, associate professor of religion at the University of Florida and an expert on religion and immigration.

“In many ways, conservatives see immigrants from Latin America are bringing values that they would like to regain—values of family, gender roles that are very well defined, an ethic of hard work,” Vasquez said.

“Immigrants have values that can convert America and return America to the values of thrift and hard work.”

Faced with the specter of political costs no matter where they come down on immigration, leading evangelical groups are opting not to get involved.

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: 2/17/06

View of God often shaped by life experiences, pastor insists

By Ken Walker

Special to the Baptist Standard

TUCSON, Ariz.—Native Texan Roger Barrier started praying about ministry in an unchurched area after Roy Fish, his evangelism professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, told students, “You’d better be sure you’ve got a call from God to stay in Texas, because Texas doesn’t need any more preachers.”

For 30 years, Barrier has served Casas Church in suburban Tucson, a Baptist congregation that has grown from 70 to 4,500 members during his tenure.

But soon after he and his wife, Julie, arrived in Arizona, they realized if they tried to conduct church the way they had experienced it in Texas, they would fail.

“That began a search for what God is really like,” said Barrier, who also is an author and conference speaker. “It was easier to get out of the culture I had grown up in to try to take a fresh look. Our view of God began to change dramatically.”

Barrier grew up hearing preachers talk about a God of judgment. That’s true, he readily admitted, but it’s not the whole picture.

“It’s just that I think we’ve skewed too far to one side. Let’s not miss his compassionate heart. We don’t get enough of that,” he said.

Taking a correct view of God is a subject near to Barrier’s heart. He cites surveys by a research group showing only 25 percent of church members see God as intimately and passionately involved in their lives. In equal proportions, the other 75 percent see God as distant and uninvolved, a harsh taskmaster or One who is disappointed with their performance.

Most people form these views based on significant life events, religious traditions and growing-up relationships, Barrier said.

When life events include tragedy, the outcome can be disastrous. As an example, Barrier mentioned a woman who came to Casas who had been sexually abused in childhood by her father and his friends.

It took three years for a counselor to help her through her past. A key question on her mind was: “Where was God when this was going on?”

In time, she learned God had given her father the job of protecting her, but he failed, Barrier said. He also assured her God wept over men’s regrettable actions.

“We (told her) God was there and wanted to be her helper,” Barrier said. “That was important in her healing.”

Nor is this woman alone, the pastor said. He points to an estimated 20 million drug addicts raising children; when the youngsters need comfort, they often find indifference.

Unhealthy views of God have enormous implications for churches, affecting everything from people’s views of the pastor to evangelism, Barrier insisted.

People who view God as judgmental or disappointed in them will tend to project similar expectations on their pastor and harshly judge him, he said.

“They’ll be disappointed in him,” Barrier said. “They’ll talk behind his back because how they view God will flow out of their actions.

“It’s hard to evangelize and enjoy people coming to Christ when the people doing the evangelism don’t even think God cares that they’re alive or (think he) is going to judge them all the time.”

Barrier lays the blame for this disjointed picture at the feet of fathers. The Bible teaches more about the responsibilities of fathers than mothers, he said, and in his eyes most fathers are failing to do their job well.

“People who have a healthy, well-adjusted dad tend to have a healthy, well-adjusted view of God,” Barrier said. “Look across society as a whole, and the numbers who had healthy, well-adjusted dads is not a very high percentage.”

This failure partially can be attributed to American culture allowing fathers to escape their responsibilities, he asserted.

Although not blaming the church for the situation, Barrier said it has an important role in reshaping views of God, using three key elements:

• Scripture.

Barrier quotes Psalm 119:105 and Psalm 23 as two of his favorites. Meditating on Bible passages is a key spiritual discipline that tends to get overlooked in Baptist life, he said.

“The light of the word is the greatest balanced checkpoint in knowing whether we’re right or wrong,” Barrier said. “If our view of God doesn’t correspond … to the Scripture, then something’s wrong with our view.”

• God’s people.

Finding mature Christians who know God’s heart and imitating their life and faith is important to adjusting imbalanced views, he said.

• The light of Christ.

Studying the Bible to learn more about Christ’s heart and interpreting Scripture in light of that will help people focus more clearly on God’s nature, Barrier said.

Churches that want to project a more loving view of God need to get to know him more deeply so they can share his heart, he insisted. And they need to view people as fallen and alone.

“If all we do is view them as fallen, we’ll never have healthy churches,” Barrier said. “If we can get a grip on the fact they’re fallen and alone, that’s the way we’re going to develop compassion in our churches.”

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: 2/17/06

TOGETHER: An inspiring, courageous servant leader

Phil Strickland was one of the greatest leaders Texas Baptists have ever known. He could have been an incredibly successful attorney. He could have been a great Texas governor.

But he chose to be a good and great advocate for justice and righteousness in Texas.

He came to the task of director of the Christian Life Commission of the Baptist General Convention of Texas as a very young man. He was not a pastor/preacher, but he was a wonderful speaker of truth. He attended seminary after law school because he wanted to be sure that what he did in the field of law was informed as much as possible by his deep biblical faith.

What he learned as a boy growing up in First Baptist Church of Abilene kept growing in his heart and mind. He loved the gospel of Jesus Christ, which sets us free and keeps us free. He loved the Bible and treasured its truth and authority as he made decisions about life and ethics. He was grateful to God in all things and knew the power and blessing of prayer in the most intimate and spiritually meaningful way.

He was a brilliant strategist and bridge-builder. All of us in Texas who knew him knew how the executive directors of the BGCT, James Landes and Bill Pinson, depended on him for council and to implement the important, sometimes controversial, matters of convention life. He was a great help to me as I picked up the challenge of this same task. Texas Baptists would not be who we are today without Phil Strickland. All of you who love the historic Baptist vision and cherish its values owe more than you know to Phil’s work and spirit.

He believed in religious liberty and the separation of church and state. He also believed in the responsibility of Christians to live under the authority of God’s Spirit and God’s Scripture. He believed that Baptists ought to have a full voice in advocating in the halls of state regarding issues that affected public morality, children, the poor and those who had no one to speak up for them.

Phil was shaped by a deep sense of the grace of Jesus Christ and of the call of Christ to follow him.

And so, like Jesus, Phil knew the prophets and their call to righteousness and justice. And like Jesus, he knew that to save your life you must lose it.

In one of the respected Austin news services, Capitol Inside, Mike Hailey writes that Phil Strickland was “a powerful force at the Texas capitol for more than a quarter-century as the public policy director for the Christian Life Commission of the Baptist General Convention of Texas … . (He) gained a reputation as a bridge-builder who forged coalitions that were dedicated to helping needy children, to promoting high ethical standards in government and to fighting the expansion of gambling in Texas.”

One of my heart’s desires for Texas Baptists is that we inspire servant leadership among our people.

Phil Strickland is one of the great examples of what it means to be a servant leader. His life and the faith exhibited in his dying will continue to inspire us all to aspire to the kind of courageous servant leadership that helps everyone around us grow in Christ and attain all that God dreams for us to become.

We are 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: 2/17/06

Texas Tidbits

Baylor’s endowment ranks high. Baylor University, with a $750 million endowment, ranks 77th among U.S. colleges and universities with the largest endowments, according to a survey released by the National Association of College and Uni-versity Business Officers. Baylor’s endowment increased more than 11 percent in 2005, up from $672 million in 2004. Baylor’s investment return rate of 14.2 percent on its endowment for fiscal year 2005 ranked the university in the top 6 percent of all U.S. colleges and universities—44th out of nearly 750 institutions.

Baylor’s Success Center receives $3 million gift. Paul Foster, president and chief executive officer of Western Refining in El Paso, has given $3 million to Baylor University for its Success Center. The center will house six departments—academic advisement, academic support services, career counseling, career services, student-athlete services and the office of access and learning accommodation—to allow students convenient access to services. Foster received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Baylor in 1979.

Hispanic Evangelism Conference scheduled. “Proclaiming … Reaching … Teaching … the Good News” is the theme of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Hispanic Evangelism Conference, Feb. 24-25 at First Baptist Church in Arlington. The event features Mario Gonzales, pastor of Primera Iglesia Bautista in El Paso; Javier Elizondo, Baptist University of the Americas vice president of academic affairs; and Victor Rodriguez, pastor of South San Filadelfia Baptist Church in San Antonio. The conference starts Feb. 24 at 1 p.m. and ends Feb. 25 at 1. p.m. The conference also includes a concert by Hombres de Valor from Orlando, Fla., Feb. 24. A track for students begins Feb. 24 at 6:30 p.m. with a pizza party in the youth building of First Baptist Church. The student track continues Feb. 25. For more information, contact Frank Palos at (214) 828-5266 or Frank.Palos@bgct.org.

Hardin-Simmons names university chaplain. Hardin-Simmons University has named Kelly Pigott as its first university chaplain—a newly created position intended to manage the school’s chapel program and provide pastoral care for its students, faculty and staff. Pigott graduated from Samford University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. His wife, Susan, is professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at Hardin-Simmons’ Logsdon School of Theology. They have two children—Nathaniel David and Eliana Marie.

Social justice center at HPU nears completion. Howard Payne University is completing restoration of its historic Coggin Academy Building, new home of the Bettie and Robert Girling Center for Social Justice. The center will house an undergraduate multidisciplinary program involving the departments of social work, sociology, criminal justice and legal studies. It will include a simulated courtroom featuring 19th century fixtures from the Brown County Courthouse.

Historical society meeting set. At the spring meeting of the Texas Baptist Historical Society, Andrew Hogue of Baylor University will present a paper exploring the political and religious impact since 1988 of Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. Michael Parrish of Baylor University will respond to the presentation. The meeting will be held in conjunction with the Texas State Historical Association at 2:30 p.m., March 2, in the Trinity A Room of the Renaissance Hotel, 9721 Arboretum Blvd. in Austin. For more information, contact Alan Lefever at (972)331-2235 or alan.lefever@bgct.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: 2/17/06

Texas Baptist Men move to Dixon building

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

DALLAS—Texas Baptist Men has relocated most of its offices from the Baptist General Convention of Texas offices in Dallas to the Dixon Missions Equipping Center in east Dallas, where much of its disaster relief equipment is housed.

The Dixon building has the office space and infrastructure to host Texas Baptist Men, said Leo Smith, TBM executive director.

The move puts staff members closer to the organization’s equipment and resources.

Last year, TBM leaders coordinated the group’s hurricane response from the Dixon building. Smith emphasized the move does not indicate any change in the relationship between the BGCT and Texas Baptist Men and is not related to recent BGCT organizational restructuring.

“The move to the Dixon building allows us to better coordinate our efforts across the state,” Smith said. “Our staff will be located at the same place as our equipment, meeting rooms and volunteer offices so we will be able to more quickly react to the needs of Texas Baptists and the world.

“We continue to work with the Baptist General Convention of Texas, which has generously helped support us throughout our history. We look forward to the great things God has in store for both of us.”

Smith and Administrative Assistant Jeanette Nichols still have offices at the Dallas BGCT offices, and the men’s organization continues to follow BGCT human resources guidelines. Smith remains on the BGCT operations team, comprised of most BGCT staff leaders.

Texas Baptist Men can be reached at (214) 381-2800 or (214) 828-5350. Staff e-mail addresses remain the same.

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: 2/17/06

Strickland provided voice for poor, powerless

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

Phil Strickland believed his mission was to provide a voice for the powerless in the halls of government and speak prophetically to Texas Baptists on moral and ethical issues.

After a long battle with cancer, resultant pneumonia silenced that prophetic voice Feb. 11 at age 64.

Strickland served 38 years with the Baptist General Convention of Texas’ Christian Life Commission, including nearly a quarter-century as director of the public policy and moral concerns agency.

“Phil Strickland helped Texas Baptists to remember and be faithful to their heritage, and he consistently declared the high ethical calling of the Christian life,” said BGCT Executive Director Charles Wade.

But while Strickland possessed a well-earned public reputation as a knowledgeable political insider, an outspoken advocate for children and a staunch defender of individual religious freedom and other historic mainstream Baptist principles, people with whom he came into contact individually learned he also was “a man of deep personal faith and prayer,” Wade noted.

“Everybody who ever spent any time around him grew in their Christian walk, their faith and their response to the gospel,” Wade said.

Strickland was a member of Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas, where he had served as a deacon, Sunday school teacher and chairman of various committees. Pastor George Mason noted his church lost “a faithful servant,” Baptists lost a strong and prophetic voice, and “the kingdom of God has lost a skillful and passionate moral advocate for the weak and vulnerable of our world.”

Strickland possessed a rare combination of keen intellect and consistent activism, Mason observed.

For nearly four decades, Phil Strickland worked the halls of the Texas Capitol, lobbying for the BGCT Christian Life Commission on behalf of the poor and vulnerable.

“He was always eager to learn the next thing, to read the next book, to measure his position on matters against those who could teach him something new. That curiosity bred creativity. His work for justice in the church and in the world was formed by the gospel and informed by the living Christ within him,” he said.

Strickland’s “never-ending quest” to make life better for children and to improve the lives of the overlooked and under-served energized his life, Mason added.

“The gospel was Phil’s preoccupation, and he occupied his life making sure it penetrated not only human hearts but human systems as well,” he said. “The spiritual and the social were always for him interconnected spheres of life. Since Jesus is Lord of all, Phil believed that society could better reflect the lordship of Christ if Christians would put the gospel into practice.”

Former Texas Speaker of the House Pete Laney called Strickland “an unwavering advocate” for Texans in need.

“His voice in the policy discussions at the State Capitol has made a significant impact on the lives of the state’s most vulnerable citizens—its children,” Laney said. “He has provided strong ethical leadership and is a reminder to us all that government exists to serve the people. His influence will never fully be recognized, and his presence will be deeply missed in Austin.”

Strickland often recalled that he took a leave of absence from a Fort Worth law firm in December 1967 to help Texas Baptists defeat gambling. And since gambling proved to be a perennial problem, he never returned to fulltime private legal practice.

Instead, he became the first—and for many years the only—registered lobbyist in Austin serving a religious denominational body.

Drawing on contacts made and lessons learned as a law school student when he worked as legislative assistant to Texas Lt. Gov. Preston Smith, Strickland lobbied lawmakers to oppose the spread of gambling, resist attempts to chip away at the wall of separation between church and state, and remember the needs of children—particularly the poor, abused or neglected.

To advance those causes, he built coalitions that spanned the political and religious spectrum.

Strickland became founding chairman of Texans Care for Children, the state’s first multi-issue child advocacy group, which brought together more than 50 organizations that address the needs of children.

Gov. Mark White appointed him first chairman of the Texas Council on Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention, a council created to oversee and coordinate distribution of the Children’s Trust Fund. He also served on a variety of other governmental advisory committees.

Weston Ware, who worked alongside Strickland at the CLC during nine regular sessions of the Texas Legislature and numerous called special sessions, praised his abilities as a coalition-builder.

“Phil not only was a political strategist par excellence, but he also was able to win the hearts and minds of diverse groups, often bringing together the most conservative and most liberal advocates to resolve difficult issues, as he did with the Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” Ware recalled, pointing to legislation aimed at preventing substantial burdens on the free exercise of religion.

“Few could say ‘no’ when representatives of the religious right and the American Civil Liberties Union or the Texas Freedom Network all came together on the same issues.”

Strickland earned a reputation for integrity, trustworthiness and professionalism among legislators in Austin, and that established credibility for anyone representing the CLC, Ware noted.

“It meant when I went to talk to a legislator, or to give testimony before a legislative committee, that Phil’s good reputation, gained over all the years since 1967, had gone before me,” he said. “It meant that a legislator could trust me, could value what I had to say, could believe that I had done my homework on the issue at hand because I worked for Phil Strickland, and Phil had never let him or her down.”

Nationally, Strickland served on the Inter-religious Task Force on U.S. Food Policy, the Bread for the World board of directors, the Americans United for Separation of Church and State board of trustees and the National Child Abuse Coalition.

He was a past president of the United Way of Texas.

Even though he held some prominent positions, Strickland worked mostly behind the scenes, said James Dunn, his immediate predecessor as director of the Christian Life Commission.

“Texas Baptists as a whole have no idea about the significant contributions Phil Strickland made to Texas Baptist life, to the state of Texas, to children and to a decent and just society,” he said. “His contributions remind me of an iceberg, in which perhaps only 1 percent of the massive movement is seen and 99 percent is hidden beneath the surface. That is the way Phil led the fight for truth and righteousness in Texas.”

Dunn, who left the Texas Christian Life Commission to become executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs, also noted Strickland’s steadfast commitment to religious liberty and distinctive Baptist beliefs such as the soul competency of every individual.

“In a day when many Baptists seem to have amnesia about our heritage, Phil remained a rock-solid champion of religious freedom and the separation of church and state,” said Dunn, who teaches at Wake Forest Divinity School.

BGCT Executive Director Emeritus Bill Pinson praised Strickland for “his brilliance coupled with his dedication to Christ and his genuine concern for all persons (that) made him extraordinarily successful in Christian ministry.”

Strickland’s influence reached beyond Baptist circles and beyond Texas as he worked with various denominations for causes of social justice, Pinson noted.

“His application of the gospel of Christ to life includes practically every aspect of Christian ethics—family life, race relations, hunger, poverty, neglected children, alcohol abuse, gambling, economics, social justice, religious freedom, separation of church and state,” he said. “His positive impact across a wide spectrum of our world has been enormous. He surely will hear our Lord say, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.’’”

An Abilene native, Strickland studied at Baylor University before transferring to the University of Texas in Austin where he earned both his undergraduate and law degrees.

He also pursued graduate studies at Southwestern Baptist Theological Semi-nary.

He is survived by his wife, Carolyn; daughter Delaine Mueller of Tucson, Ariz., her husband, Daniel, and their two children; daughter Shannon Holman of Lonoke, Ark., her husband, Merritt, and their two children; and his mother, Sybil Strickland of Abilene.

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: 2/17/06

Proposal could allow casino-style slot machines

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

AUSTIN—A proposal meant to give the Texas Lottery Commission more flexibility in developing new games and taking advantage of new technology could put casino-style slot machines across the state, said Suzii Paynter, director of citizenship and public policy for the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission.

The changes would allow the Lottery Commission to make some of their games electronic, enabling instantaneous financial gains and losses via a computer network.

“When you get an instant game on a computerized network, you basically have casino-style gambling,” Paynter said.

To compound the issue, the proposed changes eliminate a requirement for the Lottery Commission to notify the public of any upcoming gaming changes or provide any “justified response” to concerns about commission actions.

The combination of the rules changes could create a situation where the Lottery Commission has the power to legally expand gambling across the state without accountability to the public, Paynter said.

This initiative marks the latest effort by gambling proponents to expand gaming throughout the state, she said. They largely have been denied in the past, but lawmakers can be tempted by the prospect of another revenue stream for a state facing a budget crunch. The Texas government could tax casinos and gaming activities.

“They tried in the last legislative session to get electronic slots through the bingo system,” Paynter said. “Now the Lottery Commission is using the Iowa model to get slot machine games by introducing rules that would allow for a lottery slot machine. In Iowa they just call it a ‘monitoring vending machine.’

“The Lottery Commission says that this is not their intent, but they do not deny the potential development under these rules. As an executive agency, Gov. Perry can stop the Lottery Commission from taking this pathway of folly.”

Iowa lawmakers recently passed similar changes to allow computerized lottery games only to see these “monitor vending machines”—casino-style slots —pop up in restaurants, stores and bars across the state. More than 4,600 terminals are operating in Iowa in 2,500 locations, and more than 5,000 additional units are on their way.

The rapid expansion of such monitor vending machines pushed Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack to call for a moratorium on more terminals until the matter is investigated.

The Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission long has been a leading voice against gambling throughout the state, arguing that it hurts the economically disadvantaged most.

Paynter believes money spent gambling could be better invested into neighborhoods.

“It’s so sad when you see that because you think this is what these people are defining as hope,” Paynter said. “Just think if they would have left that money in their community. If they would have spent that money on consumer goods, their communities would be so much better off.”

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: 2/17/06

Segregated churches hinder evangelism

By Marv Knox

Editor

WACO—Christians undermine their ability to reach society with the gospel because they segregate their churches by race, sociologist/author George Yancey told participants in a workshop aimed at racial reconciliation.

Yancey, assistant professor of sociology at the University of North Texas and author of several books, including Beyond Racial Gridlock: Embracing Mutual Responsibility, presented two keynote speeches at “Becoming a Racially Reconciled Church & Community.” Mission Waco, an inner-city ministry in Waco, sponsored the event.

About 150 participants, including pastors, college and seminary students, professors, lay church leaders and recipients of Mission Waco’s ministry, attended the conference. They included African-Americans, An-glos, Asian-Americans and Hispanics.

Unfortunately, only 8 percent of American churches are multiracial, Yancey lamented. He defined a “multiracial church” as one in which no single racial group comprises more than 80 percent of the participants.

This contrasts with society as a whole, which is remarkably integrated, he said.

Catholic churches are most likely to be multiracial, with 12 percent of congregations meeting that standard, Yancey reported. Evangelical Protestants are next, with 5 percent of churches qualifying as multiracial, followed by 2.5 percent of mainline Protestant churches.

Churches face several challenges in becoming multiracial, he noted.

First is differing racial ideas, he said. While whites tend to see racism as “something that is overt and only done from one individual to another individual,” people of color tend to see racism as “structural as well as individual, and social institutions perpetuate racism even when individuals do not tend to be racist.”

Views of education illustrate the differences, Yancey said: Whites tend to see educational failure as an individual problem, whereas people of color see the structural problems inherent in the fact “predominantly black or Hispanic schools, as a rule, do not prepare students for college as well as predominantly white schools.”

Tragically, the views of whites and nonwhites in churches are even further apart on this issue than their counterparts in society at-large, he said.

A second challenge to multiracial churches is “our different cultural ideas,” Yancey added.

People tend to think cultural ideas that differ from their own are wrong when, in fact, they simply are different, he noted. In church, differing cultural ideas range from communication styles to customs to time-orientation. Those differences aren’t right or wrong, just matters of taste and expectation, he said.

To illustrate how cultural ideas can divide church people, Yancey pointed to politics.

“Some white Christians wonder, ‘Can you be a Democrat and Christian at the same time?’ (but) some blacks wonder, ‘Can you be a Republican and a Christian?’” he observed. “I’m distressed by the political polarization in our society. We have to learn to quit judging people based on their political ideas. We’re just different.”

The third multiracial challenge churches face is the reality that some people will resist a mixed-race congregation, he said.

“Even when change is good, some people will resist it because they’re comfortable where they are,” he said. “Not everyone will support a multiracial church.”

Some of this resistance comes from within the church-growth movement, he said, citing church-growth advocates who say homogenous churches grow fastest.

But that contrasts with the reality of society, he countered. “In the U.S. today, we are very much a multicultural society. And churches are not homogenous; they vary by age, income and gender. … Since churches rarely are organized by a single culture other than by race, why can’t we have multiracial churches?”

Other resistance comes from the “cultural-pluralist argument,” which maintains racial minorities must be protected from the corrupting influence of the majority.

This idea does not square with the facts, he said, noting surveys show whites in multiracial churches change their attitudes and habits more than racial minorities.

The fourth and final challenge to multiracial churches is prejudice, Yancey said, stressing this problem originates from both sides of the racial divide.

“Whites are most likely to leave a church that is becoming racially diverse when they have children of dating age,” he reported, acknowledging this denotes racism. But from the other perspective, “many people of color look at church as a place of refuge so that they can escape from whites,” he added, labeling this also as prejudice.

Despite the challenges, multiracial churches are more than worth the effort, Yancey contended. He cited five reasons why Christians need multiracial churches:

• Multiracial churches are effective in presenting the gospel in multiracial communities.

Such communities are composed of groups that naturally embrace racial diversity, he said. These include “integrated subcultures,” such as artists, athletes and the homeless. They also include college students, who are more racially diverse than the population at-large. And they include interracial families and multiracial individuals, who do not feel comfortable in single-race churches.

• Racial reconciliation requires the kind of Christian model presented by multiracial churches.

“Christians have been the followers, not leaders” in racial reconciliation, Yancey maintained. “We have failed to look at race as a moral issue, (but) multiracial churches will be an important part of solving racism.”

This will be true because multiracial chur-ches provide Christians with the context to engage in interracial communication, learn to adjust to other cultures and “confront our own racial fears,” he explained.

• Multiracial congregations can repair “our damaged Christian witness.”

Paraphrasing Martin Luther King Jr., Yancey stressed: “Sunday morning still is the most segregated time of the week. We are damaging our Christian witness. If we can offer real solutions to racism, we can witness to others.”

Instead, churches lag behind secular society, he said.

“If schools can integrate, why can’t churches?” he asked. “If we can’t integrate our churches, we show that society is stronger than (anything) our faith can produce. If Christians can’t deal with racism, … we present a small God to our nonbelieving world.”

• Multiracial churches reflect obedience to God.

Yancey cited multiple examples of Jesus and the early church reaching across racial lines to show love and acceptance. “God is trying to reach people of different groups, but we get in the way,” he said.

“Do you think God would want only 8 percent of all churches to be multiracial in a multiracial society like the United States? Not all churches should be multiracial, but 8 percent is too small.”

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.