Posted: 2/17/06

Notre Dame model for Baylor generates debate

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

WACO—Baylor University supporters agree the school is “Texas Baptists’ crown jewel,” but should it aspire to become the “Protestant Notre Dame”? And in a larger sense, what can Roman Catholics teach Baptists?

Since former university President Robert Sloan led the school to adopt its Baylor 2012 long-range plan and open its Institute for Faith & Learning, supporters have pointed to Notre Dame as an example of a religiously affiliated school that successfully integrates faith and learning.

They maintain Notre Dame generally has accomplished what Baylor wants to achieve—recognized status as a top-tier university without surrendering to secularism.

“Notre Dame is both academically highly successful and confessionally Christian. It’s evident from the language university leaders use that they are serious about its Catholic character and its high academic aspirations,” said Michael Beaty, chairman of the Baylor philosophy department.

Baylor could come become the kind of national university that the best and brightest Protestant students will dream of attending, said Doug Henry, director of Baylor’s Institute for Faith & Learning.

“Baylor can have the same sort of image for Protestants that Notre Dame has for Catholics—a place to come to if you’re looking for moral, spiritual and ethical maturity—a place where students set their sights and set their hearts on going,” Henry said. “It can become the most intellectually interesting place to be, and a place where serious, smart Protestant and Baptist students will want to come.”

Holding up Notre Dame as an example does not mean Baylor should seek to copy the Roman Catholic university in every way, added Beaty, who earned his doctorate at Notre Dame.

“It isn’t a recipe or a formula to follow. But it offers an example of what can be learned—positive and negative,” he said. “I’d say we’re about 30 years behind Notre Dame in terms of endowment, facilities, faculty and national prestige.”

Catholic connection criticized

Critics, on the other hand, have maintained the Roman Catholic model for higher education does not fit a Baptist university. And they have viewed with suspicion links between some faculty in Baylor’s philosophy department and Catholic schools.

Beaty serves on the board of advisers for the Notre Dame Center for Ethics & Culture, and he and several other Baylor faculty have participated in a fall conference sponsored by the center for the last few years.

Beaty, Henry and their colleague Scott Moore, director of the Great Texts Program in the Baylor Honors College, also presented papers at a conference at Vatican City last year. The conference marked the 40th anniversary of Gaudium et Spes, a document on social ethics issued by the Second Vatican Council.

Their presentations at the conference—particularly as reflected in an abstract of Henry’s paper that became widely disseminated—sparked heated debate for several months on Internet message boards devoted to Baylor and religious topics. Some writers accused Henry and his colleagues of being “pseudo-Catholics” or “quasi-fundamentalists”—labels the three professors consider unfair and unwarranted.

In fact, all three attend churches in Waco affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Beaty and Moore are members of Dayspring Baptist Church, and Henry is a member of Calvary Baptist Church.

“I joined my colleagues in Rome in offering an invited Protestant response to a key document of progressive Catholic social thought,” Henry said. “However deserving of our attention and respect we consider Catholicism to be, we remain unapologetically Baptist and Protestant in conviction.”

Controversial conclusions

Most of the criticism focused on the conclusion of Henry’s abstract—presented in expanded form in a full collaborative manuscript that he, Beaty and Moore submitted for publication and scholarly peer review after the conference.

At the Vatican conference itself, the three professors presented individual papers verbally and provided a brief précis of each presentation, which later was posted on the Internet.

The widely circulated abbreviated version of Henry’s paper stated: “The time for remedy is now, for Free Church Protestants stand at grave risk of bondage to the spirit of the modern age. Christians of the sort described herein, and Baptists such as I am, seem to face a limited range of options. Amidst the changing cultural conditions precipitated by modernity and now postmodernity, we may: (a) allow our practice of faith—untethered to a rich tradition and without the resources of a functional magisterium—to die the death of continued accommodation to culture; (b) convert to Roman Catholicism; or (c) begin a journey toward Rome that, without giving rise to full communion, nonetheless involves a critical engagement with Roman Catholicism as a touchstone of vital tradition and teaching authority about Christian faith and practice.”

The full manuscript explains the authors do not advocate whole-hearted endorsement of Roman Catholicism but call on Baptists and other Free Church Protestants to recognize its “longer and richer tradition” and learn from it, the three Baylor professors insisted. They pledged to find a middle way—declining to convert to Roman Catholicism while also refusing to accommodate faith to culture.

Lack of magisterium

Still, some Baptists have taken issue with the idea that Free Church Protestants are disadvantaged by their lack of a “magisterium”—a recognized source of teaching authority. In particular, they pointed to historic abuses of the Roman Catholic Magisterium.

“The course Henry advocates would subscribe to a tradition that opposed new theological insights and nearly all scientific advances,” said Raymond Bailey, pastor of Seventh & James Baptist Church in Waco, in a column published in his church newsletter.

Although he responded initially only to the Henry abstract, he later read the full collaborative paper and was “firmer in my position than ever,” he said in an interview.

Bailey, who taught five years in a Catholic college in addition to time at Hardin-Simmons University and 16 years at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., expressed appreciation for Catholic traditions. But he also pointed to the Roman Catholic Church’s historic suppression of scientific inquiry and control over theological expression.

“A small oligarchy of thought-police control academic and intellectual endeavors; those who disagree with the magisterium are censored or declared heretical,” Bailey wrote.

For all its weaknesses, the Free Church Baptist tradition comes closest to the New Testament model, he insisted.

“Let those of us who believe that God continues to work among the people, and that theology and the kingdom of God are unfinished business, remain committed to autonomy of the local church and the responsibilities of private interpretation and personal accountability. Most of the great movements of history, Christian or otherwise, were led by those who heard the voice of God and refused to submit to hierarchal authority. Thank God for those who dare to be nonconformist.”

Call for careful examination

But Beaty, Henry and Moore insisted they were acting in the nonconformist Baptist tradition by speaking at the Vatican as they did and holding their own theological tradition up to careful examination.

“The unexamined Baptist life is not worth living; the unexamined Catholic life is not worth living,” Beaty said.

Henry agreed, saying he wanted to call Baptists to a critical engagement with Catholicism, not to an uncritical endorsement of it. Roman Catholicism offers a touchstone of vital tradition, but not the final word, he said. And, he added, it “bears promise for helping us Baptists share the challenges of faithful life in a post-Christian age.”

Baptists can learn from other Christian traditions without surrendering distinctively Baptist “non-negotiable” beliefs, Henry insisted.

“To talk with other Christians—including Catholics—to seek to understand better the longer and larger Catholic tradition out of which our Baptist heritage grows as a dissenting expression of Christianity, and to try to learn how to think intelligently as a Christian by looking for help from Catholics—in none of these efforts is one required to abandon one’s Baptist identity and convictions,” he said.

“Such non-negotiable expressions of faithful discipleship as believers’ baptism, commitment to the supremacy of Scripture as Christians’ guide to faith and practice, the priesthood of all believers—along with the grave responsibilities to one another that such priesthood signals … ground my commitment to the Baptist way.”

Community or individual?

Furthermore, Henry sees his position as consistent with the trend toward reclaiming ancient Christian traditions, such as Advent and Lent, and an emphasis on interpreting Scripture in the context of community.

“The position I occupy really expresses a movement within Baptist life to retrieve much in the Christian tradition of which we for a season lost sight. Indeed, this movement is itself merely a Baptist expression of a transdenominational, ecumenically broad effort to pay better attention to the historic roots and practices of Christian faith. Part of that movement involves listening to and learning from those who have remained more connected than we have to longstanding Christian traditions of faith, thought and practice,” he said.

“To pay attention to the breadth of Christian history, reflection and practice hardly makes us less Baptist, but rather …promises to help us realize the fullness of our Baptist identity.”

Baylor University Regent Phil Lineberger, pastor of Williams Trace Baptist Church in Sugar Land, questioned if Baptists and other Free Church Protestants really benefit much by looking to Catholicism—which he characterized as a religious system that historically squelched freedom—and he questioned whether any magisterium can be workable in the Free Church tradition.

Henry’s paper attacked as weaknesses three principles many Baptists see as strengths—the priesthood of the believer, the soul competency of the individual and local church autonomy, he asserted.

Lineberger also took issue with Henry’s perceived preference for the community over an individual guided by the Holy Spirit’s leadership.

“If it weren’t for a radical individualist like the Apostle Paul, we wouldn’t have much of the New Testament,” he said.

“Look at the book of Acts. Matthias was chosen as an apostle by a magisterium—by a council—and we never hear of him again. The Apostle Paul wasn’t chosen by a council; he was called by God.”

Challenges of modernity

Both the Henry précis and the collaborative full manuscript include another statement that caused some critics to respond with alarm.

The document said: “Committed to a polity in which the autonomy of local churches is paramount, and in which cooperation with other Baptists and Christians is wholly voluntary, Baptists lack any kind of shared magisterium—apart from a common commitment to the inviolable authority of Scripture—that might provide them clear and consistent direction in the face of modernity’s many challenges.

“Baptists’ go-it-alone proclivity, combined with the foregoing, simply compounds their openness to cultural co-optation, for any hope of faithfully resisting the cultural hegemony of modernity necessitates the binding solidarity of the body of Christ, mutually accountable one to another.”

Russell Dilday, former president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, took issue with that view.

“Any supposed dangers that might accompany the right of individual believers to read and interpret the word of God in light of the illumination of the Holy Spirit, and in the light of insights gained from other believers, are fewer and less damaging than the real dangers of an authoritarian magisterium,” wrote Dilday, now chancellor of the B.H. Carroll Theological Institute.

“Baptists and other Free Church adherents have not drawn their convictions about individual freedom from modernity but from biblical teachings about the individual’s singular accountability to God.”

Response to critics

Henry insists when he used the term “magisterium,” he was referring not to the Roman Catholic church’s established teaching authority but was using the word “in the more elastic sense” to refer to “a doctrinal center of gravity” that unites a body of Christians.

As Baptists, “Scripture constitutes our unmistakable magisterium—even if unlike other Christians we have not used a Latin word to describe our confidence in the teaching authority we vest in the Bible,” Henry said. “And for this very reason, Baptists appeal like no other people to the Bible when they want to clarify doctrine and to discern faithful responses to life’s problems.

“We have not ultimately embraced any other magisterium besides Scripture to which to turn. Moreover, since we vest in Scripture rather than in any human person or worldly institution the functions of a teaching authority, the Bible—our magisterium—may only be ‘enforced’ through the human power of persuasion and the divine power of spiritual conviction.”

Dilday particularly found troubling Henry’s critique of Baptist theologian E.Y. Mullins’ writing about the Baptist contributions to religious liberty and Mullins’ defense of soul competency. Henry’s abstract cites Mullins as “a good example of the historical myopia besetting Baptist regard for Christian freedom” and as one who was “given habitually to overwrought claims about freedom” as Baptists’ distinctive contribution to religious thought.

“Christian liberty is not a Baptist invention, but instead is rooted within centuries of prior theological reflection,” Henry wrote. “Disconnecting their devotion to freedom from two millennia of Christian theorizing about freedom, Baptists at best turn this important virtue into a mere byword, and at worst render it liability to faithful thought and practice. For, uprooted from its theological home and in thrall to modernity, liberty quickly degenerates into the hyper-individualistic form of autonomy emblematic of modernity.”

Dilday acknowledged some Baptists claim more credit than they are due, but he disagreed that Mullins’ evaluation of Baptist contributions to religious freedom fit into that category. “Granted, sometimes Baptists—particularly we Texas Baptists—are known for ‘overwrought claims’ about our work and strengths,” Dilday wrote. “But serious scholars like Mullins are not guilty of overstating the consistent record of Baptist advocacy and sacrifice for freedom, nor can they be faulted for identifying freedom as a primary defining characteristic.

“This is particularly true when those scholars point out how Baptists have historically championed religious liberty, freedom of conscience, and separation of church and state. It would be fair to say, there are few if any other denominational groups with that long historical record.”

Lessons from history

When it comes to looking at the historical record, Baptists and Free Church Protestants have much to learn from the Christian tradition that predated the Reformation, Henry said.

Baptists are “inescapably marked by 1,500 years of Catholic doctrine, history and practice and yet unwilling to embrace Catholic ways uncritically,” he asserted.

Many central Baptist beliefs—such as the full deity and humanity of Christ and the doctrine of the Trinity—grow out of “the root stock of Catholicism,” he said.

As dissenters and nonconformists, Baptists need to understand from what they are dissenting and what they wish to reform, he added.

“To be a Baptist is to follow Christ faithfully in dissent from certain features of Roman Catholicism, while at the same time yearning always for the completion of reformation, so that all of Christ’s followers may serve and worship together,” Henry said.

Roman Catholic model

Furthermore, Baptists in general—and Baylor in particular—have much to learn from the Roman Catholic model of higher education, Henry insisted.

“Baptist intellectual life is a relatively late development in the Christian history; it is preceded by centuries of thoughtful Catholic reflection on the relation between the life of the mind and the life of faith,” he said.

“If Baptists want to think sensitively about the grace-filled beauty of creative and artistic expression, or the possibilities and limits of faithful citizenship, or the relation between faith and reason or nature and grace, or the ways in which human language is and is not capable of describing God, or the basis for human confidence in science as a means of understanding the world—all of these and so many other issues have a long history of thoughtful and articulate treatment within the Catholic tradition.”

So, the question comes full circle. Should Baylor University model itself after Notre Dame? Not entirely and certainly not uncritically, said Baylor President John Lilley.

“I certainly respect the great reputation of Notre Dame, but I think Baylor should be allowed to grow in its own environment, with its own sense of identity,” Lilley said.

“I’m sure there are lessons at Notre Dame that we should learn and could use, but I think great institutions can develop their own benchmarks. It’s an overstatement to say we we’re trying to become the Notre Dame of the Southwest or the Notre Dame of Baptist life. We will go our own way and follow our own lights.”

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

Rx for marital success: Worship together

By Catherine O’Donnell

Religion News Service

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (RNS)—Husbands and wives who attend religious services together are less likely to divorce, new research from the University of Michigan shows.

The study, conducted by researchers connected to the Institute for Social Research, examined how religion affected the risk of divorce for both black and white couples in the first seven years of marriage. Data came from 373 couples initially interviewed in 1986, their first year of marriage, as part of the Early Years of Marriage project at the university.

“The findings suggest that the most effective intervention strategies for dealing with marital instability and divorce are those that consider gender and race,” said Edna Brown, the paper’s lead author.

Black couples are at higher risk of divorce than whites, the study found. But it also found education a protective factor against divorce for wives, and income a protective factor for husbands.

Regardless of race, however, couples who attended religious services together were less likely to divorce.

Other aspects of faith, such as frequency of attendance or importance of faith, didn’t influence the risk of divorce.

“Faithfulness and integrity have been on the agenda of many faith communities, and that’s value added to marriage,” said George Lambrides, an American Baptist chaplain at the University of Michigan Hospitals. Exposure to faith communities is a form of continuing education, Lambrides added.

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

Leader suggests five ways Baptists can impact Hispanics

By Marv Knox

Editor

WACO—Since Hispanics “represent the future of Texas,” Baptists must reach them spiritually and help them physically if they intend to make a difference in their state, the leader of Hispanic Texas Baptists insisted.

Alcides Guajardo, president of the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas, described the status of His-panics in Texas and prescribed how to minister to them during the “Be-coming a Racially Reconciled Church & Community” conference sponsored by Mission Waco.

“Hispanics have been here” in Texas for generations, Guajardo told the mixed-race audience. “We were here even before the Anglos and people of color were.”

Building the case for Texas’ Hispanic legacy, he cited the names of many of the state’s rivers and its oldest communities—all Spanish.

And, although Anglos eclipsed Hispanics as Texas’ majority population group for many years, Hispanics again are in the majority, Guajardo said. He acknowledged that, officially speaking, Texas does not have a majority population group. Census data show slightly less than 50 percent of the population is Anglo, with Hispanics running a strong—and growing—second. Census Bureau trends show Hispanics will comprise more than 50 percent of the population by 2014, he said.

Still, in unofficial-but-real terms, Hispanics already are the majority, he stressed, noting a vast number of Texas residents are unofficial—undocumented workers who are in the United States illegally. These people don’t want to be reported for fear of being deported, he explained. But counted or not, they’re living in Texas.

From a political standpoint, “the Texas Legislature is going Hispanic very rapidly,” he observed. “This fact needs to get our attention” because the changing demographics of the Legislature will change the state’s political dynamics, he added.

Educationally, Hispanics “lag very, very far behind” the rest of the state, he said. “We are the least-educated of all groups in Texas.”

For example, only one in 11 Hispanic adults in Texas has a college degree, he said. This compares to one in two Asians, one in three Anglos and one in five African-Americans. Among the challenges are high dropout rates among Hispanic students and resistance among Hispanic families to allow their children who graduate from high school to leave the family and go off to college, he added.

Since education relates closely with economics, Hispanics’ educational gap represents enormous significance for the entire state, Guajardo said.

“We have a long way to go. And if we do not do something about this, our financial future—our socio-economic future—is very bleak,” he predicted. That’s true, at least in part, because if Texas’ largest segment of the workforce, Hispanics, is under-educated, the state will be unable to attract business and industry, and Texas workers will face unemployment or under-employment in low-wage jobs.

“A lot can be done by individual Christians, churches, associations and other Texas Baptist entities to help alleviate this tragic situation,” Guajardo charged. “Hispanic churches should take the lead.”

The Baptist General Convention of Texas has created the Hispanic Youth Education Task Force, which will begin focusing on this issue in February, he said.

That’s significant, because the futures of the BGCT and Hispanics in Texas are intertwined, he noted.

Already, nearly 1,300 of the 5,700 churches affiliated with the BGCT are Hispanic, he said.

“We are an integral part of the BGCT,” Guajardo reported, noting the BGCT and the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas have been unified as one overall convention more than 40 years.

“Hispanics represent the future of the BGCT,” he stressed. “Hispanic churches are the fastest-growing group of churches in the BGCT. … The vast majority of new churches started by the BGCT are Hispanic.”

And in some areas, Hispanic churches numerically are dominant, he said, citing Rio Grande Baptist Association, whose churches are 85 percent Hispanic and 15 percent Anglo and/or English-speaking. Soon, Hispanics will comprise 50 percent of the Baptist churches in San Antonio and Houston, he added.

Texas Baptists must continue to multiply their efforts to impact the Texas Hispanic community, Guajardo insisted.

But he acknowledged no single method will work, since “Hispanics in Texas are different” from each other. Several factors account for those differences, but the two most prominent are country of origin and the degree to which they have assimilated into Texas society.

For example, while the majority of Texas Hispanics originated in Mexico, they also have come from throughout Latin America, South America and the Caribbean. Also, many are newly arrived immigrants, but other Hispanic families have lived in Texas three and four or more generations.

Despite the differences, Guajardo offered five suggestions for ways Texas Baptists can impact Hispanics:

• Identification.

“Identify the group. Ask, ‘What kind of Hispanics do we have here?’” he said, noting the national origin of the group will determine cultural approaches that work best.

The BGCT Executive Board can provide demographic data to help with the identification process, he said.

• Understanding.

“Get help on how to relate to (your) particular group,” he advised, noting BGCT regional strategy coordinators—who are being assigned to nine geographic zones across the state—will have specific information for assisting in this understanding process.

• Assistance.

“If you are working with recently arrived immigrants, impact them by helping them with the basics for subsistence, including assistance to legalize their status here,” Guajardo said. He cited a study conducted by State Demographer Steve Murdock, which indicates 74 percent of Hispanics believe churches should help immigrants.

“They’re going to be here,” Guajardo said of Hispanic immigrants. “How can they be better residents, more productive? We might as well say, ‘Welcome’ and help them be productive here.”

• Evangelism.

Christians can share the gospel with Texas Hispanics out of natural relationships that flow through helping them, Guajardo said. For example, evangelism can happen effectively with new immigrants when churches help them with their elemental survival needs. Similar evangelism opportunities will flow through other relationships with Hispanics at every level of assimilation into the state.

“I don’t know where we got the idea we can evangelize people cold-turkey,” he declared. “Hispanics are a relational people. Relate to them. Get to know them. Help them. And they will ask you to share (Christ) with them.”

• Education.

The BGCT Hispanic Youth Education Task Force will offer Texas Baptists options for educating Hispanics, helping them to alleviate their “tragic condition,” Guajardo said.

“We can do something,” he said. “We can encourage youth to stay in school. We can help the parents help their children stay in school. If they don’t, they will suffer. This will hurt the children, and it will hurt the state when they have low-wage jobs. … We’re all affected.

“I’m hoping we will do something and participate in both state and church programs to educate Hispanic young people. If we don’t, we all will suffer.”

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
See related story

Varied views on integration of faith & learning persist

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

WACO—Calls for the integration of faith and learning that once polarized Baylor University’s constituencies now appear to unite them. But while they rally around the “faith and learning” banner, varied groups seem to use the term in different ways and for a variety of reasons.

“Everyone I know on the Baylor campus embraces the concept of integrating faith and learning, but there are very different perspectives on what that means,” observed Bill Un-derwood, former interim president at Baylor and president-elect at Mercer University.

Nobody wants to be seen as being against either faith or learning at a school like Baylor, but those umbrella terms can cover drastically different visions of what constitutes a Christian university, some faculty noted.

“When you’re using words like ‘faith’ and ‘learning,’ it’s hard to argue against it. But there’s a lot of disagreement about what it means,” said Scott Moore, director of the Great Texts Program in Baylor University’s Honors College.

Mike Beaty

How those words are interpreted shape how Baylor fulfills its vision of being “a Christian university in the historic Baptist tradition,” some observers have noted, drawing a distinction between two models for Christian universities—one focused on creating a Christian atmosphere and the other devoted to the intentional integration of faith into learning.

The atmospheric approach views a Christian university primarily in terms of high moral expectations for students and a religious culture evidenced in campus life—the so-called “Baylor bubble.” The integration approach, on the other hand, emphasizes that the Christian faith—and a way of viewing the world shaped by it—should permeate classroom instruction and discussion.

During Chancellor Robert Sloan’s tenure as Baylor’s president, he promoted the integration model and created the school’s Institute for Faith & Learning. Pointing to the historic example of once-religiously affiliated universities such as Harvard, Yale and Brown, some proponents of the integration of faith and learning presented their approach as the only way to keep Baylor from slipping into secularism in its quest to become a top-tier university.

Scott Moore

“To put the matter plainly, history shows that following the atmospheric model at the university level leads, without exception, to a secular university,” Provost Emeritus Don Schmeltekopf said in a paper presented at a 2003 colloquy on “the Baptist and Christian character of Baylor.”

Joe Armes, a Baylor regent and layman at Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas, underscored that theme at a meeting of the Baylor Business Network last month. A campus atmosphere of good will and high moral expectations is important, but a Christian university should do what a state school cannot—view subject matter from a Christian worldview, he said.

“We don’t want to lose the atmosphere, but that’s not enough. We have to go further and say there is something distinctive about our Christian ethos,” he explained in an interview later. The intentional integration of faith and learning “offers a lens through which you see the academic disciplines.

We all have our presuppositions and worldviews, and the secular viewpoint is not equivalent to being neutral,” he said.

Integrating faith into the learning environment also makes good business sense, he added. A clearly branded Christian university is a marketable consumer product.

“It’s not only the right thing to do. Also, ‘distinctively Christian’ is the right marketing niche for Baylor,” he said.

While he affirmed traditional Baptist doctrines about soul competency and religious liberty, Armes emphasized he did not feel the intentional integration of faith into the learning environment threatened them. Rather, it addresses what he sees as a larger threat—secularism.

“The dominant culture fully embraces personal autonomy. A more eminent threat to our children today is seen in the forces of secularism, relativism, consumerism and hedonism,” he said. “These are the snares that are so prevalent in our society.”

History demonstrates an inevitable drift toward secularism in higher education unless universities make a concerted effort to integrate faith into the school’s intellectual life, asserted Doug Henry, director of Baylor’s Institute for Faith & Learning.

“Every single serious scholarly treatment of the subject acknowledges that secularism takes place,” he said.

Michael Beaty, chairman of Baylor’s philosophy department, agreed.

“In the atmospheric model, the conditions for secularism are there,” he said, but he insisted more important reasons exist for advancing the integration of faith and learning.

“The atmospheric model is a defective model,” he insisted. “We are to ‘take every thought captive’ to Christ. The integration of faith and learning model offers a richer, thicker notion of what it means to be a Christian university than the atmospheric model affords.”

On the contrary, emphasis on the intentional integration of faith and learning demonstrates a “lack of any depth of understanding about how faith is communicated—particularly to young people,” said Kent Gilbreath, professor of economics and layman at Seventh & James Baptist Church in Waco.

The expectation that faith and learning must be integrated into every academic discipline carries with it the notion that it must be observable and measurable, and that conflicts with the real experience of generations of Baylor students, Gilbreath said.

Lectures about faith tacked onto classroom lessons have little impact on students, but the day-to-day influence of Christian professors who model professionalism can shape lives in tremendous ways, he asserted.

“I contend influence can be incredibly subtle but that it can be much more powerful than if it is obvious and overt,” he said.

Gilbreath characterized as “absolutely ridiculous” the assertion Baylor was in danger of drifting toward secularism before the “integration of faith and learning” model came into vogue during the Sloan administration. The atmospheric model served Baylor University well for 150 years, he insisted.

Baylor President John Lilley emphasizes the need for a balance between the two approaches—atmosphere and integration.

“Atmosphere matters. It matters a lot,” he said. “It matters how we treat people.”

At the same time, Lilley has called on faculty and staff to be intentional about the integration of faith and learning.

“I have not heard anyone say that both heart and mind are not important,” he said.

“I endorse the integration of faith and learning, both in class and outside the classroom.”

Lilley has instructed all departments by March 1 to present their own ideas about how they best can carry out Baylor’s commitment to being a Christian university.

“It’s not about uniformity within departments. It’s about having students think about what it means to be a person of faith,” he said.

“We have academic freedom here. There are a lot of models, and people are going to be allowed to do what they feel most comfortable doing. But that doesn’t mean anything goes, either. There’s balance.”

Henry ap-plauded Lilley’s initiative in calling for departmental self-assessment.

“If the departments follow through, it could be one of the most intentional commitments to the integration of faith and learning at a Christian university anywhere in the world. It’s visionary, in some respects,” he said.

Underwood—who ended his time as Baylor’s interim president and launched his time at Mercer with speeches about freedom of thought—sees definite value in the overt integration of faith and learning.

But he offers a word of caution about potential abuse.

“I agree one of the strengths of a Christian university is that we have the freedom and the incentive to examine issues from an overtly Christian perspective. I just don’t believe it’s the only way for the integration of faith and learning to manifest itself,” echoing Lilley’s observation that “atmosphere matters.”

For Underwood, a distinctively Christian university—particularly a Baptist one—should create an atmosphere that embraces all truth as God’s truth.

“A university has to make decisions about how free people are going to be—how tolerant the university will be of faculty and students when they come to conclusions that challenge the existing orthodoxy. It’s a question of exploring truth wherever the path leads,” he said.

“Artificial restrictions on truth-seeking interfere with a Christian university being what it can be. Baptist universities ought to be the greatest of all Christian universities. Our heritage of freedom should make us most sympathetic to the vibrant truth-seeking process.

“I really believe Baptist universities have the best chance to get Christian higher education right.”

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

Unrealistic expectations cause stress for ministerial families

By Ken Walker

Special to the Baptist Standard

TUCSON, Ariz.—As a Baptist pastor’s spouse for more than 30 years, Julie Barrier has a firsthand perspective on the stress facing ministers’ families. So when her daughter, Brianna, helped complete a survey of 4,000 pastor’s families while a student at Baylor University, the findings were no surprise to her.

The survey identified four leading causes of stress for pastors and their families—unrealistic expectations, lack of time, finances and health issues.

“They were absolutely right on,” she said. “The other thing, for pastors of smaller churches, is the feeling of isolation—that there’s no place they can go that’s safe. It’s hard, but essential, to cultivate relationships for their children outside of church.”

In Barrier’s case, she deals with twin pressures as both the wife of the pastor of Casas Church in suburban Tucson and as the church’s music leader.

The top source of stress noted in the Baylor study was expectations, whether from family members, congregation members, self or God.

Church members especially feel they have a right to communicate their expectations to the pastor’s children, Barrier said. She recalled when her then-8-year-old daughter returned to the cookie table at a church fellowship event. A woman told her: “You’d better put that cookie back. We don’t want chubby pastor’s children.”

Many spouses can relate to such comments. At a recent workshop during a pastor-spouse retreat in Kentucky, Barrier said, unrealistic expectations were a major complaint of attendees, as were concerns for their children.

“I think having children feeling wounded by a church member was something they really wanted to deal with—(learning) how to comfort their children and get them past some of the hurt,” she said.

In addition, lack of personal and leisure time creates concern for pastoral families.

One major eruption in the Barriers’ marriage came early in their pastorate at Casas, when her husband, Roger, didn’t take a day off for three years. As they finally prepared for a weekend getaway in Phoenix, a deacon called to ask for a ride so he could pick up his car at a repair shop there.

Barrier vividly remembered sitting in backseat and crying during the 100-mile trip, but it took 15 years before she and her husband discussed the rift. She finally told him about the complex emotions she felt, starting with his spending so much time at church and not enough with family. In turn, he apologized and asked for forgiveness.

“One of the things we teach is if there’s a really big hurt, the apology needs to be commensurate with the hurt,” Barrier said. “If you have a gallon worth of hurt, a pint-sized apology is not going to do it.”

Financial stress is another problem that besets pastors’ families, often because of forced moves or other circumstances.

Barrier referred to missionary friends overseas who work in Islamic countries. Recently, their middle-school-aged daughter asked, “Mom, if God is a good God, why does he make me wear hand-me-downs?”

“The other extreme is the pastor’s family that is expected to dress to the nines and set church fashion trends on a shoestring budget,” Barrier said. “Can’t we go to the grocery store without makeup when we want to?”

Health stress includes physical, emotional, spiritual and mental; she noted that GuideStone Financial Resources ranks pastors in the top three insurance risks for health problems.

Many spouses also carry the burden of working to make ends meet while serving full time in church ministries, Barrier said.

Addressing these problems calls for understanding that people are alone and God instituted three divine relationships to fill that need—marriage, family and the church, she said. With the latter, the goal is to create a community where aloneness needs can be met through loving relationships.

“The real issue is: Do you have a dysfunctional church and are you willing to stay long enough at the church to change the culture so it is functional?” she said. “It doesn’t happen in two years. It happens in five or 10 years.”

Barrier thinks the pastor has to lead in teaching people how to create loving relationships where hurts are acknowledged and forgiven.

The pastor also must help the congregation understand others’ needs for acceptance, appreciation and approval, she said.

When such values are taught, modeled and instilled by both pastor and church leaders, God’s grace will help change how people relate to each other, Barrier insisted.

“Teaching them how to identify and meet needs is important,” she said. “If your people get in touch with that, they’re not going to make (hurtful) remarks.”

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

EDITORIAL: Baylor’s atmosphere: Faith & learning?

This edition of the Baptist Standard includes a package of stories that deliver a message to everyone who thinks the dispute over the future of Baylor University ended with the resignation of former President Robert Sloan: Think again.

Sloan stepped down last summer after more than two years of controversy over his leadership. Interim President Bill Underwood exerted a mediating influence. Morale on campus improved dramatically. New President John Lilley received the regents’ endorsement because of his solid reputation as a reconciler and consensus builder. Also, since he lived his entire adult life far from Waco, he didn’t have a bear in this fight.

Still, the struggle continues. It focuses on “faith and learning”: How does a Christian—in this case Baptist—university integrate the essence of its biblical and theological foundation into its myriad academic disciplines? Baylor historically has adopted the “atmospheric” model, which affirms the Christian/ Baptist ethos of the university without expecting professors to discuss Christian ideas or principles in every class. Atmospheric advocates note the Christian character of Baylor is pervasive and compelling. They rest their case on more than 150 years of history. Detractors point to other universities founded on the atmospheric model, such as Harvard and Yale, which slid into secularism. They endorse the “integration of faith and learning” model, which mandates a more overt application of Christianity in the classroom. By infusing faith into every area of learning, they contend, Baylor can maintain its distinctive Christian character, even in the face of trends toward secularism. Atmospheric advocates warn the integration approach leads to legalism, thwarts academic freedom, and will destroy Baylor’s Baptist identity and lead to the university’s fall from grace as a respected institution of learning. (See Ken Camp’s articles, which begin on page 12.)

The most recent flashpoint in this debate has been a set of papers prepared by a trio of Baylor professors and presented at the Vatican. The presentations by Michael Beaty, Douglas Henry and Scott Moore are, as you would expect, scholarly and complicated. Presupposing the importance of integrating faith and learning, they take an affirming stance toward the Roman Catholic system of higher education and call on Baptists to take a more ecumenical/accepting posture toward the Roman Catholic Church. This issue flared more recently when a pro-Sloan Baylor regent, Joe Armes, endorsed the professors’ position, and a couple of well-known Texas Baptist educator/ministers, Russell Dilday and Raymond Bailey, wrote papers opposing them.

The situation is ripe with irony.

Supporters of Beaty, Henry and Moore claim they have been attacked in ways similar to how Southern Baptist Convention seminary professors were attacked by fundamentalists in the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s. Meanwhile, the authors of the papers that oppose their view were themselves victims of those very fundamentalist attacks—Dilday was fired as president of Southwestern Seminary, and Bailey left the faculty of Southern Seminary in the wake of the fundamentalist takeover.

Detractors of Beaty, Henry and Moore claim their approach would lead the university toward fundamentalism. Meanwhile, the three professors are members of pro-Baptist General Convention of Texas, pro-Coopera-tive Baptist Fellowship churches—two of the most nonfundamentalist congregations in the state. Henry’s pastor is a woman. The profs point out that, while they endorse a closer walk with Roman Catholicism, they don’t offer blanket affirmation of all Roman Catholic dogma, hierarchy and conformity.

That said, they are naive to expect their critique would not be met with criticism. The Roman Catholic system they affirm often looks eerily like the fundamentalist structure that overtook the SBC seminaries, expunged academic freedom and, in the end, disavowed their essential Baptist character. No wonder, then, that Baptists scarred by the theological/political battles of the past quarter-century would resist instinctively.

Advocates of faith-and-learning integration share an honorable passion to resist the slippery slope of secularism. But, with Baylor, the atmospheric advocates also hold two strong points: Baylor’s model of education has enabled the university to flourish for generations and even provides secure, significant space for faculty like Beaty, Henry and Moore, who hold another view. Also, the polar-opposite of secularism, fundamentalism, has choked academic freedom at schools Texas Baptists know and once loved. And nobody who loves Baylor wants that for their university.

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

Posted: 2/17/06

DOWN HOME: Phil Strickland: Friend & guide

Many of us—God only knows the number, but it is huge—lost a friend who felt more like a brother last week.

Although his spirit remained strong and effervescent until the end, Phil Strickland finally lost his longtime battle with cancer.

As I write these words of love and grief, I realize countless others could write them, too. Phil made an intensely personal, unique and Christlike mark on our lives.

For the past decade, I looked to Phil as folks look to an older brother. We actually met about a quarter-century ago, but we became fast friends after I arrived back home in Texas just over 10 years ago.

By then, Phil had worked at the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission almost 30 years. He knew this state inside-out. Since I’d been away almost 20 years, he helped me reorient myself to the Texas landscape. I’ve done my job at the Standard better because Phil helped me understand Texas Baptist nuances.

But all that, important as it is, seemed beside the point. With Phil, the point was we had a chance to share an amazing journey to which Christ had called us. We had an opportunity and responsibility to channel our gifts and blessings and time and talent to make this state we loved a better place by making it a more gracious place for the weakest members of our society.

Sometimes, Phil turned his prodigious energy and resources to strengthening just one Christian brother—me.

If you’ve paid attention to Baptist happenings during the past decade, you know we’ve been through hard times. And editing a Baptist newspaper through these years of difficulty hasn’t always been a fun-and-fulfilling calling. Many times, it plain hurt.

Phil seemed to have a radar for my pain and knew when to reach out. I don’t hunt, so Phil and I didn’t spend time on a deer lease, as others did. But Phil and I both liked breakfast, and we spent time together eating pancakes and drinking coffee. And I spent time listening to Phil’s stories and thinking about his dreams for Texas Baptists—traditional, mainstream, progressive Christians, free from dominion and empowered to do God’s work and follow God’s path, wherever that leads.

Phil never exactly said, “Don’t quit; don’t give up.” But he kept me going. He kept me going by smiling and laughing and working hard in the face of cancer. By casting vision for a day he never would see. By believing I could do the job God called me to do, letting me know he was proud of me, cared for me, pulled alongside me.

I almost didn’t tell you this, because I don’t want you to think that I think I had a “special” relationship with Phil. That’s what’s so amazing—I am legion. Hundreds of Phil’s friends can tell similar tales. He wasn’t a large man, but his love was big enough to embrace us all.

Imagine this: Heaven is a more energetic, purposeful place. Phil has arrived. And we who share his legacy continue here with purpose and conviction. Phil showed us how.

Marv Knox

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

Posted: 2/17/06

7 principles for churches to be multiracial

WACO—Seven principles characterize successful multiracial congregations, according to studies conducted by sociologist and author George Yancey.

Yancey, who has written a book titled One Body, One Spirit: Seven Principles of Successful Multiracial Churches, described those principles during the “Becoming a Racially Reconciled Church & Community” conference sponsored by Mission Waco.

Those principles are:

1. Inclusive worship.

“We identify ourselves racially by the way we worship,” Yancey said, noting racially distinctive elements of worship transcend music to include preaching style, the way the worship service is organized and interior décor of church buildings.

Successful multiracial churches typically adopt one of three worship practices—a “totally new worship style,” alternating styles from Sunday to Sunday, and “blend it all together,” with multiple racial elements in each service.

2. Diverse leadership.

These churches have “clergy and/or laity leadership that reflect the makeup or desired makeup of the congregation,” he said.

“This communicates acceptance of the numerical minority groups,” he said. “It also allows the head pastor to learn about other racial groups.”

3. An overarching goal.

This is “a nonracial goal, which is easier to meet if the congregation becomes multiracial,” Yancey explained.

Potential goals include desired results in evangelism, community service and translating the gospel into meeting societal needs, he said, noting multiracial churches can meet these goals in many communities far better than single-race congregations.

4. Intentionality.

“You have to think about it,” he said of racial integration in churches.

Churches that are expressly intentional about racial diversity communicate their willingness to go out of their way to become multiracial, think about what will be necessary to achieve that goal and find the motivation to reach out to various races.

5. Personal skills.

These include sensitivity to different needs of different races, patience to deal with transitions, willingness to empower people of other races, and the ability to relate well to people of different races.

6. Location.

“The vast majority of multiracial churches are located in the inner city or in racially diverse areas,” he said. “Suburban churches (often) are seen as rejection of minorities” since many suburbs developed because of “white flight” from racially diverse urban neighborhoods.

“Suburban multiracial churches are almost all led by nonwhite pastors,” he reported.

7. Adaptability.

Successful multiracial churches can “anticipate new challenges and/or adapt to unanticipated issues as they come up,” he said. These include difficulties of assimilating people who speak different languages; dealing with “interracial romance,” especially among the church’s teenagers; and processing secular political and social issues without splintering the congregation.

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

ON THE MOVE

• D.F. Barrett has resigned as pastor of First Church in Eddy to become associate pastor of First Church in Hewitt.

• Brandon Blagg has resigned as pastor of Olin Church in Hico.

• Michael Brinkley to First Church in Flower Mound as preschool/children’s minister.

• Jason Chism to First Church in Gladewater as minister of music and worship from First Church in Eddy.

• Art Clodfelter has resigned as pastor of Sandbranch Church in Big Foot.

• Miguel Contreras to Primera Iglesia in Plainview as pastor.

• Allan Cox has completed an interim minister of music stint at Holly Brook Church in Hawkins and is available for supply music work at (903) 849-4857.

• Jerry Davis has resigned as youth minister at First Church in Hico.

• Blake Edwards has resigned as student minister at First Church in Wimber-ley.

• Darrell Fischbeck has resigned as youth minister at First Church in Blanco.

• Louis Haak to Community Church in China Spring as minister of education.

• Robert Ingram to Cornerstone Church in Caddo Mills as pastor.

• E.J. Kearney has returned to Texarkana from Florida and is available for supply and interim pastorates.

• Junior Lanmon has resigned as minister of music at Pleasant Valley Church in Jonesboro.

• Palmer McCown to First Church in Abilene as pastor for senior adults.

• Larry McIntire to Friendship Church in Ennis as pastor.

• Tim Neely to Midway Church in Springtown as pastor.

• Heath Peloquin to Brighton Park Church in Corpus Christi as pastor.

• Velma Porraz to Primera Iglesia in Dallas as minister of adults.

• Howard Rhoades to Grand Community Church in Surprise, Ariz., as pastor from First Church in Dimmitt.

• Bryan Richardson to Riverwood Church in Corpus Christi as pastor.

• Danny Shaver has resigned as pastor of Pioneer Church in Valley View.

• Chad Shira to McKinney Street Church in Denton.

• Ron Shuffield to Ridgemont Church in Abilene as pastor.

• Eddie Singleton to Paradise Church in Caddo Mills as pastor.

• Ray Sullins to Midway Church in Dayton as pastor.

• Steven Taylor has resigned as pastor of Pearl Church in Gatesville.

• Terry Wright to First Church in Yantis as student minister.

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

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: 2/15/06
Family Bible Series for Feb. 26

Have faith that God knows what he’s doing

• Jeremiah 32:6-9, 27-30, 37-41

By Donald Raney

Westlake Chapel, Graham

Serving God involves participating in God’s plans to draw the world back into a proper relationship with him. By nature, these plans are vast in scope.

Often as individuals serve in the ministries to which they feel called, they cannot see how their seemingly small part fits into or contributes to the greater purpose. Our vision is limited to our particular situation and surroundings.

Sometimes God may call us to do something that seems to contradict our perception of the circumstances. To some, it may even seem God simply does not know what is going on, or he would not make such a request.

It is at these times we need to remember God stands in a position to have an infinitely more panoramic view of what he is doing. Although we may not understand why, we simply need to carry through with our part, knowing that it will fit into God’s overall plan—a plan we will understand one day.

Jeremiah 32:6-9

The situation was desperate for the Israelites. The Babylonians were coming to destroy Jerusalem and take the remaining citizens into exile.

Jeremiah remained under house arrest. For years, he had declared the message of God’s coming judgment on the people. The people stubbornly had refused to listen to him, choosing instead to believe the false prophets who said God never would allow Jerusalem to be conquered. Now the opportunity for repentance had passed, and God was sending his judgment.

In Jeremiah 32:1-5, Jeremiah tells the king the Babylonians are coming and resisting them will mean death. God had determined the king would stand before the king of Babylon soon.

God then instructs Jeremiah to do something that might well seem futile or foolish in light of this coming destruction. God tells Jeremiah his cousin is coming to ask Jeremiah to buy a piece of land so it might stay in the family.

Two questions immediately come to mind. First, why would the cousin assume Jeremiah had the means to purchase land? As a very unpopular prophet, Jeremiah likely had not had any source of income. We are left to assume that perhaps his father had left him a substantial inheritance. Second, why would Jeremiah buy land if the Babylonians were about to conquer and take the people into exile? Such an act certainly would seem to run contrary to the message Jeremiah had been delivering.

Why would God make such a request of his prophet? Although these questions were running through his mind, Jeremiah obeyed God’s call and purchased the property from his cousin.

Jeremiah 32:27-30

Jeremiah 32:10-14 describes the process Jeremiah went through in purchasing his cousin’s land. These proceedings follow closely the legal requirements for making the sale of land a legally binding agreement. Jeremiah is carrying out this transaction in a business-as-usual manner.

Someone viewing this scene might easily forget the Babylonian army was on the horizon. Yet this fact could not escape Jeremiah’s constant thoughts. Jeremiah could not avoid the nagging question of why God would ask him to do this.

Thus in verses 16-25, Jeremiah prays to God. He recounts the history of the people that has brought them to this time of judgment and then, without asking a question, requests that God explain why he has just bought property soon to be under Babylonian control.

God responds to Jeremiah by first addressing any unexpressed questions or concerns Jeremiah might harbor. In verse 27, God, in the form of a question, reminds his prophet nothing is too difficult for God to handle. God is aware of the circumstances and how his request might appear. What might be seen as an unusual or illogical request based on circumstances is well within God’s ability to work out within his plans.

God then continues by reaffirming the truthfulness and immanent fulfillment of the judgment Jeremiah has been proclaiming for almost 40 years. God is indeed preparing to hand over Jerusalem and all of its inhabitants to the Babylonians. God’s anger had been provoked because the people had not done as God instructed. They had not done their part in fulfilling their divine calling.

Jeremiah 32:37-41

Seeing that Jeremiah still had questions, God revealed to him the reason for telling Jeremiah to buy the family land. The day would come when God’s anger would be satisfied, and he would gather his people back to himself in the Promised Land. God would again establish them in the land as his people, and he would be their God. God would renew an everlasting covenant with them and would rejoice over them.

Jeremiah’s act of purchasing the land was a sign this return would happen. Just as Jeremiah had faith the judgment would come, his purchase of land demonstrated his confidence in God’s promise of a return. Although the land would be controlled by the Babylonians for a time, the land one day again would be the possession of the restored nation of Israel.

The lesson God taught Jeremiah so many years ago still holds true for us today. Although we may not understand why God calls us to certain actions or see his greater plan, the faith we have that God holds an intentional view of time and space should motivate us to move ahead in carrying out God’s call and to do our part in fulfilling his greater purposes.

Discussion questions

• Has God ever asked you to do something that seemed to be unusual or illogical? What happened?

• How can we go about seeing the “big picture” of God’s plans and our part in them?

• What lessons can we learn about prayer in Jeremiah 32?