Posted: 11/17/06

Around the State

• The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor campus newpaper, The Bells, won first place overall in its division and five other awards at the Baptist Press Excellence in Journalism competition in Nashville, Tenn. The UMHB yearbook, The Bluebonnet, placed second overall.

• Mark Yates has been named Baptist Student Minis-tries director at East Texas Baptist University. Yates had been named interim director in August. He has been at ETBU 10 years, working as an admissions counselor as well as assistant director of international education.

• Pamela Bryant, associate professor of chemistry and chair of Howard Payne University’s department of physical sciences, is one of 150 higher education professionals featured in College Faith 3. Bryant’s testimony in the book details the financial challenges she faced as a sophomore at Augusta College in Georgia when all the money she earned during the summer was stolen from her purse—at church. Her parents could not afford to pay the tuition she had saved for, but “God’s love, poured out to me through the gifts of his people,” allowed her to receive the funds needed, she said.

• Clairene and Fred Herold have pledged a $100,000 gift for the campus building fund of Dallas Baptist University.

Anniversaries

• Butch Foster, 25th, as minister of education at First Church in Goldthwaite, Nov. 12.

• Bill Swinney, fifth, as minister of education/music at First Church in Floydada, Nov. 12.

• First Church in Ranger, 125th, Dec. 2-3. The celebration will begin with a dinner at 6:30 p.m. Saturday. The 125th anniversary quilt, containing names of present members and pictures of former pastors since 1950, will be on display along with the anniversary scrapbook and photo albums from past years. Former Music Director Eliezar da Silva will sing. Sunday morning’s guest speaker will be former Pastor Franklin Krause. Former Music Director Stan Hanes will lead the music. Richard Waters is pastor.

Deaths

• Pete Fast, 88, Oct. 27 in Dallas, Ore. He was a minister of music and education 60 years, serving Texas churches in Sweetwater, Abilene, Fort Worth, Odessa, San Benito, Port Arthur and Houston 30 years. He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Naomi; daughter, Renee Heathcott; one granddaughter; and three great-grandchildren.

• Anne Davis, 69, Nov. 9 in Waco. She was a pioneer in church social work. She directed the Baptist Community Center in Lexington, Ky., and then the Portland Baptist Center in Louisville, Ky., before joining the faculty of Southern Seminary. She led the seminary to become the first non-university to be accredited for the master of social work degree. She retired from the seminary in 1995 and moved to Waco in 1998, when she became director of operations for the Advocacy Center for Crime Victims and Children. She is survived by her sisters, Janice Crutchfield and Carolyn Davis; and brother, Mike.

• Paul Smith, 88, Nov. 14 in Waco. A minister more than 60 years, he was pastor of Jonesboro Church in Jonesboro, Speegleville, Oak Lawn and North Waco churches in Waco, Old Time Church in Riesel, First Church in China Spring, First Church in Elm Mott and Park Temple Church in Fort Worth. He also was administrator of Alto Frio Encampment. He was on the executive board of Latham Springs Encampment more than 40 years. He recently retired after 25 years as jail chaplain and director of Operation CRISIS for Waco Regional Baptist Network. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Syble. He is survived by his wife, Polly; son, Fred; and a granddaughter.

Events

• Recording artists Point of Grace will be at The Heights Church in Richardson Dec. 9. All seats are reserved. Tickets are $10 to $25. For more information, call (972) 238-7243.

• North Pointe Church in Hurst will present its Christmas music Dec. 1-3. Times will be 7:30 p.m. Friday; 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday; and 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. An offering will be taken following each performance.

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

Book Reviews

Whose Bible is it? by Jaroslav Pelikan (Penguin)

In the recent century, we saw two World Wars but also a crest in exploration of the Bible. Jaroslav Pelikan, professor emeritus of history at Yale University, published this “short history of the Scriptures” last year. It is a reverent and incisive interpretation. Unfortunately, he died May 13 at 82.

Preachers and Sunday school teachers like to get background information for their presentations, and this would be an excellent source. For example, do we let the whole message of the Christian faith rise and fall on the doctrine of inerrancy? And where does the Koran fall into the procession of sacred Middle Eastern documents?

What are you reading that other Texas Baptists would find helpful? Send suggestions and reviews to books@baptiststandard.com.

There is a whole seminar in less than 300 pages in Pelikan’s sweep through origins and relationships in the word of God.

Bob Beck, intentional interim pastor

Fort Worth

The Serving Leader: Five Powerful Actions That Will Transform Your Team, Your Business and Your Community by Ken Jennings and John Stahl-Wert (Berrett-Koehler Publishers)

The Serving Leader is a brief but powerful book that simplifies tangible actions you can take to transform your workplace. However, if this book were only a how-to book, it would not be as impressive as it is. Jennings and Stahl-Wert also probe the relational aspect of leadership in a surprising way.

There are really two story lines beyond the five how-to’s in this book. There is the story of the researcher and his professional work, but there also is the story of the researcher and his father. The researcher’s story line takes him to some of the best organizations to learn what they do best. He explores the concept of building on strengths, trailblazing, raising the bar, upending the pyramid and running to great purpose. He provides nuanced definitions for all these actions that may surprise you.

If you have looked for a book on leadership that provided some tangible principles in the context of mercy, grace, healing, restoration, redemption, life purpose and the Christian message, The Serving Leader is the book you want to read.

Albert Reyes, president

Baptist University of the Americas

San Antonio

Making the Blue Plate Special: The Joy of Family Legacies by Florence Littauer, Marita Littauer and Lauren Littauer Briggs

Bible teacher and popular author Florence Littauer joins her equally gifted daughters in writing a book that speaks to the “heart” of family tradition and legacy.

The writers underscore what many of us often feel—that in many ways families and individuals are in danger of losing contact with the past and the deep, emotional meaning of events and relationships. While I usually am not drawn to such topics, the Littauer “gang” grabbed my attention in the introduction (“Pork with Panties”) and refused to allow me to escape until the final sentence in the last chapter, “What Will You Do?” (The appendix isn’t bad, either!)

Lauren Littauer Briggs does an admirable job in Chapter 7, “Holiday Traditions With Children,” encouraging family traditions that focus on “giving” instead of “getting.” The added recipes and holiday ideas are significant contributions to the book. She shows us how to make Christmas and other holidays something better than “it’s all about me.”

Lest you think the book is nothing more than emotional “fluff,” Marita Littauer provides a biblical foundation in Chapter 1.

The focus is on how Scripture reveals purpose and how purpose is amplified in family traditions that can remain powerful influences for good the rest of our lives.

The authors remind us that tradition and legacy are not built on occasional large, expensive events. Instead, families pass on real values by doing small “special” things really well.

Lauren Littauer Briggs reminds us, “The reward for surviving your children’s troublesome teenage years—when they hate you for no reason and wouldn’t talk to you if your hair was on fire—is that someday those same children will grow up, get married, come to realize you are wonderful after all and present you with grandchildren!” Take it from a grandparent, that’s when tradition and legacy mean the most.

Get this book. Parents will learn from it. Grandparents will celebrate it.

Charles Walton, pastor

First Baptist Church

Conroe

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

Baptist Briefs

CBF names disaster-response coordinator. The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship named Charles Ray, a long-time Little Rock, Ark., resident, the first coordinator for the Fellowship’s U.S.-based disaster-response team. He’ll begin his new position Jan. 1. The two-year position was created through a partnership between national CBF and CBF of Arkansas, who are jointly funding the position. Other state and regional CBF organizations are funding operational expenses for the position. Based on the disaster-response assets and capabilities of CBF state and regional organizations, Ray will develop a national disaster-response plan for the Fellowship. He also will work with governmental and non-profit agencies to respond quickly to disasters, especially in the formation and dispatch of an initial response team.

N.C. Baptists reject bylaw changes. Messengers to the annual North Carolina Baptist state convention meeting struck down proposed bylaw changes that would have given convention-related institutions more influence over the appointment of trustees and directors. The proposed amendments, more than a year in the making and supported by convention officials, received just 38 percent of the 2,198 ballots cast in the Nov. 14 meeting. Some observers say the move could trigger an exodus of N.C. Baptist colleges and other convention-related entities, which have sought more control over selection of trustees. Even before the convention, one institution signaled it will exercise more autonomy over trustee elections. Wingate University in Wingate, N.C., announced a plan to use an option in convention and university bylaws that allows it to appoint up to 50 percent of its trustees.

More than half in United States see Southern Baptists favorably. Southern Baptists were viewed favorably by 57 percent of adults interviewed as part of recent research conducted by the North American Mission Board’s Center for Missionary Research through Zogby International. The positive outlook toward Southern Baptists, United Methodists and Roman Catholics was about equal in the survey. Mormons and Muslims received less-favorable ratings—32 percent and 27 percent, respectively. Southern Baptists received unfavorable impressions from 17 percent of the people who responded, and 24 percent said they were unfamiliar with Southern Baptists. Researchers polled 1,210 American adults across the country.

Seminary honors church historian. Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has dedicated the Robert A. Baker Church History Room at its Roberts Library, honoring the memory of the longtime church history professor. The room houses Baker’s desk, several photos taken during his tenure at the seminary, his oral memoirs from the Texas Baptist Oral History Consortium and a large collection of books on church history—many of which he wrote. Baker earned two degrees from Southwestern Seminary and a doctorate from Yale University. He joined the church history faculty in 1943, teaching until 1981. Baker died Nov. 15, 1992. The seminary also honored Baker and his wife, Fredona, by giving them the L.R. Scarborough Award, named for the school’s second president.

Virginia Baptists increase budget. Virginia Baptists adopted a $14.2 million budget to fund their ministries in 2007—a $100,000 increase over this year’s budget goal. Messengers attending the annual meeting of the Baptist General Association of Virginia in Virginia Beach elected Boyce Brannock, a Staunton, Va., attorney and member of First Baptist Church in nearby Waynesboro, Va., president without opposition. Also elected were Joe Lewis, pastor of Second Baptist Church in Petersburg, Va., as first vice president, and Steve Pollard, pastor of Abingdon (Va.) Baptist Church, as second vice president. Brannock, Lewis and Pollard were endorsed by Virginia Baptists Committed, the state’s powerful network of moderates, whose slate of nominees for office has been unopposed for nearly a decade. This year, for the first time since 1997, a candidate not on the organization’s slate was nominated—Ken Barnes, pastor of Woodland Heights Baptist Church in Chesapeake, Va., who was nominated for first vice president. He lost to Lewis, 275-386 (41 percent to 58 percent).

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

Endowments provide
churches a financial safety net

By Michael Tomberlin

Religion News Service

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (RNS)—Endowments long have been a source of income for colleges and charities. Now, more churches are getting in on the act.

Churches have begun setting up foundations or have started turning to denominational officials to help them prepare for the moment when generous members name them in a will.

“It’s almost like it’s a new discovery, but it’s simply about stewardship,” said Barry Bledsoe, president of the Baptist Foundation of Alabama, whose foundation administers more than $200 million from some 2,000 church gifts and endowments.

While most church members still view tithing in the light of weekly offerings, Bledsoe said, more of them are starting to think about leaving a portion of their estate to their church.

“We’re seeing more and more people having what I call an ‘aha!’ moment,” Bledsoe said.

Actually, church foundations have been around for a while. In some cases, income from an endowment has been used to offset a drop-off in contributions. Southside Baptist Church in Birmingham, for example, has used money donated decades ago to supply operating funds during recent membership slumps.

The church’s endowment, established in the 1960s, produces about 25 percent of the annual budget, Pastor Steve Jones said.

There are now as many as 40 endowments at the church, most of them smaller and dedicated to specific ministries such as the church’s food bank for the poor, scholarships for youth and a Boy Scouts program.

Some of the larger endowments generate income to the church’s budget, and another aids in maintaining the building.

“We are not dependent on it for the life of the church, but it is a nice extra thing for projects that we might have,” Jones said. “Our congregation is very good about supporting the church through its tithes and offerings.”

But without the endowment, Jones says, the church budget would have to be cut.

“If there was no trust, we would not be able to do some of the things we do.”

Greg Ring, head of PhilanthroCorp in Colorado Springs, Colo., says endowments will become a major part of church finance. Ring works with churches and denominational groups like Bledsoe’s to educate them on endowments.

“There are somewhere between 350,000 and 400,000 congregations in America. I only know of a handful—literally, I’m talking about less than a dozen churches—that have a systematic, disciplined planned-giving program in place,” Ring said. “I believe we are going to see this trend grow dramatically over the next decade.”

The rise of megachurches, with their multimillion-dollar budgets and their many members with business-world expertise, has accelerated the trend, he said. These churches have shown they can handle large sums of money to expand their campuses and ministries.

“Typically, those churches have more sophisticated people who more readily understand endowments and how they might impact God’s ministry,” Bledsoe said.

This type of giving, though, is no longer restricted to the wealthy. Ring said most church endowment gifts are in the tens of thousands, not in the millions.

“Often people associate endowment gifts with millionaires and, of course, those make the headlines,” he said. “But it’s not uncommon to be talking about a gift of $25,000 on a relatively modest estate.”

Church finance experts, however, caution that, like winning the lottery, big endowments can lead to a sense of complacency where regular contributions by parishioners are seen as unnecessary. As a result, vitality can wither.

“Endowments can play the same role that we can observe in Europe with state funding (of religion)—that is, you have funding whether anyone cares or not,” said Sylvia Ronsvalle, executive vice president of empty tomb inc., a Christian service and research group based in Champagne, Ill., that monitors church giving.

Bledsoe says churches are poised for an endowment boom.

“I really believe that it’s going to be a revolutionary discovery or a missed opportunity,” he said. “Time is going to tell which one of those it is. I believe it’s going to be a revolutionary discovery for the church.”

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

Pastors face stresses,
challenges of corporate CEO’s

By Greg Garrison

Religion News Service

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (RNS) —New Hope Baptist Church Pastor Gregory Clarke sometimes feels like the CEO of a major corporation—or more than one.

“I’m president of three corporations, superintendent of the school and pastor of the church,” Clarke said. Make that two campuses, with a combined membership of 3,000 people.

The 53-year-old pastor has begun realizing the need for a full-time administrator on staff with business experience and training—something the church hasn’t had.

These days, many pastors of large churches are looking more like chief executive officers of corporations. They often have CEO-like responsibilities, salaries, perks and benefits, but also the dueling duties of running both business and spiritual entities.

“When you have thousands of members and millions of dollars, you become not just a pastor but a CEO,” said Michael Moore, pastor of the 6,000-member Faith Chapel Christian Center in Wylam, Ala., who has a degree in business administration.

To help alleviate the burden on pastors with CEO responsibilities, churches increasingly have been packing their staffs with financial wizards and veterans of business.

The preaching appeal of a pastor can have large financial implications for a church.

The Church at Brook Hills experienced that after the retirement of Pastor Rick Ousley, who helped the congregation grow from 30 members in 1990 to worship attendance of 4,000 in 2005. After Ousley retired a year ago, Sunday worship attendance dropped off to 2,300. That meant Brook Hills had to adjust its budget from $6.5 million to $5.5 million. With new Pastor David Platt preaching regularly since June, attendance is back up to 3,000-plus and the budget is adjusting upward again.

Churches have to pay competitive salaries to get the top leadership.

The salary and housing package for 882 ordained ministers serving as senior pastors ranges from a low of $15,500 to an average of $95,100 to a high of $361,000, according to a survey of churches that belong to the National Association of Church Business Administration. At churches with a $2 million budget or more, the average salary for a senior pastor is $121,000. Salaries in the South are higher than at churches in the North, Northeast and West, according to the survey. Churches did not disclose individual salaries except anonymously through the survey.

The pay for megachurch pastors may be generous, but the demands are onerous. In the past, members of the church often have expected the pastor to run everything from the pulpit to the bank account. It still can be that way, Clarke said.

“I feel that pressure,” he said. “It’s the perception that things come easy.”

Clarke is president of a community development corporation called Swan—the Southwest Area Network—and of a credit union and senior adult apartment center founded by the church.

“Our church has gone into so many different areas,” said Clarke, who oversaw recent construction on the senior adult center.

“Any successful church, it’s like a business,” said Pat Sullivan, pastor of St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Birmingham.

“You have to have the right people heading up the right departments. Any pastor today who tries to run the show on his own is destined to not succeed.”

At First Baptist Church in Pelham, Ala., Pastor Mike Shaw has given up many of his former duties overseeing the budget as the church has grown. “I’ve learned to delegate,” he said. “I’m Brother Mike. I’m a pastor. I want to disciple people. I still see people when their kids want to be saved. You’ve got to delegate the financial things.”

Other pastors of churches that have long had administrators with extensive business experience highly recommend delegating and setting up management for the church that meets or exceeds corporate accounting standards. “If you tie up a minister with those responsibilities, it becomes more than he can do,” said Betty O’Neil, administrator for St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Birmingham. “The law has gotten more complex. The fiduciary responsibility became more than a volunteer treasurer can do.”

Jim Lowe, pastor of Birmingham’s Guiding Light Church, has hired six staff members who previously held executive jobs at secular or Christian corporations.

“We are competing with the business world,” Lowe said. “If I’m going to get the best talent, I’ve got to pull them from the corporate world.”

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

Congregations embrace
the business side of religion

By Greg Garrison

Religion News Service

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (RNS)—Generating as much as $25 million a year through 105 ministries, Briarwood Presbyterian Church touches the world like a multinational corporation.

“Fifty cents of every dollar goes outside the church—whether it’s Campus Outreach or Bangladesh,” said Bruce Stallings, Briarwood’s executive pastor. “We are able to support missions all around the world.”

Founded in a storefront in 1960, Briarwood operates what’s likely the biggest church budget in Alabama, with ministries such as a ballet, high school, seminary and missions to prisoners, businessmen, students and foreign countries.

Briarwood has an operating budget of $10 million, and then it collects $2.5 million more over and above tithes to devote to mission work. When all of its affiliate ministries are combined, the budget rises to about $25 million.

Similar vast corporate church operations are on the rise. The largest congregations—those with memberships in the thousands and budgets in the millions—operate like Church Inc.

They embrace the business side of religion, often recruiting staff with corporate experience and adopting business world methods—hiring consultants, starting endowments and taking tithes electronically—as they try to meet the challenge of handling God’s business with both accounting savvy and spiritual integrity.

“There’s a need to step up to a higher level of professionalism and accountability within churches,” said former accountant, lawyer and seminary graduate Bryan Gunn, now minister of administration at Shades Mountain Baptist Church in Birmingham.

“A lot of churches operate on the philosophy that if you’re not broke, you’re not operating on faith,” said Paul Berry of the Covenant Group, a Christian consulting group. “That’s not good stewardship.”

For Chris Hodges, pastor at Church of the Highlands, also in Birmingham, it means running his congregation’s $9.5 million budget like a corporation.

“I use more of my business degree than I do my seminary degree,” said Hodges, who preaches to 4,000 people at three campuses on Sunday mornings with help from video feeds. “When you really treat it like a business, it reaches more people.”

Churches have been updating their methods to deal with the delicate merger of faith and finance. The offering plate still gets passed, but now churches frequently accept bank transfers, bequests and stock donations. Many issue budgets that look like corporate annual reports; Church of the Highlands does two a year, one on funding of projects outside the church and one on cash flow.

“I treat it like an annual stockholders’ report,” Hodges said. “Every person can see how every penny is spent.”

Church of the Highlands, started in 2001, saves 50 percent of its income to avoid future debt and paid $7 million cash for 128 acres to build a $15 million campus that will open next year.

Million-dollar budgets require a high level of professional management. The structure of many churches sometimes mirrors corporate America, with financial professionals helping pastors, who sometimes themselves have business experience, such as Shades Mountain Baptist Church Pastor Danny Wood, a former BellSouth executive.

“It’s a church, but it’s also a business,” said Michael Moore, pastor of the 6,000-member Faith Chapel Christian Center in Wylam, Ala., who has a degree in business administration. “You have to measure your spending, but it’s God’s business.”

In a way, churches have to meet the needs of members just as businesses meet the needs of customers, Moore said. Faith Chapel is spending $15 million to build a series of domes that will house a bowling alley, athletic center, teen disco and adult nightclub.

“If we only meet spiritual needs, where will people go to get the other needs met?” Moore said. “The purpose of money is to meet the needs of the people. We believe the heart of our ministry is meeting spiritual needs. We have other needs, to relate to people, to have fun. You can have fun and love God, too.”

But ministers say God’s business shouldn’t be run like a corporation in all aspects.

“You don’t treat church members like you would customers in a business,” said Hunter Street Baptist administrator Morrell Dodd, a former vice president of the Bruno’s supermarket chain. “The business side of what we do—obviously there is one—we prefer that be in the background.”

A lack of business savvy and accounting can haunt a church when fraud happens. After a 1988 fire destroyed All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Homewood, Ala., the trouble compounded when a senior warden embezzled and spent $313,000 in insurance funds intended for rebuilding. The church did not press charges against the warden.

Gary Fenton is pastor of Dawson Memorial Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala. “People have a right to expect the money and time they give to the church will be used in a way that glorifies God and helps humanity,” Fenton said. (RNS photo by Beverly Taylor/The Birmingham News)

In July, the Presbyterian Church (USA) fired its treasurer, who admitted embezzling $102,000 in church funds. In 1995, the U.S. Episcopal Church fired treasurer Ellen Cooke, the wife of a priest, and sued her for embezzling $2.2 million in church funds. The thefts may have also cost the church nearly $400,000 in interest, making the total loss as much as $2.6 million, according to an audit report.

Church business administrators warn safeguards must be in place.

People almost expect a lack of ethics and financial impropriety in business; in church it’s inexcusable, said Gunn, the administrator at Shades Mountain Baptist. “We answer to a higher standard.”

Following accounting procedures means nobody ever is alone with money, and different teams check it at different stages, Gunn said. One team counts money, then another team makes a second count, still another team makes the deposit. The administrator has accountants backing him up.

“I need somebody behind me, so none of us are in a position to commit fraud and cover it up,” Gunn said. “It keeps you from being falsely accused.”

When churches run their budgets with integrity and provide facilities that promote spirituality and support for ministry, churches are able to do more of God’s work, Gunn said. “Out of that growth, people give,” he said.

“We work very carefully to make sure we are in compliance with good management techniques,” said Gary Fenton, pastor of Birmingham’s Dawson Memorial Baptist Church, which has a $7.2 million annual budget.

“People have a right to expect the money and time they give to the church will be used in a way that glorifies God and helps humanity.”

Greg Garrison writes for The Birmingham News in Birmingham, Ala.

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

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

African-American rally focuses
on worship & thanksgiving

By Jenny Pope

Buckner International

LEWISVILLE—Hundreds of African-American Texas Baptists gathered at Westside Baptist Church to worship God and give thanks for the growth of African-American churches in the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

“We haven’t gotten to where we want to be, but we’re further than we used to be,” said Oscar Epps, founding pastor of Community Baptist Church in DeSoto.

• See complete list of convention articles

“It took a collective effort. You cannot have community if you don’t have unity.”

Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Director Charles Wade praised BGCT President Michael Bell, the convention’s first African-American president, as well as the growing number of BGCT-affiliated African-American churches working together to “advance all the interests of the Redeemer’s kingdom.”

Wade also asked the congregation for prayer in a time of need, referring to the recent investigation of the misappropriation of BGCT church startup funds in the Rio Grande Valley.

“There is no manuscript of what I’ll preach tomorrow” at the BGCT annual meeting, he said. “What I preach tomorrow only God knows.”

Ronald Edwards, president of the African American Fellowship of Texas, presented an award of appreciation to Michael Evans, director of BGCT African-American ministries, who decided to leave his position in order to devote full attention to his pastorate at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Mansfield. “I am humbled by this opportunity, this chapter in my life, and I’m trusting God that there are even greater days ahead,” Bell 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

Battle of the Bands winner The Jonathan Stege Band won the Baptist General Convention of Texas’ first Battle of the Bands competition, held in conjunction with the BGCT annual meeting. The band, which leads worship for the college group at First Baptist Church in Lubbock, beat out 11 other competitors. • See complete list of convention articles Trae Castles Band won second place. Iconoclast won third. The Jonathan Stege Band will receive studio recording time and a spot on the BGCT Youth Evangelism Conference fx band lineup in July. Trae Castles Band and Iconoclast both won Guitar Center gift certificates. More than 350 people attended the event, which was part of Weekend Fest activities that led up to the BGCT annual meeting.

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

Trust in God in turbulent
times, president tells BGCT

By Sara Hawkins

Houston Baptist University

DALLAS—In turbulent times, Texas Baptists can rest in the promise: “God will take care of you,” Michael Bell of Fort Worth told the Baptist General Convention of Texas in his president’s address.

“As I prepare to exit stage left, I am compelled to call your attention to the importance of your participation and your increased involvement in the life of our convention,” Bell said.

“One of the under-appreciated strengths of our partnering together is the participation of the members of our churches on convention committees. It tremendously blesses our work.”

When briefly addressing the issues currently facing the BGCT in the Rio Grande Valley, Bell used his distaste for flying as an example.

“When it comes to traveling, I must confess, I do not like flying. I avoid flying at all cost. And it’s because of the turbulence. But I had an epiphany a couple months ago. To get from here to there, you have to experience turbulence sometimes. Ladies and gentlemen, we have experienced turbulence.

• See complete list of convention articles

“We just have to ride it out. But there is calmer air ahead. Be not dismayed; God will take care of you.”

At the beginning of his term, Bell said, he sought to represent the interests of all Texas Baptists as well as improve the president’s council on the BGCT Cooperative Program and attempted to think generationally while forming stronger alliances with Kids Hope USA.

He also convened the first Inter-Fellowship Consultation—a gathering that included the leaders of community groups, the Texas Fellowship of Cowboy Churches, Hispanic Baptist Convention, African American Fellowship of Churches, intercultural ministries, and smaller-membership churches and bivocational ministers.

The purpose of convening the consortium was to strengthen their involvement in the life of the BGCT.

• See complete list of Valley funds scandal articles

“As the convention continues to become more and more diverse, God continues to nudge us beyond the cozy confines of our comfort zones,” Bell said. “We truly are a broad Baptist family. We must negotiate the tension between diversity and inclusion. We have made significant strides toward inclusion in the decision- making process, we must build on this. What I said at the beginning of this journey is still true. The biggest room in the world is the room for improvement.”

Bell told messengers their participation is essential to the success of the BGCT.

“The BGCT doesn’t pretend to have all the answers, this is collaboration, and together we are doing more,” 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 Baptists challenged to ‘share the light’

By Craig Bird

Baptist Child & Family Services

DALLAS—The question for Texas Baptists is “how do we do more together this century to tell the world about Jesus Christ,” Duane Brooks, pastor of Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston, told the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting.

“God is calling us, not to perpetuate the past, but to be a light to all the people of the earth,” Brooks said during the annual meeting sermon. “If we have more memories of a glorious past than dreams of the future, we are dying.”

Anyone can count the seeds in an apple by cutting it open, but “only God can count the number of apples in a seed,” he pointed out.

“When we spend all our time figuring out what can be done if we invest this much money, this program, that is counting seeds. But when each of us becomes a seed God can use, we not only will bring salvations, but we will be salvation.”

God’s vision for his people surpasses their dreams, he said.

“Whatever our vision for Texas Baptists is, it is unlikely that our vision is greater than God’s vision for us,” he explained, calling for a commitment to “being servants” rather than “serving.”

“If I choose to serve, then I get to choose whom, when and where I serve,” he explained. “But if I am a servant, then I serve at the pleasure of the master who created and redeemed me. I have no agenda of my own.”

• See complete list of convention articles

Recounting an experience from his student days at Baylor University, Brooks told of a next-door neighbor from Ghana whose sexually immoral lifestyle, blaring music that surged through paper-thin apartment walls and a habit of stealing newspapers caused Brooks to resent him.

But one evening, Brooks heard someone knock on the neighbor’s door and turned down his television to eavesdrop. He recognized the voice of Ed Wittner, music minister at Columbus Avenue Baptist Church in Waco, and listened as Wittner shared the plan of salvation with the young man. Then he heard his neighbor pray to receive Christ.

“I hung my head and wept,” he confessed. “I had grown up giving to Lottie Moon and Annie Armstrong missions offerings. As pastor, I had led my churches to give increasing amounts to those mission offerings. But God had to send another minister to win the soul of my next-door neighbor.”

Texas is filled with such neighbors today, he noted. “And it’s time we quit outsourcing ‘missions’ to Lottie Moon and invest our lives in spreading the gospel.”

Preaching from Isaiah, Brooks explored what the Scriptures say about being a servant.

“It is easy to grow weary as servants,” he admitted. “Isaiah says, ‘I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain.’ He almost gives in to despair. Perhaps his role is not as important as he had thought. But he never loses sight of the God in whose hand he rests and the God who is his great reward and portion. And in the next verse, he remembers God’s purpose and power.

“My friend Shawn Shannon always has an excellent answer when I ask her how she is doing. ‘I am sustained.’ If we are sustained today, it is because we have a Savior who upholds us. When we choose to serve the most high God, we can trust him to sustain us even in the darkest times.”

Texas Baptists servants “must share the light with the nations” by “embodying the light that is Jesus Christ” as well as “extending the light to the ends of the earth.”

“If we will not take salvation to the ends of the earth, God will find someone who will,” he concluded. “While we wrestle over the control of our convention and institutions, the world is dying without Christ, and our state is dying without Christ, and our cities are dying without Christ.

“I challenge you to go back to your churches and say, ‘Beginning now, let’s start going on short-term mission trips every day for the rest of our lives to tell our world about Jesus.’”

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

Church starting policies
designed to ensure accountability

By Barbara Bedrick

Texas Baptist Communications

DALLAS—A workshop during the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting provided a peek into new, strengthened church starting guidelines that include more accountability and frequent assessment meetings.

• See complete list of convention articles

The session—originally billed as a discussion of the BGCT Valley investigation but changed when the Executive Board called a special meeting at the same time—provided pastors and associational directors details of the strategic church starting guidelines, which will roll out officially next February as proposed policy.

Jimmie Auten, director of missions for Greater Forthood Baptist Association, looks at proposed BGCT church starting policies.

The BGCT Executive Board passed a motion Nov. 13 that requires BGCT staff leaders to show the church starting guidelines to the board for approval.

“Sometimes the ball gets fumbled, and we want an intentional process from Day 1 so that all parties—the churches, the sponsors and all involved—have a clear understanding of their roles,” said Ron Gunter, chief operating officer of the BGCT Executive Board staff.

“A disconnect exists between church planters, starters, associations and the BGCT, which called for a dialogue and establishment of new starting process.”

To cultivate and train church planters more effectively, the BGCT has strengthened its process with a strategic plan developed during the past nine months by 300 Texans involved in church planting.

The scope of the BGCT church starting project was to develop a process for congregational strategists, church starters and affinity groups to use when starting and developing churches that are reproducing and contributing to the convention.

“The new strategic process will provide a consistent, repeatable and accountable process when starting and developing new churches,” said Andre Punch, BGCT Congregational Strategists Team director.

“We want to establish a baseline from which to measure future accomplishments, to qualify what works and what does not, and to determine strength and weaknesses.”

• See complete list of Valley funds scandal articles

Eleven components will be assessed at every step of the new church start. One of the most critical elements of the new BGCT church starting process will be the qualification and selection of church starters.

“If this is not done, it cripples the whole church starting process,” said Tim Randolph, a BGCT congregational strategist.

The church starting process is built around strong relationships between the various partners committed to achieving the same goal—new healthy churches that reproduce and replenish church starting funds through the BGCT Cooperative Program.

The process will start with an online BGCT application, followed by a call from a BGCT church starter—the start of a relationship. A resource assessment will take place, and the BGCT will see where it can fill the gaps.

The church planter enlistment starts the process of discovering and involving leaders in the church starting experience.

Prayer and spiritual vitality are pillars of the new BGCT church starting process, which includes determining whether a church starting leader demonstrates maturity, growth and spiritual life, Randolph said.

A new more-explicit covenant will list the roles of each person in the church starting process with mutual understandings that clearly guide relationships, teachings and behaviors aligned to the Bible.

Another important component is intentional mentoring and coaching relationships that befriend, teach and advise leaders in the church starting process.

Other components include:

• Core group development—Establishment and maintenance of the essential group of people who are committed to the church starting experience

• Vision development—how a God-driven dream continues to support the church starting experience

• Church type—a unique identification through ministry and worship designed for a group or given body of baptized believers

• Lay leaders.

• Training and development.

• Funding.

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.