Storylist for week of 11/20/06

TAKE ME TO: Top Story |  Texas |  Opinion |  Baptists |  Faith & Culture |  Book Reviews |  Classifieds  |  Departments  |  Bible Study



• UMHB missions emphasis brings world needs into focus

• Baylor service day draws 3,000 volunteers

• Couple helps start Buckner aid to gypsy groups in Romania

• Boomers, Busters see sex differently

• Christoval church opens doors to kids after school

• Wade still has support despite anger, sadness at scandal

• Court hears arguments on partial-birth abortion ban cases

• Arkansas OKs bingo despite Baptist opposition

• Fire destroys encampment auditorium



• Moving On: Board ‘pre-empted' BGCT by recommending reforms


• Theological university president moves to Buckner post

BGCT annual meeting coverage
• Moving On: Board ‘pre-empted' BGCT by recommending reforms

• African-American rally focuses on worship & thanksgiving

• Battle of the Bands winner

• Trust in God in turbulent times, president tells BGCT

• Texas Baptists challenged to ‘share the light'

• Church starting policies designed to ensure accountability

• City Reach meets needs

• Fellowship of Cowboy Churches points to continued growth

• DaVinci Code DVD dialogue a starting place

• Steps already taken to implement recommendations

• Church not immune from family violence

• Preaching must change to communicate with culture

• Texas Baptists urged to launch world missions offering

• Internet ministry can help churches expand their reach

• Kids Hope USA mentors make a difference

• Missions network participants rally in Arlington

• Missions workshop offers tips

• Restoration of trust is vital, BGCT leaders agree

• Nontraditional approaches may be needed

• Warm affection, cool discipline key to parenting

• Piper Institute board votes to dissolve at year's end

• Churches can help members deal with sexual addiction

• Mission testimonies highlight TBM rally

• CWJC graduate gains national honors

BGCT convention articles previously posted
• Executive director committed to ‘clean up the mess'

• Texas WMU reschedules annual meeting

• Unity emphazised at Texas Baptist Hispanic Fellowship rally

• Ministry awards presented to Texas Baptist innovators


• On the Move

• Around the State

• Texas Tidbits


• Tennessee Baptists move to the right

• N.C. Baptists bar gay-friendly churches

• Baptist Briefs


• Movie views evangelicals as key environmental reformers

• Religious freedom violators noted

The business side of religion:
• Pastors face stresses, challenges of corporate CEO's

• Congregations embrace the business side of religion

• Endowments provide churches a financial safety net


• Books reviewed in this issue are: Whose Bible is it? by Jaroslav Pelikan, The Serving Leader: Five Powerful Actions That Will Transform Your Team, Your Business and Your Community by Ken Jennings and John Stahl-Wert and Making the Blue Plate Special: The Joy of Family Legacies by Florence Littauer, Marita Littauer and Lauren Littauer Briggs


• Cartoon

• Classified Ads

• On the Move

• Around the State


• EDITORIAL: Churches next to ‘vote' on BGCT future

• DOWN HOME: A furry friend's untimely end

• TOGETHER: ‘We will bring credibility & integrity'

• RIGHT or WRONG? The ethics of blogging

• Texas Baptist Forum

• Cybercolumn by Jeanie Miley: Cultivating a grateful heart



• BaptistWay Bible Series for November 19: Wisdom for every area of life

• Bible Studies for Life Series for November 19: Live in reality, not delusion

• Explore the Bible Series for November 19: Persevere in the midst of adversity

• BaptistWay Bible Series for November 26: Wise use of words can bolster relationships

• Bible Studies for Life Series for November 26: Acknowledge God's call on your life today

• Explore the Bible Series for November 26: ‘Love one another' is more than a suggestion


See complete list of articles from our 11/13/ 2006 issue here.

Storylist for week of 11/13/06

TAKE ME TO: Top Story |  Texas |  Opinion |  Baptists |  Faith in Action |  Faith & Culture |  Book Reviews |  Classifieds  |  Departments  |  Bible Study



• Three receive Texas Baptist Ministry Awards

• Unity leads to evangelism, Rodriguez tells Hispanic Fellowship

• WMU votes to move meeting to spring, hear Wade report on Valley investigation

• Wade acknowledges failures, vows to respond

• Executive Board votes to explore criminal charges, recovery of Valley funds

• Missouri voters protect stem-cell research

• Pattern of exaggeration repeated in Mexico, observers say

• Executive Board sets second called meeting to respond to investigation


• Abortion ban overturned in South Dakota



• Baptizing & Making Disciples

• Pattern of exaggeration repeated in Mexico, observers say


• Pattern of exaggeration repeated in Mexico, observers say

• Executive Board sets second called meeting to respond to investigation

• Baptizing & Making Disciples

• Former Mexican Mafia general baptized in Texas prison

• Military, hospital chaplains face similar challenges

• Family care eases a little of single mothers' stress

• CityReach/Lift Up America alliance feeds hungry families

• Young filmmaker issues casting call

• Hispanic Convocation stresses leadership

• Inner-city Houston churches seek community transformation

• Mentally challenged minister through Meals on Wheels

• Scholarships help missionary kids

• Principles learned at Miracle Farm serve alumni in military

• Reader's Theater workers model Christ-like patience

• Degree of Difference Day draws Wayland workers

• Youth ministers urged to understand middle-school culture

• On the Move

• Around the State

• Texas Tidbits


• Pastor/policeman carries a Bible, wears a badge

• Islamic groups denounce Baptist's ‘takeover' remark

• Bishop College may find new life

• Baptist Briefs


• Former Mexican Mafia general baptized in Texas prison


• Poll: A good night's sleep beats church

• 'Tis the season for the Yuletide battles

• Moms fed up with sexpot dolls

• Evangelicals distance themselves from Haggard scandal

• Megachurches shift focus to community involvement

• Same-sex marriage bans a mixed bag at the polls

• ‘Sunday-best apparel' is not what it used to be

• Singles seek soul mates on the Web


• Books reviewed in this issue: The Three Hardest Words in the World to Get Right by Leonard Sweet, Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading by Eugene Peterson and A Genetic History of Baptist Thought by William H. Brackney.


• On the Move

• Around the State

• Classified Ads

• Texas Baptist Forum


• EDITORIAL: Go Away, Walk Away & the big picture

• DOWN HOME: Teenagers don't live here anymore

• TOGETHER: Work together to share God's grace

• RIGHT or WRONG? A materialistic lifestyle

• 2nd Opinion: Who will seek Middle East peace?

• Texas Baptist Forum

• Cybercolumn By John Duncan: Thanksgiving list



• BaptistWay Bible Series for November 12: Christians are called to lives of integrity

• Bible Studies for Life Series for November 12: Place your trust in God, not things of the world

• Explore the Bible Series for November 12: Exhibitions of faith encourage others

• BaptistWay Bible Series for November 19: Wisdom for every area of life

• Bible Studies for Life Series for November 19: Live in reality, not delusion

• Explore the Bible Series for November 19: Persevere in the midst of adversity


See complete list of articles from our 11/06/ 2006 issue here.

Updated: 11/21/06

Missions network participants rally in Arlington

By Barbara Bedrick

Texas Baptist Communications

ARLINGTON—Seven Texas Baptist churches sponsored a statewide missions rally Nov. 12 to champion a movement toward local-church mission work.

“Missions is messy,” said Dennis Wiles, pastor of First Baptist Church in Arlington. “It’s like a plate of food at a family reunion, but it’s as community-minded as Starbucks.”

Dennis Wiles, pastor of First Baptist Church in Arlington, leads a statewide missions celebration.

Several hundred church members praised, prayed and worshipped as several Baptist ministers spoke at the missions celebration Sunday night prior to the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting in Dallas.

“I’m passionate about missions, and we are here tonight to acknowledge the work of God through his churches in the task of reaching the world for Jesus Christ,” Wiles said. “We’re not supported by the BGCT but blessed by the BGCT.”

First Baptist in Arlington already is budgeting 23 percent of its funds to direct local mission efforts—its largest church focus, he noted.

“Missions is broken,” Wiles said. “Several churches began meeting last January to discuss missions and challenge each other in Christ.”

Clarification: This story incorrectly reported that First Baptist Church in Arlington budgets 23 percent of its funds to direct local-missions programs. In fact, the church has designated 23 percent of its World Missions Offering to direct missionary support. The article also left the impression that speakers promoted hands-on local missions over financial support for global missions, when their goal was to encourage churches to mobilize members for missions in both local and global contexts. We regret the confusion and want to clear up any misunderstandings.

Ministers of First Baptist churches of Arlington, Plano and Richardson, along with pastors of Cottonwood Baptist Church in Dublin and Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston met to talk about ways to reach the unreached by personalizing missions at the local-church level. Several Baptist churches now are partnering in a church-sponsored initiative called Global Connection Partnership Network.

The network calls itself a covenantal community of churches seeking to obey God and establish Christ’s church locally and globally. Together, they plan to train and disciple all people to serve in a partnership with the global body of Christ to reach nonbelievers. The network’s goal is contextualizing churches that are naturally reproducing not only in their own culture, but also in cross-cultural gospel pioneering.

The missions network “serves the local church and its mission through training and strategy development. Its aim is that all people of the earth know and worship Jesus Christ and that his church multiplies,” missions professor Mike Stroope said.

It “will create learning labs that would include missiological strategy and church planting, biblical interpretation, cross-cultural training, team building and character development.”

Stroope, associate professor of Christian missions at Truett Seminary, encouraged rally participants to examine how God’s mission work could be more effective. “Stop playing the game of missions,” he said.

Praising local-church mission efforts, BGCT President Michael Bell voiced his support at the statewide rally.

• See complete list of convention articles

“Missions is the heart of Texas Baptists,” Bell said. “If you want to get us thrilled, then talk about church missions. We wanted to come out and encourage your missions work.”

Videos highlighted the global status of evangelism and non-Christians, while pastors emphasized that congregations embrace the challenge of God in unprecedented ways by localizing missions efforts instead of sending money to overseas missionaries.

The rally profiled a 90-year-old church, Cottonwood Baptist near Dublin, as a snapshot of a mission-minded church. Mem-bers traveled to southwest China, where 1.4 million people never have heard the name of Jesus Christ. Their mission began with only two families in China but has led more than 4,000 nonbelievers to Christ and planted more than 400 churches.

Pastor Mike Fritscher stressed that Baptists must not become paralyzed or develop a peripheral view of reachin nonbelievers.

“What we’ve created in Cottonwood is a culture of ‘yes,’” said Fritscher.

“Our calling is to Jesus Christ. Love is the greatest commandment; and we are to love our neighbor, whether they are across the street or across the board or across the ocean.”

Cottonwood is on the front line of this movement of God, Fritscher said, as he told how members also reached out to the local Hispanic community with Spanish-language Bible studies and Spanish-translation headphones for Sunday sermons. In another missions outreach, the church embraced Muslims in Africa, where 1.4 million people practice the Muslim faith.

“God is moving in ways I’ve not seen in my lifetime,” said Bill Tinsley, WorldconneX leader. “Every church has its own DNA, and each is shaped uniquely to fulfill the Great Commission.” Tinsley noted that missions starts not at the budget, but with people and their gifts and talents on the frontlines of the mission battle.

Members are missionaries, and people who sit in church pews are changing the evangelism field, 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.

Updated: 11/21/06

Fire destroys encampment auditorium

By John Hall  

Texas Baptist Communications

SPICEWOOD—Fire destroyed the auditorium at the Highland Lakes Camp and Conference Center Nov. 18.

The fire devastated the building, twisting steel beams, imploding chairs and burning the stage. Its cause still is under investigation.

All that's left of the auditorium at Highland Lakes conference center.

Surrounding area firefighters from Pedernales, Oak Hill, Hudson Bend, Spicewood and Travis County quickly responded. Even so, the building and all its contents were totally destroyed, said Executive Director Danny Dawdy.

The Olen Miles Auditorium was the primary worship center for the camp and served up to 750 people at a time.

Miles Auditorium was constructed in 35 years ago and dedicated in honor of the first camp manager, Olen Miles, founder of the Texas Baptist Men Retiree Builders.

Dawdy hopes to rebuild the auditorium as quickly as possible. Until it is rebuilt, worship will be held in a tabernacle that is being remodeled.

The camp needs electricians and air conditioning mechanics to help finish the remodeling effort. An additional $70,000 also is needed to finish the project.

For more information on how to help the camp, call (888) 222-3482.

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: 11/21/06

Court hears arguments on
partial-birth abortion ban cases

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)—The man who may cast the deciding vote in the Supreme Court’s first major abortion cases in six years tipped his hand little during oral arguments Nov. 8.

Justice Anthony Kennedy asked a series of highly technical questions of attorneys for each side in the two related cases, Gonzales v. Carhart and Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood. Calmly and methodically, he inquired about the medical and legal specifics of a subject that has provoked heated political and social debate in recent years—a procedure opponents label “partial-birth abortion.”

The cases involve the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003. Kennedy and his colleagues will consider whether the ban is unconstitutional because it does not contain an exemption designed to protect the health of the mother, because it is unconstitutionally vague, or because it places too heavy a burden on women seeking abortions.

Federal appeals courts ruled the law unconstitutional in both cases. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales appealed those decisions.

With the ban, Congress ostensibly targeted an abortion procedure, known medically as “intact dilation and extraction,” that involves the partial delivery of a fetus. Its skull is then punctured and its contents evacuated to make it easier to pass the head through the birth canal. Doctors say it is used only in exceedingly rare circumstances.

Statistics about the procedure are difficult to come by. However, the Chicago Sun-Times estimated partial-birth abortions represent about 2,500 to 3,000 of the 1.25 million abortions performed each year—or about 1 out of every 500.

The last time the Supreme Court dealt with a similar law—a Nebraska state ban on the procedure—was in 2000. In Stenberg v. Carhart, the justices ruled 5-4 that the law was worded so vaguely as to possibly ban more common abortion procedures and that it violated the Constitution because it did not include a health exception.

The federal partial-birth ban does not provide a health exception, in violation of federal law. Instead, it cites congressional findings determining that the procedure is never medically necessary to protect a woman’s health.

The decision will come from a Supreme Court different in ideological make-up than the one that found Nebraska’s ban unconstitutional in 2000. The justice who decided that case by casting her vote with the five-member majority— Sandra Day O’Connor—voted frequently in favor of abortion rights.

Since then, she has retired and been replaced by Justice Samuel Alito, who was nominated by President Bush, who is anti-abortion. Much of the controversy over Alito’s appointment centered on whether he would vote to uphold abortion rights or restrict them.

In the 2000 case, Kennedy was in the minority and wrote a dissenting opinion describing his vehement distaste for partial-birth abortion.

However, in recent arguments, the justice seemed concerned with whether the congressional findings were correct: that intact dilation and extraction is never necessary to protect a woman’s health.

“Do you have any idea in how many of those instances (there is) serious health risk to the mother that requires the procedure, as opposed to simply being an elective procedure? Are there any statistics on that?” Kennedy asked Priscilla Smith, who argued the case on behalf of Leroy Carhart. Carhart is a Nebraska abortion provider who challenged the ban. He also challenged the state statute that led to the earlier Stenberg v. Carhart decision.

Kennedy and his colleagues asked virtually no questions about the broader legal issues often raised in abortion cases—the constitutional right to privacy on which legalized abortion rests, for instance. But they seemed extremely concerned with what, exactly, the procedure being banned is, if the procedure is ever medically necessary to protect a woman’s health, and if the law’s language effectively bans that procedure without curtailing a woman’s right to other forms of abortion.

Solicitor General Paul Clement, arguing on behalf of the federal government in both cases, said the procedure being banned is so barbaric that Congress has a right to prohibit it.

“The evidence (from medical professionals in hearings) before Congress was clear that partial-birth abortions were never medically necessary, and that safe alternatives were always available such that no woman would be prevented from terminating her pregnancy,” Clement told the justices. “As a result, Congress was entitled to make a judgment in furthering its legitimate interests that they were going to ban a particularly gruesome procedure that blurred the line between abortion and infanticide.”

But Smith and her colleagues said the congressional findings were politically motivated to satisfy people opposed to abortion. While medical opinion is divided, she said, there is a “significant body” of medical experts who believe that the procedure is sometimes necessary to prevent complications that could have “catastrophic” results for the mother’s health.

“The only course here that preserves independence of the judiciary, that exemplifies the importance of stare decisis (the legal doctrine that a court’s previous opinion on a subject should stand unless there is a strong reason to overturn it), not to mention the only course that will protect women from needless risks of uterine perforation, infertility, sepsis and hemorrhage, is to hold this act unconstitutional,” she told the justices.

New Chief Justice John Roberts, whose precise abortion views are unknown but who was strongly supported in his confirmation hearings by anti-abortion groups, seemed eager to find ways that the federal law in question differed from the Nebraska law overturned in the Stenberg decision.

Alito, for his part, asked no questions during the two-hour argument sessions. While anti-abortion groups also supported his nomination, he appeared disengaged during the hearings, at times staring into his lap, at other times seeming to study the ornate courtroom’s ceiling.

However, in an indication of the extreme emotions the subject of abortion raises, the argument session featured the first major disruption in recent memory at the high court. A few minutes into Smith’s argument, a man began shouting anti-abortion slogans.

The man, later identified by court officials as Rives Miller Grogan of Los Angeles, was quickly restrained by Supreme Court Police officers, removed from the courtroom and charged with resisting arrest and violating a federal law that bans disruptions of the court’s sessions. But, before he could be removed from the courtroom, he shouted to the justices: “Repent or you will perish!”

His screams were audible in the courtroom for several seconds after officers dragged him out.

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: 11/21/06

Wade still has support despite
anger, sadness at scandal

By Greg Warner

Associated Baptist Press

DALLAS (ABP)—Rank-and-file Texas Baptists are sad and angry about the financial scandal in the Rio Grande Valley that has marred their reputation. But most say they still trust their leaders—including Executive Director Charles Wade—to correct abuses and restore confidence in the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

That was the message that emerged from the BGCT’s annual meeting Nov. 13-14 in Dallas, as messengers turned back several attempts to take the matter out of the hands of Wade and the convention’s Executive Board.

“I think Dr. Wade is going to come out of this alright, and I think he should,” said Lou Balenton, pastor of New Trinity Baptist Church in Plainview, as he left the convention hall. “He’s a man of integrity. I believe there should be some reprimands for staff members, but not for Dr. Wade.”

• See complete list of Valley funds scandal articles

An investigative team hired by the Executive Board reported Oct. 31 that more than $1.3 million in start-up funding and monthly support was given to three Hispanic pastors in the Rio Grande Valley who reported 258 church starts between 1999 and 2005. Investigators presented evidence that up to 98 percent of those churches no longer exist—and some never existed except on paper.

Other revelations suggest that an alleged pattern of deception by one of them—Otto Arango—was repeated south of the border in Mexico and even South America , where he also peddled his church-planting expertise and training materials. Other organizations besides the BGCT donated to the work of Arango’s church-planting institute.

The BGCT investigation also revealed the convention’s staff was aware of some of those allegations years ago but ignored or downplayed them, prompting some critics to accuse Wade and others of a cover up. One staff member named in the investigators’ report resigned and another took early retirement. Some BGCT insiders expected the scandal to force Wade to announce his retirement sooner than planned —perhaps even at this year’s convention.

But most of the messengers to the Dallas convention accepted the apologies offered by Wade and the remedies initiated by him and the Executive Board. Wade asked Texas Baptists for a chance to “fix what has been broken,” and he promised, “Your trust will not be breached.”

“I believe Charles Wade is a man of principles and integrity,” said Nancy Pannell of Denton after hearing Wade speak to the issue. “He trusted these people, and his trust has been betrayed. … He has already started what needs to be done to rectify the situation and make it right.”

“I think he’s going to try to make the best of the situation,” added Mark Anthony, a student at Truett Theological Seminary in Waco. “I trust his leadership, and I trust that they will discern the right course of action.”

David Montoya, a blogger and pastor who has led the chorus of critics against Wade, remained unconvinced.

Montoya asked the convention to amend its constitution to give messengers the authority to terminate the executive director without Executive Board approval. And he called for the BGCT to pursue immediate legal action and criminal charges against the church-planters who allegedly falsified reports and benefited from the diverted funds.

“In a crisis like this, it should be the will of the convention that is heard,” said Montoya, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Mineral Wells. He said the Executive Board was biased and guilty of shielding Wade.

“The Executive Board is intended to be a tool that exists for the body, but through this scandal we see it seems as if the body exists for the will of the tool.”

According to the original investigation, in 2000 the FBI explored fraud allegations in connection with church-starting in the Valley, but the agency dropped its investigation because the aggrieved party—the BGCT—did not pursue it.

Montoya accused Wade of being “a possible accessory to an attempted cover up” and “a personal friend of the main player in this scandal”—church-planter and accused ringleader Arango.

BGCT President Michael Bell stopped Montoya in the middle of his speech and ruled him out of order.

“That’s not appropriate,” said Bell, a pastor in Fort Worth. “We are Christians and don’t do personal attacks. Thanks for sharing your heart in the spirit of Christ, but you are attacking an individual. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that. In the opinion of the chair, the motion is out of order.”

Bell also ruled out of order Montoya’s motion for the convention to initiate immediate legal action in the case. The Executive Board has asked for more time to examine those options.

Since the investigation was initiated by the Executive Board, the convention cannot take it out of the board’s hands, Bell said, citing the advice of BGCT parliamentarian Bart Tichenor.

“The Executive Board is the entity with the sole authority to act in the interim [between annual meetings],” Bell said. The board’s investigation “has pre-empted any action by the convention.”

Not all messengers were satisfied with that interpretation, however.

“Are you saying the convention does not have authority to act independently of the Executive Board?” asked messenger Joe Caldwell.

Bell did not answer the question but referred Caldwell to the parliamentarian for an explanation.

Throughout the debate, people on both sides voiced concern for Baptists in the Rio Grande Valley, who reportedly were embarrassed and felt tainted by the scandal.

“I was personally damaged as a Christian by Otto Arango,” said Eloy Hernandez, one of the people listed by Arango as a pastor of a BGCT-funded church start, even though he was not. “My church was humiliated,” said Hernandez, a messenger from Iglesia Bautista Getsemani in McAllen.

Hernandez briefly addressed messengers before Bell ruled his comments out of order. He later told a reporter the scandal already is hurting the reputation of Baptists in the Valley. “We’re not able to witness because (people) laugh in our face,” Hernandez said.

He and others were disheartened when their warnings about Arango went unheeded by the BGCT. “It’s wrong these people don’t want to hear from pastors in the Valley,” he said. To help repair his and the church’s reputations, Hernandez urged Wade to come to Iglesia Bautista Getsemani and make a public apology.

“I forgive Charles Wade and Otto Arango…,” he added.

Other messengers sympathized with Baptists in the Valley. “The Lord will see us through, but we must not dismiss these Valley pastors,” said Jack Hulsey, pastor of Woodlake Baptist Church in San Antonio. “This has already done damage to the BGCT.”

While many Texas Baptists are ready to put the Valley scandal behind them, others fear more revelations will follow, particularly if law enforcement and tax officials get involved.

“I don’t think this investigation has ended. It’s going to continue,” Hiram Shore of Levelland said. “They’ll find more things. More things will come out.”

But Shore said he is willing to trust Wade and the Executive Board to get to the bottom of it.

“I think that Wade can be trusted. Some people let him down. Accountability was built into the system, but it failed. … You can’t micromanage an organization that big, at least successfully. Charles Wade didn’t do anything wrong. People below him did, and they have resigned.”

Hannah Elliott and Barbara Bedrick contributed to this story.

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

Posted: 11/21/06

Arkansas OKs bingo despite Baptist opposition

By Charlie Warren

Arkansas Baptist Newsmagazine

LITTLE ROCK, Ark., (ABP)—An Arkansas constitutional amendment legalizing charitable bingo and raffles passed Nov. 7, despite the efforts of Baptists to defeat it.

Amendment 1, which passed with 69 percent of the vote, will allow non-profit organizations to raise funds through bingo and raffles. It lifts a ban on such games, which were illegal under Article 19, Section 14 of the state constitution. The Arkansas Constitution also prohibits lotteries.

The new ruling will restrict bingo and raffles to authorized organizations like religious, educational, veteran and civic groups that have existed at least five years. Proceeds from the games must go to charitable or philanthropic purposes.

Messengers to the Oct. 31-Nov. 1 Arkansas Baptist State Convention annual meeting had unanimously passed a resolution urging Baptists to reject the amendment.

“If there is lax law enforcement of the restrictions on the operations of charitable bingo, large commercial bingo could be conducted … under the guise of charitable bingo,” the resolution said, adding the ballot could lead to casino-like “high-stakes Native American bingo parlors.”

Larry Page, executive director of the Arkansas Faith and Ethics Council, said his goal will be to influence legislators to write tight legislation to avoid commercial bingo and Indian “bingosinos” and assure that “charitable bingo is really charitable bingo.”

“Let’s make it the best charitable bingo law in America (so) a lot of the problems won’t exist here,” he said.

Rep. Shirley Borhauer, (R), who sponsored the amendment, told the Arkansas News Bureau the measure was worded narrowly enough to stop for-profit groups from exploiting it.

“This is not going to open the door to casino gambling,” Borhauer said. “You can’t come down here and open up a storefront and say, ‘I think I am going to open up a bingo hall for my own financial gain.’”

The amendment will take effect Jan. 1.

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: 11/17/06

RIGHT or WRONG?
The ethics of blogging

Blogging, particularly by Baptist pastors, has been in the news this year. It seems as if some of the bloggers are ignoring important ethical standards that should be applied to this technology. What would you suggest?

The web-log, or blog as it has become known, has risen in popularity over the past few years as more and more Internet-savvy individuals use this service as a medium of communication and expression. Sometimes bloggers use their sites as an online diary, sharing the various events of their lives with their readers. An increasing number of bloggers, however, are using their space on the Internet to disseminate their opinions on various topics, including politics and religion.

More and more ministers are acquainted with this phenomenon. Many ministers are using blogs for ministerial purposes. Devotional blogs or cyber newsletter columns are among the more common uses of this technology among ministers. Many church websites have a page devoted to their pastor’s use, including sermon teasers for next Sunday’s message or other writing projects. When used in this manner, blogs can be an effective way for ministers to enhance their communication with church members and others.

However, clergy and nonclergy alike are beginning to use the Internet blog system as a means to spread their theological and political ideologies. These blogs often perpetuate false claims and intolerant beliefs that bring about more division than education. Over the past six months, I have read blog posts, mostly written by ministers, that: (1) maintain that all Muslims are hateful, dangerous people, (2) condemn people of faith who are not aligned with a particular political agenda, (3) justify the lack of ministry to the underprivileged and (4) share potentially sensitive information concerning inter-church conflicts.

Yes, clearly important ethical considerations are being ignored by some bloggers. While there is no official code of conduct for blogs, talk of “the ethics of blogging” is not new. In an April 2003 Washington Post article titled “The Great Blogging Ethics Debate,” Cynthia Webb quotes Professor Larry Pryor of the University of Southern California saying, “Like it or not, (bloggers) have to follow ethics.”

In a certain sense, bloggers are on the cutting edge of journalism and should adhere to basic journalistic standards. Among the more basic ethical considerations bloggers should keep in mind are: (1) check sources and facts; (2) be collegial—don’t fly off the handle; (3) present differing perspectives or at least allow feedback comments on posts and engage in dialogue with those who hold various opinions; and (4) never, ever, plagiarize someone else’s material.

Blog readers should read blogs, as well as other material from the Internet, with a critical eye. When reading a blog or website, ask yourself: (1) Is this person giving me the complete story? or (2) Could there be another perspective on this topic? Most blogs allow reader comments; take advantage of this by asking questions and raising alternative views. We can do very little to control the speech and opinions of others; we can, however, offer a different perspective.

Remember, anyone with Internet access can open a website or blog, and just because someone said it on their website does not mean it is entirely true.

J.C. Baker, post-graduate student

Brite Divinity School

Texas Christian University

Fort Worth

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

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

Posted: 11/17/06

Executive director committed to ‘clean up the mess’

By Teresa Young

Wayland Baptist University

DALLAS—Drawing inspiration from the story of Jesus’ baptism and subsequent time of temptation, Charles Wade, executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board, urged Texas Baptists to listen to God’s voice and discern his will for churches and individuals.

Wade acknowledged failures at some points—particularly addressing the scandal regarding misused church starting funds in the Rio Grande Valley.

Executive Director Charles Wade brings a report to the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting. (Photo by Eric Guel)

He assured the messengers and visitors at the annual meeting that steps were being taken both to alleviate the damage done by the misappropriation of church starting funds in the Rio Grande Valley and to prevent future damage from occurring.

He also expressed a desire to support South Texas church leaders who suffered from the incident and its fallout.

“I want to state how much we admire the pastors in the Rio Grande Valley Association. They face an incredible challenge,” Wade said.

“The failures identified by the report are limited to a very few and do not reflect the faith, integrity and passion for the gospel shared by many of the pastors in the Valley.

“I am committed to leading the staff and the Executive Board in righting the wrongs and taking responsibility to make sure we don’t forget our main priorities while we clean up the mess.”

Wade committed to respond to the challenges the state faces, both in the Valley and beyond.

“Everything I do will be prayed over, designed to hold us together … and assist our churches in being transforming communities of faith,” he said. “Together, with God, we are and we will do more.”

Wade noted Jesus obeyed God’s command to be baptized and was able to hear his Father’s voice of affirmation. Likewise, while being tempted in the wilderness by Satan, Jesus leaned on God for guidance and followed his will during those rough days.

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“When you tie yourself to Jesus and commit yourself to follow him, ‘Thy will be done’ is not an empty phrase,” Wade said. “What you learn when you follow him is to listen to the voice so you will know his purpose in your life and his will for your life.”

Even from their early days, Wade said, “Texas Baptists have heard that voice.”

“We have said in more recent days, ‘We are the presence of Christ.’ Wherever there is a local congregation, the body of Christ is present and real, and we become the arms of Jesus, touching people and hugging them up close to God,” Wade said. “Most recently, we have said our goal, our mission, our commitment is to facilitate, connect and encourage churches. We are about helping every single church be the best it can be in being the presence of Christ.”

Citing population data, Wade said the changing makeup of the state is being reflected in the Texas Baptist churches, and the convention as a whole is learning to work with groups they may not have encountered previously. A meeting with ethnic leadership across the state was a good example of those lessons.

“I can tell you that when you never talk to each other, you don’t offend each other, but when you sit down and talk, the chance of offense goes up,” Wade said.

“When people work together, listen to one another and pray together, you understand better. We watched as Texas Baptists became more aware of truly who we are in Christ.”

Wade said the changing picture of Texas has led the BGCT into five areas of ministry previously uncharted. The state convention now has two theological seminaries, a Bible study curriculum for use by churches that Wade said is also finding an audience in other parts of the nation and a chaplaincy endorsement program that has more than 300 active participants.

The BGCT also has a relationship with Baptist ministries globally through the Baptist World Alliance, and it has developed a strategy for connecting mission entities and other ministry opportunities “that move beyond Texas to touch the nation and the world.”

Giving by Texas Baptists to the Cooperative Program, the Mary Hill Davis Offering and the world hunger fund is up due to those efforts, 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: 11/17/06

Texas WMU reschedules annual meeting

By Barbara Bedrick

Texas Baptist Communications

DALLAS—Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas’ board of directors voted to move the organization’s 2008 annual meeting to April instead of its traditional date scheduled in conjunction with the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting.

Board members said the move will enable WMU of Texas to better emphasize its role in missions. The organization has had a one-day meeting before the BGCT annual meeting. In 2008, a two-day meeting will enable WMU of Texas to communicate more effectively what it is doing, proponents argue.

Woman prays during the Woman's Missionary Union meeting.

The 2008 annual meeting will be at Columbus Avenue Baptist Church in Waco, April 18-19.

“This move allows us more time and opportunity to do our annual meeting and to focus on our work,” Texas WMU Executive Director Carolyn Porterfield said. “We plan to combine our annual meeting with training opportunities, fellowship and inspiration in a two-day event instead of two hours so we can be better stewards of our financial resources.”

Porterfield noted the change in schedule likely would increase attendance. Leaders want to bring women together to celebrate what is happening in the church, in the associations and in missions, she said.

The BGCT investigation into misuse of convention church-starting funds in the Rio Grande Valley and its impact on the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions surfaced when BGCT Executive Board Executive Director Charles Wade held a dialogue with WMU of Texas board directors.

“I know that many of you have been shocked and saddened by what the investigation has revealed,” Wade said. He explained he “feels so personally betrayed” by those he trusted. Wade also addressed questions about their concerns over the distribution of funds from the Mary Hill Davis Offering.

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WMU directors expressed concern about what safeguards will be implemented. Wade explained the BGCT is developing a new policy on how checks are released.

A called meeting of the BGCT Executive Board addressed issues stemming from the independent BGCT Valley investigation, and Wade said further recommendations will be made at the board’s February meeting.

“They’re my boss, and I’m accountable to them,” Wade said.

“The devil was against us in the Valley, but we will not let him have victory.”

Porterfield reported that Texas WMU may, as it plans its next budget, allocate more of the Mary Hill Davis Offering to its own budget.

In other business, Texas WMU Endowment Team Chair Joy Fenner discussed the 2007 endowment campaign.

“When 1,000 people give $1,000 to WMU of Texas, we will increase our endowments by $1 million,” said Fenner, who was elected first vice president of the BGCT. The campaign began Nov. 1 and will run through 2007.

During the board’s dinner, Porterfield honored Mary Lou Serratt of Amarillo with a special tribute for her decades-long role in multicultural missionary work.

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: 11/17/06

Unity emphazised at Texas
Baptist Hispanic Fellowship rally

By Craig Bird

Baptist Child & Family Services

DALLAS—There is one reason to think Christians can successfully obey Jesus’ command to “be brought to complete unity,” Robert Rodriguez reminded the annual Texas Baptist Hispanic Fellowship rally at Cockrell Hill Baptist Church in Dallas.

“Unity doesn’t begin with us, and it is not the result of external efforts,” said Rodriguez, pastor of Primera Iglesia Bautista in Harlingen.

Those attending the Hispanic Fellowship meeting worship at Cockrell Hill Baptist Church in Dallas.

“It is only the spirit of God dwelling in us that makes unity possible. And the spirit of God dwells inside us only because Jesus is praying for us constantly.”

Rodriguez, who later was elected second vice president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, preached from John 17, stressing that Christ’s prayer was not a one-time expression on behalf of his disciples at that time, but an ongoing commitment Jesus made to all his followers throughout time.

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“Who am I, and who are you,” he asked, “that the Son of God is concerned about us enough to pray for our protection and that we be faithful witnesses? The reason is simple—we are his creation.

“People don’t get excited about their faith anymore, but how awesome is it that Almighty God is praying for us by name? We serve an active God. Jesus isn’t just sitting around waiting for time to end. No, my friend, he’s praying for his church.”

The unity Jesus yearns for in the church results directly in evangelism, he added.

“Jesus also prayed that we would be faithful witnesses. The only way people can be saved is if the message is preached. We must open our mouths and preach the gospel, and the world will listen if they see that we love one another, if we have unity of heart and purpose,” Rodriguez said.

“God has deposited his glory in us, and that’s powerful, and when that glory grows in us—when we walk differently and when we talk differently—it has an impact on those around us,” he explained.

Rodriguez also pointed out that Jesus not only prays for people as they live out faith day to day, but also that “he is praying so you and I can get to heaven.”

No doubt heaven is a beautiful place, “but not because of golden streets or pearly gates,” he said. “It’s beautiful because the church of God is there—all of us as brothers and sisters.”

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: 11/17/06

Baylor University President John Lilley (left) and Paul Powell (right), dean of Baylor’s Truett Seminary, presentsTexas Baptist Ministry Awards on behalf of the seminary and the Baptist Standard to Shirley Madden, founder of My Father’s House, Lubbock; Dick Maples, former associate executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas; and Jimmy Dorrell, executive director of Mission Waco. (Photo by Robert Rogers/Baylor University)

Ministry awards presented
to Texas Baptist innovators

By Marv Knox

Editor

DALLAS—Three innovators received the 2006 Texas Baptist Ministry Awards during the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting in Dallas Nov. 13.

Dick Maples accepted the W. Winfred Moore Award for lifetime ministry achievement. Jimmy Dorrell took the George W. Truett Award for ministerial excellence. And Shirley Madden received the Marie Mathis Award for lay ministry.

Baylor University and the Baptist Standard confer the awards annually to recognize excellent ministers and to highlight role models for ministry. They present the awards during Truett Theological Seminary’s banquet at the BGCT meeting.

Maples built upon more than three decades of pastoral experience when he founded the BGCT’s Minister/Church Relations Office in 1995. The program has served hundreds of churches, ministers and families, often at times of crisis or conflict.

He began his ministry as assistant pastor at First Baptist Church in Abilene. Later, he was pastor of First Baptist churches of Texas City; Waynesville, N.C.; El Paso; and Bryan. He also was associate executive director of the BGCT Executive Board.

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Maples has been president and first vice president of the BGCT. He also has been a member of the BGCT Executive Board, Administrative Committee and Christian Life Commission, as well as a trustee of East Texas Baptist University, Hardin-Simmons University and the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. Beyond Texas, he was a member of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Home Mission Board, Committee on Boards and Committee on Committees, and the North Carolina Baptist Convention’s General Board and Christian Life Commission.

He also has served in Baptist associational capacities and on the boards of numerous local civic and service organizations.

In retirement, Maples has been an interim pastor. He now is pastor emeritus of First Baptist Church in El Paso, special assistant to the president and adjunct professor at Dallas Baptist University, Intentional Interim Ministry trainer, Sunday school teacher and chair of the T.B. Maston Foundation board of directors.

He is a graduate of Mississippi College and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he earned both master’s and doctoral degrees. Baylor University, the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor and Dallas Baptist University have awarded him honorary degrees.

His wife, Mary Jo Maples, retired as assistant professor of English at Dallas Baptist University, where she still teaches adjunctively. They are the parents of two children and eight grandchildren.

Dorrell’s Mission Waco and Church Under the Bridge ministries impact the spectrum of society, from Waco’s homeless and underprivileged populations, to Baylor University students who see poverty and injustice through new lenses, to laypeople who find in his guidance an opportunity to incarnate the gospel.

Dorrell and his wife, Janet, founded Mission Waco, a nonprofit ministry with three goals—operating relationship-based, holistic programs among the poor and marginalized; mobilizing middle-class Christians toward “hands-on” involvement; and addressing systemic issues that disempower the poor. Dorrell is executive director of Mission Waco, which now operates 15 ministry programs.

Church Under the Bridge, which he founded, meets under Interstate 35 between Fourth and Fifth streets in Waco. The church serves homeless people and others who would not enter the door of a “typical” church but who need the saving grace of the gospel.

Last year, Mission Waco transformed the facilities of a former downtown Waco church into the Meyer Center for Urban Ministries, an accessible service center for Waco’s poor. Earlier this year, Mission Waco sponsored a broad-based conference on multicultural churches. Dorrell’s new book is Trolls & Truth: 14 Realities About the Church We Don’t Want to See.

Dorrell earned undergraduate and master’s degrees from Baylor University, a master’s from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a doctorate from Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

He has served on various community boards and has received numerous honors and awards, including the Abner V. McCall Humanitarian Award from the Baylor Alumni Association.

The Dorrells have four children.

Madden’s grace, compassion and tenacity have improved the lives and brought salvation to scores of women and children on the South Plains. Madden was the first director of Woman’s Missionary Union’s Christian Women’s Job Corps program in Lubbock. Through that program, she helped numerous women—most of them single mothers—develop job skills and parenting ability, as well as come to know Christ as Savior.

But four years ago, her vision expanded. She envisioned My Father’s House, Lubbock, a residential center where women in need could learn how to become self-supporting. Mothers would develop job skills and life skills through Christian Women’s Job Corps, and their children would be able to live with their mothers in a safe, nurturing Christian environment.

With the help of the Texas Baptist Men Builders—who provided volunteer labor valued at $1.5 million—Madden’s dream became reality. My Father’s House, Lubbock, built its 45,000-square-foot Living and Learning Center on donated land.

The center houses 20 women and 22 children. Its child development center is recognized as one of the top facilities in the region. Programs of My Father’s House, Lubbock, and its Living and Learning Center are staffed by more than 150 volunteers and 35 paid employees, including childcare providers.

Most important to her, Madden has seen more than 85 women come to know Christ as Savior and become role models for their children.

She has been a member of First Baptist Church in Lubbock 47 years. Her husband, O.C., is a CPA who has served on numerous BGCT committees. They have two sons, one daughter and two grandchildren.

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.