Posted: 11/03/06

On the Move

• Cindy Addy to First Church in Paris as interim preschool and children’s ministry director.

• Greg Allen to Kentuckytown Church in Whitewright as pastor.

• John Bell to First Church in Bridgeport as associate pastor/minister of music.

• Nate Brown to First Church in Denison as youth minister.

• Adrian Coleman has completed an interim pastorate at First Church in Rosebud.

• Drew Davies to Second Church in Dallas as minister of music.

• Tan Flippin to Parkside Church in Denison as minister of education.

• Marty Francis has resigned as pastor of Pleasant Olive Missionary Church in Waco.

• Bob Hairston to First Church in Alief as interim pastor.

• Gene Hawkins has completed an interim pastorate at First Church in Ropesville.

• Byron Jackson to Allen Heights Church in Allen as pastor from Plymouth Park Church in Irving, where he was minister of singles and family life.

• Carl Jennings Jr. to First Church in Rosebud as pastor from Southern Calvert Church in Lusby, Md.

• Richard Lewis to First Church in Matagorda as pastor.

• Doug Norvell to First Church in Rowlett as minister to middle school and high school youth.

• Troy Peeples to First Church in Gunter as pastor.

• Marty Richardson to First Church in Gainesville as minister of worship, where he had been interim.

• Philip Sherrod to Beverly Hills Church in Waco as interim music minister.

• Alan Six to Trinity Memorial Church in Marlin as pastor.

• Dennis Trammell to First Church of Possum Kingdom Lake as pastor from First Church in Quanah.

• Larry Van Hook to First Church in Louise as pastor.

• Chris Watson has resigned as minister of youth at First Church in Godley.

• Stephen Wilhite to First Church in Howe as minister of music from Faith Church in Decatur, where he had been interim.

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: 11/03/06

Pentecostals and charismatics
reshaping Christianity globally

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

LOS ANGELES (ABP)—Groundbreaking international research on Pentecostal and charismatic Christians shows growth in their numbers—and socio-political influence—around the globe.

The 10-nation study, sponsored by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, also found one of the hallmarks of Pentecostalism—speaking in tongues—less prevalent than some might suppose.

Several Christian demographics experts have estimated 25 percent of the world’s 2 billion Christians are renewalist—a general term used to describe Pentecostals and charismatics—in theological and ecclesiological outlook. The Pew survey looked specifically at renewalist groups in the United States, Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, India, the Philippines and South Korea.

In every nation surveyed except India, at least 10 percent of the total population is renewalist. Five percent in the selected areas of India surveyed is renewalist. In Brazil, Guatemala and Kenya, close to 50 percent of the population is renewalist.

In Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, Kenya and the Philippines, more than two-thirds of Protestants either are Pentecostal or charismatic.

Luis Lugo, director of the Pew Forum, said he initially questioned some of the survey results, but came to realize the numbers were valid. Now, he said, he doesn’t think it’s too far-fetched to imagine Christianity may be on its way to “being Pentecosta-lized.”

“I do think that it’s not an overstatement to suggest that renewalist movements are reshaping Christianity throughout the world,” he said.

“These folks are very supernaturally oriented, but that does not lead them to otherworldliness. That in no way diminished their commitment for social justice for the poor. They keep throwing curves at us (researchers)—things that are unpredictable.”

Pentecostals are defined in the report as people who belong to historic Pentecostal denominations, like the Assemblies of God or the Church of God in Christ.

More loosely grouped, charismatic Christians are defined in the study as having had an “in-filling” of the Holy Spirit but who are not members of classic Pentecostal denominations. Instead, they stay within non-renewalist denominations or go to nondenominational churches.

Growing numbers of Roman Catholics and Protestants in non-Pentecostal denominations define their faith in renewalist terms, the survey noted.

While the Pentecostal and charismatic traditions historically shunned political involvement, that may be changing. For example, 52 percent of American Pentecostals surveyed said the government should take special steps to make the United States a “Christian” country. Only 25 percent of all Christians agreed with that sentiment.

In nine of the 10 countries, at least half of Pentecostals and charismatics surveyed said religious groups should express their views on social and political questions. In the United States, 79 percent of renewalists agreed with that statement, while only 61 percent of the public as a whole agreed.

On the other hand, in seven of the 10 countries surveyed, “majorities or pluralities of Pentecostals say there should be a separation between church and state.” In three countries, including the United States, Pentecostals who favor separation of church and state are outnumbered slightly by Pentecos-tals who say the government should take steps to make their government more Christian.

According to Lugo, the findings also show renewalists tend not to compartmentalize their faith. Pentecostals and charismatics see God playing a direct role in politics and expect him to act in all aspects of life.

“These folks are as engaged as they come,” Lugo said. “These folks not only talk the talk, they walk the walk, if these results are to be believed. There are more recent converts among Pentecos-tal churches than among other churches.”

That attitude may contribute to renewalists’ strong focus on evangelism, as noted by the study.

In eight of the 10 countries surveyed, majorities of Pentecostals tell others about their faith at least weekly. Charismatics tend to be somewhat less likely than Pentecostals to share their faith on a weekly basis.

The report noted in seven of the 10 countries surveyed at least 50 percent of Pentecostals said their church services included people speaking in tongues, prophesying or praying for miraculous healing. In charismatic groups, those services were less common, but still fairly prevalent, the report said.

And in all of the countries surveyed, large majorities of Pentecostals—from 56 percent in South Korea to 87 percent in Kenya—said they have experienced or witnessed a miraculous healing. In all of the countries but India and South Korea, majorities of Pentecostals said they had received a direct revelation from God.

Speaking in tongues, however, “was not as common as many (renewalist) theologians would expect or hope them to be,” said John Green, a Pew Forum researcher. “Even among classical Pentecostals, the level of speaking in tongues is considerably less than you might expect.”

In fact, in six of the 10 countries surveyed, at least 40 percent of Pentecostals said they never speak or pray in tongues.

Lugo said because of those statistics, attempts to define Pentecostal and charismatic Christians solely in terms of tongues can be misleading.

“If that’s the case, then half the Pentecostals around the world are not Pentecostal, because they say they never speak in tongues,” he said. The poll was funded in part by the John Templeton Founda-tion. 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: 11/03/06

Poll reveals dissatisfaction with both parties

By Daniel Burke

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)— An increasing percentage of Americans believe neither Democrats nor Republicans share their attitudes about the role of religion in politics, a new poll revealed.

The poll also showed a drop in the portion of Americans who say the parties represent their values, with the GOP losing more ground than the Democrats.

About 41 percent of Americans believe the Republican Party shares their views on religion in politics “moderately well” or “very well”—an overall drop of 12 percentage points from one year ago.

For Democrats, who have tried to woo religious voters since the 2004 elections, the figure is 48 percent, an overall drop of 5 percentage points from October 2005.

The USA Today/Gallup Poll, based on a sample of 1,002 adults, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

On the question of values, 51 percent of Americans in general said the Republicans represent their values “very well” or “moderately well,” a drop from 57 percent one year ago.

For Democrats, the comparable figure was 56 percent, down from 58 percent a year ago.

While both parties saw an eight-point increase among actual voters who say their values are reflected “moderately well,” the Republicans are down 14 percentage points among voters who see their values reflected “very well,” compared to a 10-point drop for Democrats. 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: 11/03/06

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: 11/03/06

Southern Gospel hymn sings still draw the faithful

By David Briggs

Religion News Service

CANTON, Ohio (RNS)—Visions of heaven dance in their heads as hundreds of people clap their hands, slap their knees and tap their toes on the concrete floor of the Ronald Howard Gospel Music Center.

Three sisters, members of the Southern Gospel group Christ Unlimited, take the crowd to a happier place, singing in an upbeat harmony that they are going to “walk right out of this valley with my Lord.”

In a wooden pew up front, Pearl Vitello slowly rises from her seat and carefully balances on her walker. Vitello, 60, has diabetes, cancer and epilepsy, but that doesn’t stop her from abandoning her walker and rocking back and forth.

The rhythm becomes more insistent with each verse, the voices rising to a majestic pitch until it is certain everyone in this prefab building “ain’t going to let old Satan get me down, down, down.”

“This is her time,” said Vitello’s husband, Richard. “This is her time praising God.”

More people throughout the country are praising God at Southern Gospel hymn sings, part of a revival of an art form that was an essential spiritual connection for the tens of thousands of white Southerners who came north for industrial work in places such as Cleveland and Akron.

Spurred by the popularity of country music, and in particular by the rising tide created by Bill Gaither and the Gaither Vocal Band, Southern Gospel is making a comeback.

More than a little bit country and more than a little bit gospel, Southern Gospel, also known as country gospel or white gospel, is reaching beyond its traditional roots.

Jane Way, 70, does not hear a lot of foot-tapping, four-part country harmony at her Methodist church. But she likes to go to hymn sings.

“It just makes you feel good,” she said. “Sometimes you’ve got to let your hair down.”

Despite a five-hour wait on the side of the road for the bus to be fixed, the Pine Ridge Boys—so named despite ages from 39 to 70—stand unruffled in their dark suits waiting to be introduced.

An old wooden cross is the only backdrop as the quartet leads a joyous crowd across a heaven and earth where people walk hand-in-hand with a loving God.

“No one can love me like my Jesus, oh, what a friend he is to me,” the group sings to cries of “Amen” and various other whoops of assent.

“It feels good to say, ‘I love you,’” baritone Jerome Bush says amid joyful applause. “Don’t you know Jesus likes to hear you tell him, ‘I love you’ once in awhile?”

The Pine Ridge Boys, who have been singing 43 years, have been part of the Southern Gospel trail that gave birth to the Blackwood Brothers, the Statesmen Quartet, the Kingsmen and the Jordanaires. Elvis Presley was among the artists deeply influenced by the music.

Southern Gospel was the country music of gospel for a number of years, and it grew along with the popularity of country, said Don Cusic, professor of music business at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn.

But the music nearly died in the 1980s as many white evangelical Christians, particularly young people, turned to contemporary Christian music.

What reignited Southern Gospel was the success of Gaither and his band and their commitment to recognizing the history of the movement with a series of “homecoming” recordings, videos and concerts.

Southern Gospel now has a magazine, The Singing News, and several websites track popular artists and current Top 100 songs. Those living in areas that don’t have Southern Gospel radio stations can find several on the Internet.

Yet for all its recent success, Southern Gospel still faces considerable challenges—perhaps nowhere more so than in Northeast Ohio, where the migration that fueled interest has turned around as jobs disappear and more people head south.

Also, many of the generations whose parents and grandparents came in the 1940s and ’50s from West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky and North Carolina have lost their cultural connection to Southern Gospel. They are growing up with contemporary Christian music.

In a music world focused on marketing hunks and babes, Southern Gospel performers cling to the idea their music is a ministry, Cusic said.

“The advantage of Southern Gospel is that it never changed,” he said. “The disadvantage of Southern Gospel is that it never changed.”

Listen to the songs performed at hymn sings—such as “I’m Going Home,” “He’s Gonna Greet Me” and “Sheltered in the Arms of God”—and the message stays the same: Jesus is a personal friend who guides followers through the raging storms of this life and will walk hand-in-hand with them into heaven.

The joy of what awaits believers in the future always has been a major part of the appeal of Southern Gospel, Cusic said. Most listeners are from the working class.

“If you’ve got a working-class life, this life ain’t all that great,” Cusic said. “What do you have to look forward to? Glory land.”

It is a spirit that sustains both fans and performers.

Most groups at hymn sings receive little beyond what is left after expenses are deducted from freewill offerings. Professional groups such as the Pine Ridge Boys sell CDs and perform in churches where they receive offerings.

“Most of my groups, they do it just because they love the Lord,” said Jim Strait, promoter of the Canton sing.

For that, they can endure broken-down buses, uncooperative sound systems and meals from concession stands.

This is not the life they have chosen, but one to which they have been called, performers noted.

“How many of you came here to have a good time?” LaDonna Rogers, 59, the oldest sister in Christ Unlimited, asks the crowd in Canton.

Just about everyone, judging from the hollering that greets her remark.

And that’s a good thing, Rogers said later, sitting at a picnic table and sipping a vanilla milkshake.

“Christians are supposed to be the happiest people in the world.”

David Briggs writes for The Plain Dealer in Cleveland. 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: 11/03/06

No Longer Suffering in Silence

By Jenny Pope

Buckner Benevolences

One American woman in four is abused by a loved one—physically, sexually, verbally or emotionally.

It’s an epidemic widely misunderstood to only affect the poor and uneducated, but abuse affects all communities, regardless of economic status, race, religion or educational background.

Reports from the U.S. Department of Justice indicate intimate partner violence accounted for 20 percent of all violent crimes against women in 2001, and about 32 percent of female murders are at the hands of a spouse or live-in partner. In addition, 25 percent of all rapes occur in marriage, affecting about 75,000 women each year.

Buckner fights back against abuse through counseling and community ministry programs, and self-sufficiency programs like Buckner Family Place and Buckner Family Pathways, which provide single parents with housing and childcare assistance when they go back to school.

Cawindy Spead escaped two abusive relationships and found refuge at Buckner Family Pathways in Dallas with her children, Omari (right) and Alexis.

About 80 percent of residents in these programs have abusive backgrounds, said Family Place counselor Brenda Dunn of Lufkin.

“Domestic violence can be deadly, but it can also create a deep emotional gully that’s difficult to overcome,” she said, noting verbal and emotional abuse accounts for the greatest portion of domestic violence, leading to depression, low self-esteem, antisocial behavior and even suicide.

“I can’t really say that one type of abuse (physical or emotional) is worse than another,” said Marissa Phillips, Family Place counselor. “But (victims) seem to recover emotionally much faster from physical abuse than from emotional abuse because it stays with them a lot longer. Bruises heal, but hearing the things they heard can take a lifetime to overcome.”

Cawindy Spead, a resident of Family Pathways in Dallas, may have lived through the physical violence, but she still struggles with the emotional damage caused by her abusive first and second husbands.

“I felt like I was worthless,” she said, remembering the days she prayed to God for strength to leave the marriage.

“He would say the ugliest things to get his point across, like ‘I hate you,’ and ‘You’re stupid.’ If he didn’t get his way, he would say something so bad or so ugly that it would just end the argument,” she said. “Or he would break something.”

One night after a heated argument, her second husband, a minister, took the phone off the wall and threw it across the room and began breaking every glass and dish in the cabinet one by one, she said.

“He got out a knife from the knife drawer and called me a name and said, ‘I will kill you.’ I was sitting there stunned, this was the first time anything like this had happened,” Spead said.

She took her son, Omari, and left the house for a couple of days, but without any money or place to turn, she eventually returned home.

“I shouldn’t have gone back, but we had just gotten married. I wanted to stay. I wanted it to work,” she said.

Unfortunately, the violence didn’t only affect Spead, but Omari, too, who had longed for a father and friend after his parents divorced.

“Before I got married, he was a normal kid,” she said. “He had good eye contact, and his confidence was so high. Omari was happy go-lucky.”

But the relationship “really affected him,” she said. “He started to walk with his head down and with no eye contact. He was really protective of me and always wanted to fight (my husband) away.”

After a year of her second husband’s emotional and verbal abuse, Spead mustered the strength to leave after giving birth to her second child, Alexis, and receiving one last ominous threat.

“He said, I think it is best that you leave, or you may end up on the news,” she said. “At that time, I knew it was best for me to go. I know God hates divorce, but at the same time, I knew he didn’t want this life for me.”

Since moving to Family Pathways, Spead said, “it’s like every day I’m getting my joy back, little by little. I’m able to concentrate on what I need to do, in order to have a future for me and my kids. This place makes that possible, and it means so much to me.”

She graduated from El Centro Community College in September, and was among the first graduating class of the Family Pathways program. She now prepares for the state exam to become a fully accredited licensed vocational nurse.

“I’m not bitter” about the past, she said. “I asked God to take that away from me. I regret that it turned out this way; I didn’t want to be a single parent again. But I will not go through that abuse ever again. I’ve learned that you have to love yourself enough to take care of yourself first.”

In addition to the Family Place and Family Pathways program, Buckner assists many victims of domestic abuse in the Dallas area through community ministry programs at the Vickery Wellness Center and The Parks at Wynnewood.

About 80 percent of women in the Vickery community experience domestic abuse, according to Vickery Wellness Center site Coordinator Maria Pacheco. In a highly populated, low-income Hispanic immigrant community, many women have nobody to turn to and feel trapped in abusive relationships because of immigration laws, language barriers and lack of finances.

Immigrant women suffer higher rates of battering than U.S. citizens because they may come from cultures that accept domestic violence or because they have less access to legal and social services, according to the Family Violence Prevention Fund.

Buckner and the New Beginning Center, a Dallas-based counseling center that provides services for victims of domestic violence, work together to educate the abused on how to be safe, plan escape options in the most dangerous of situations and offer support groups and advice on how to keep children safe.

Within three months of the new partnership, six women sought counsel for abuse—a huge victory for a community that prides itself on keeping problems within the family and has little trust for outsiders, Pacheco said.

Behavioral problems run rampant in children of abusive families, she added, noting that research shows child abuse occurs in 70 percent of families that experience domestic abuse.

“We’ll see children or teens sometimes with truancy, self-esteem problems, academic, emotional and behavioral problems. They’ll be withdrawn and shy, not as confident to take risks or try new things,” she said.

“Or they’ll hit one another to express their anger. It usually is a problem that started all the way at the top—there’s a dad who’s dealing with issues which he vents on his wife, and then she’ll in turn vent on her children.”

The Parks at Wynnewood apartments, a low-income community located in Southwest Dallas, sees about 45 percent of its female residents in abusive relationships, said Buckner/ Wynnewood Community Services Center site Coordinator Johnny Flowers.

“And that’s only the residents that we actually know about,” Flowers said. “So many of the women who are abused don’t report the incident, and you only hear about it when the kids bring it up. They just think it’s the normal way of life.”

The Parks at Wynnewood assists and counsels more than 150 women who have experienced domestic violence.

“A lot of women do nothing about abuse because they don’t know that there’s help for them,” Pacheco said. “But Buckner is here, ultimately, to be a light for them and to let them know that they don’t have to go through the abuse alone. We’re here to help.”

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: 11/03/06

Texas Tidbits

BaptistWay publisher named. The Baptist General Convention of Texas has named Ross West publisher of BaptistWay Press, effective Nov. 15. West has been involved in writing and publishing more than 30 years. He has been one of the leaders of BaptistWay Press since its inception, helping develop more than 80 books for the publisher and guiding the group’s production and marketing efforts on a contract basis. He will continue this work as a full-time BGCT staff member. He served 12 years with the Southern Baptist Sunday School Board. He also has worked as the director of creative services for the Boy Scouts of America. West earned a doctor of ministry degree in biblical studies from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and a master of divinity degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. His undergraduate degree is from Louisiana Tech University.

Baptist Health Foundation grants scholarships. Baptist Health Foundation of San Antonio has awarded 335 scholarships in 2006 totaling $573,788 in grants to students pursuing careers in health care at eight San Antonio-area schools. The foundation’s scholarship committee granted $466,288 to the Baptist Health System School of Health Professions; $50,000 to Wayland Baptist University-San Antonio Campus; $32,500 to the University of Texas Health Science Center-San Antonio; $7,500 each to Our Lady of the Lake University and University of the Incarnate Word; $5,000 to St. Philip’s College; and $2,500 each to San Antonio College and University of Texas Health Science Center-San Antonio Public Health Program.

Baylor institute receives Justice Department grant. Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion and the Program on Prosocial Behavior received a $400,000 grant from the Justice Department’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. The grant will fund research that examines the role religion plays in positive social youth behavior. “For decades, scholars have identified factors that predict antisocial behavior, especially crime. But surely, it is at least as important to understand why kids turn into good citizens as to understand why they go bad,” said Rodney Stark, Baylor University social sciences professor and co-director of the institute. For more information, visit www.isreligion.org.

Baylor Medical wins Consumer Choice award. For the 11th consecutive year, Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas has earned the Consumer Choice Award for the Dallas area by the National Research Corporation. The award is given to the hospitals that consumers have chosen as having the highest quality and image in 186 markets throughout the country. Consumers recognized Baylor—named the most-preferred hospital in the area—as having best overall quality, best image or reputation, best doctors and best nurses.

TBM offers disaster relief. Six Texas Baptist Men units helped clean up Southeast Texas after floods forced at least 1,000 people in the Woodville area from their homes. Ten TBM volunteers cut and moved away massive oak trees uprooted by a tornado that hit the Kingsland area. Dee Poe, unit director for the Burnett-Llano Baptist Association crew, estimated the trees—many of them as much as five feet in diameter—were up to 400 years old.

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: 11/03/06

TOGETHER:
‘We will touch the world from Texas’

There are days in your life that are sad and painful. Tuesday, Oct. 31, was such a day for many of us as we heard the results of our investigation of church starting efforts in the Rio Grande Valley. But despite the sadness and pain, there is room for clear-eyed hope.

The investigators found that there had been mismanagement on the part of a few of our staff and misuse and misappropriation of church starting funds on the part of a few pastors.

Executive Director BGCT Executive Board

After the report was given to the board, I expressed my deep sorrow over what happened. I regret that I did not force this issue to resolution much earlier. I apologize to every person in the Valley whose cautions, questions and frustrations were neither fully heeded nor resolved.

Now that we understand clearly what happened in our recent past, what will be done?

First, a new church starting process will be put in place Jan. 1, 2007. This process will have full input from the accounting staff, and safeguards will be integrated into the procedures so there is full accountability by our staff. We are determined that what has happened to us will never happen again.

Second, we are implementing means by which we can evaluate, by region and type, our church starting efforts.

Third, we will add an internal audit function. The Apostle Paul sent messengers to the church in Corinth to give a full accounting of the handling of the mission gifts because, he said, “For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of men” (2 Corinthians 8:21). The internal auditor will not only be skilled in accounting issues but will be trained in investigative techniques.

Fourth, we will redouble our efforts to build a culture of mutual trust and shared vision in our staff. We will not abandon our desire to trust one another, but we will “inspect what we expect,” hold one another accountable for actions taken or not taken, and we will verify information.

Some pastors have already sent me e-mails about their new church starts. One wrote me with a wonderful story of a young man who was saved and the remarkable changes in his life. He sent me the picture of the man’s baptism and told of another five baptized the same day. He wanted me to know church starting makes a real difference in people’s lives. He wanted me to know how special his BGCT church starting consultant is to him and to the congregation.

But, especially, he wanted me to know that despite the church starting problems, we still need new churches across Texas. “We have a state full of nonbelievers, and we need to keep our eye on the ball and reach out to them.”

I wrote that dear brother back, and I assured him that is exactly what Texas Baptists will do.

I pledge to all Texas Baptists that these troubles, though painful, discouraging and embarrassing, will not keep our staff or me from pouring our full spiritual, mental and physical energy into this work. We will move forward together to encourage, facilitate and connect churches in their work to fulfill God’s mission of reconciling the world to himself. And, God willing, we will touch the world from Texas.

We are loved.

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

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: 11/03/06

From the investigators’ report …

• Investigators Diane Dillard and Michael Rodriguez, said Otto Arango told them “he made a lot of money promoting his vision of planting churches and that this created jealousy among some of the Valley pastors.”

p. 5

• “It became clear during the investigation that some of the information provided by the BGCT was unreliable. Some documents, such as new-church monthly reports, were found to be fabricated.”

pp. 9-10

• “During the investigation, the investigators reviewed files and information on approximately 400 Valley churches including hundreds of documents and over 2,000 checks provided by the BGCT. … Over 35 people were interviewed in connection with the investigation.”

p. 12

• “All evidence gathered to date demonstrates that many of the new churches or house churches started in the Valley between 1999 and 2005 by Dr. Arango and his protégés did not fulfill all of the requirements set out for a church, including the critical requirement of intentionality or having the ultimate goal of becoming an autonomous church. Many would very likely be characterized as a Bible study, a cell group or a satellite. In other words, they appear to have been extension units that should not have been funded by the church starting center.”

p. 17

• “There was evidence that some of the ‘house churches’ started in the Valley were not ‘new churches’ as defined in the 2001 new-church development guidelines.”

p. 21

• “There is evidence that some of the church starts in the Valley were fictitious. The BGCT did not independently verify the existence of the new churches in the Valley or maintain accurate church mortality rates, making it difficult to determine the exact number of so-called phantom churches. However, first-hand accounts provide evidence of the occurrence of phantom churches.”

p. 23

• “During his interview Pastor (Aaron) de la Torre admitted that there were occasions when he would submit completely false or fictitious new-church covenants for acceptance by the BGCT. Upon further questioning, he admitted that some churches did not exist and that he had falsified the signature of the ‘new pastor’ on the covenant agreement.”

pp. 23-24

• “The most dramatic example of misuse of church start-up funds was first divulged by Pastor Aaron de la Torre. He stated in his interview that Dr. Arango invited him to get involved with ‘the project.’ Dr. Arango told Pastor de la Torre that ‘he could make money if he did what he (Otto Arango) told him to do.’”

p. 24

• “Although the investigators found proof of the misuse of designated church start-up funds by some church pastors, they did not find proof the funds were used for personal gain.”

p. 27

• “Dr. (Abe) Zabaneh stated that when he first became the leader of the church starting center he believed in the new vision for starting churches in the Valley and that Dr. (E.B.) Brooks strongly believed in the work as well. For this reason, he allowed some sponsor pastors of new church starts to circumvent the local association and guidelines. He additionally stated that he never suspected any wrongdoing or misconduct by anyone involved in starting new churches in the Valley.”

p. 32

• “There is no evidence that Dr. (Charles) Wade was aware that BGCT personnel relaxed the guidelines for starting new churches in the Valley.”

p. 33

• Dexton Shores, director of BGCT Border/Mexico Missions, prepared a summary of observations about Valley new-church starts. The investigators quoted Shores:

“Having served myself as an associational church planter strategist for eight years prior to coming to (the) BGCT, I am convinced that had our own BGCT policies been practiced by our own church starting consultant (David Guel), we would not be reviewing a list of over 280 funded church starts that no longer exist. The consultant’s hunger to produce numbers and his failure to conduct regular church growth reviews with representatives from the sponsor, new church and association set up a system that processed hundreds of new church covenants for funding to a handful of leaders that were never held accountable for their actions.”

p. 33

• “The investigators found no evidence that anyone at the BGCT received money for personal gain.”

p. 35

• “The BGCT should have recognized at least some of the red flags. However, no evidence of a thorough investigation of these matters was provided to the investigators. The lack of written investigation reports, summaries or memoranda in the BGCT files, suggests that the allegations were not seen as credible. When asked, the BGCT witnesses had no logical explanation why there was not a thorough BGCT investigation into the allegations.”

p. 39

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: 11/03/06

Stereotypes of religious voters don’t fit

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

WACO (ABP)—Stereotypical images of “liberals” and “evangelicals” create a distorted picture of what issues are important to each group and how each will vote in the 2006 elections, new research shows.

A recent survey by researchers at Baylor University reveals much more diverse opinions than politicians have assumed. For instance, 76 percent of evangelicals believe the government should do more to protect the environment. And 74 percent of evangelicals believe it is “very important” to seek social and economic justice, according to the survey.

What’s more, half of the nation’s evangelicals think the government should not fund faith-based organizations, and half think the government should more evenly distribute wealth in this country.

Paul Froese, an assistant professor of sociology who helped conduct the survey, said the data show that even though evangelical Protestants will likely vote Republican, certain policy issues make them a difficult group to lump together.

According to his report, 40 percent of evangelicals who support George W. Bush actually emerged as “liberal” on economic issues, specifically in beliefs about wealth distribution and economic justice.

Of course, Froese reiterated, evangelicals remain conservative on social issues like gay marriage and abortion. They also, as usually assumed, support the Iraq War and the Patriot Act.

“Regardless of these specific liberal tendencies, evangelical Protestants currently do not appear moved towards the Democratic Party,” he said in a statement about the report. “However, heading into the midterm elections, Democratic strategists should take note of the fact that a substantial portion of evangelicals express what have long been believed as liberal views on certain social issues.”

Conversely, some voters not classified as evangelicals revealed surprising opinions on some traditionally “liberal” causes. According to Baylor researchers, 61 percent of “nonevangelicals” think religious groups should be allowed to display religious symbols in public spaces. And a whopping 64 percent of nonevangelicals think the government should allow prayer in public schools.

Politicos nationwide would do well to take note of the twist in voter consciousness, Byron Johnson, co-director of the Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion, said in the report. “Such findings should not go unnoticed by Republican officials,” he said.

Researchers also stressed that when 39 percent of nonevangelicals think the government should “advocate” Christian values and 52 percent of them want the feds to “defend” Christian values, it could throw unexpected twists into upcoming elections, especially in the 2008 presidential race.

Initial findings from the Baylor Religion Survey were released in a report called American Piety in the 21st Century. Funded by the John Templeton Foundation and conducted by Baylor’s Institute for Studies of Religion, the report used a national random sampling of 1,721 respondents. More than 350 questions on the report covered spirituality issues, from reasons for prayer and beliefs about God to supernatural experiences and the paranormal. 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: 11/03/06

Drake not content to be silent partner

By Greg Warner

Associated Baptist Press

BUENA PARK, Calif. (ABP)—The Southern Baptist Convention expects very little from its vice presidents—nothing, in fact, unless the SBC president becomes incapacitated. Traditionally, those elected each year to the mostly honorary VP positions are seen but not heard.

But when Southern Baptists elected Wiley Drake second vice president in June, they should not have expected Drake to be quiet about it.

Drake—a Los Angeles-area pastor, radio crusader, SBC gadfly and self-proclaimed “champion of the little guy”—is making the most of his new title. And that’s causing more than a little consternation in the SBC’s Nashville headquarters.

When Drake recently created his own makeshift letterhead proclaiming “Southern Baptist Convention, Office of the 2nd Vice President”—and used it to endorse Republican Dick Mountjoy of California in his bid for the U.S. Senate—he got a stern warning from the SBC’s top lawyer.

“Looking back, I shouldn’t have done it,” Drake said in an interview. “But no one told me what I should or shouldn’t do.”

So, Drake is asking the convention to spell out the responsibilities of the SBC’s two vice presidents, and he is making a suggestion for his own role.

“I already function as an interfaith ambassador,” Drake said. And he would like for the title to be made official. Drake pointed out he was asked by Yuri Shtern, a Jew and member of the Israeli Knesset, to pray for the official’s failing health—which Drake did on radio. He said he also gets regular calls from the Israeli Embassy because of his role in the pro-Israel Christian Allies Caucus, which gives him an interfaith role.

In addition to supporting Israel, Drake uses his live, four-day-a-week radio and Internet broadcast to campaign for countless conservative Christian causes—former “Ten Commandments judge” Roy Moore, a Christian “exodus” from public schools, prayer and Bible teaching in public schools, and public prayer “in Jesus’ name” in the military and in government meetings.

He also comes to the aid of numerous small-time Christian “culture warriors”—hence the name, Crusader Radio. And he’s the chaplain for the Minutemen who monitor the U.S.-Mexican border and a regular participant in prayer sessions in the halls of Congress.

Around Buena Park, however, Drake is best known as the pastor who fought city hall for the right to turn his tiny church into a homeless shelter and nearly went to jail for it.

Wiley Drake burst on the Southern Baptist scene about a decade ago when he led the charge for a boycott of entertainment giant Disney Co., even though his church lies almost in the shadow of Disneyland.

His success in that effort initiated his steady stream of speeches from the floor of recent SBC conventions for this or that cause, introducing more failed resolutions than probably anyone in recent SBC history. “I’m as egotistical as the next guy,” he conceded.

Drake’s love for attention irritates many Southern Baptists. But he’s a hero to others, particularly the small-church pastors who seldom get a voice in the 16-million- member denomination, which has been led by a parade of megachurch pastors for almost three decades.

It was for those “little guys,” Drake said, that he agreed to be nominated to the previously obscure role of second vice president, which is almost an afterthought in the SBC’s power structure. But Drake insisted he was elected with a mandate of sorts.

“I’m trying to speak up for the small church and the little guy, because many of them have said to me they feel disenfranchised” by the SBC leadership, said Drake, whose 75-member church is about the size of the average SBC congregation.

“The people who voted for me were saying: ‘Our convention is in a mess, and I’m about to leave. But it sounds like Wiley may do something about it. It sounds like (SBC President) Frank Page may do something about it.’“

At the June SBC annual meeting, Page and Drake each were narrowly elected on the first ballot against multiple candidates. The pair’s candidacies were trumpeted by a new coalition of conservative Southern Baptist pastors and laity—led by young activist bloggers—who were upset with the leadership’s narrow theology, power-hoarding practices and closed-door meetings.

Drake said he is a nobody who became a “somebody” by virtue of his election. “I want to be the ‘somebody’ who tells the other ‘somebodies,’ ‘You need to listen to the little guys, otherwise they are going to leave the Southern Baptist Convention.’“

Drake has ceased using his makeshift SBC letterhead. But he has added the title of “2nd Vice President” to his church letterhead—and he will keep using it, regardless whether SBC officials like it. “If they have a problem with that, they’re going to have to sue me.”

SBC attorney August Boto, in a letter Oct. 4, instructed Drake not to use his title in correspondence, and he suggested Drake drop his quest for a job description too.

Two days later, Drake wrote an open letter to all Southern Baptists urging them to define the role of the vice presidents. “So without any job description to direct me, I’m left with no option but to create one on my own,” he wrote. “The 2nd Vice President should be a servant role to the convention, not an honorary title. He should be a prayer warrior for convention causes and the most faithful advocate of our missionaries. He should encourage pastors and reach souls. He should lead his church before he tries to lead the convention, feed the hungry before he feeds his ego, and listen before he speaks.”

Drake’s attorney, Mel Laney of Washington, D.C., responded to Boto Oct. 21 with another letter, copied to all SBC Executive Committee members, asking for clarification about Drake’s role—and suggesting the job of interfaith ambassador. The reaction from Executive Committee members has been mixed. Some offered Drake polite encouragement, but several said his request was inappropriate and unappreciated.

The SBC’s leaders, clearly exasperated with Drake’s first four months as an officer, might be counting the days until his term expires in June 2007. But Drake has news for them.

“I’m absolutely going to be nominated for vice president again next year,” he said.

And if and when president Frank Page completes the traditional second one-year term in 2008, Drake added, “then I’m going to be nominated for president.”

“And if the Old Guard is able to nominate someone who unseats Frank Page next year, I’ll run against him too.” 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: 11/03/06

Association rejects church
with female associate pastor

By Kristen Campbell

Religion News Service

MOBILE, Ala. (RNS)—Growing up, Ellen Guice Sims recalled it never crossed her mind to think a woman could be a pastor.

“It was even farther away than feeling shut out,” she said. “It was not even a question.”

That was then.

Last May, Sims was ordained in the American Baptist Churches, USA. Recently, she began serving as associate pastor at Hillcrest Baptist Church, a congregation with ties to the Southern Baptist Convention, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and—until recently—Mobile Baptist Association.

Sims’ appointment garnered the attention of the Mobile Baptist Association, the group of more than 100 Southern Baptist congregations in the area. Recently, the association voted voted 204 to 44 to remove Hillcrest Baptist Church as a member because of its decision to call a woman to a pastoral role.

“There are more than a few twists and turns in my story,” she said.

Sims, who returned to the Gulf Coast with her husband, George, about a year ago, grew up in Mobile but eventually settled in Nashville, where her family joined a church where “women could serve in all aspects of the church,” she said. She found it both attractive and frightening.

“But it was extremely important to me when we had a daughter,” she said. “The church provided an atmosphere that was going to be healthy for her and would be supportive of us in showing her that God loves her as deeply as the little boy who was in Sunday school with her.”

Sims started to help coordinate worship services, an experience in which she said “something was released in me.” Before long, she said, people began asking her if she had considered going into ministry.

At one point in her life, she found the idea of a female in the pulpit off-putting. When she began considering the notion for herself, it seemed immodest.

“Finally I admitted, ‘Yeah, I’ve been thinking about it, but I haven’t felt called,’” Sims said. “And not that I thought there was really going to be a literal, some kind of … burning-bush call, but I really thought there would be a more decisive feeling or assurance of that, and I was not feeling that. … It took a lot to overcome, to hear their voices over the din of previous sexist cultural conditioning.”

In 2001, Sims enrolled at a Methodist seminary in Ohio—“not to heed but to hear a call.” She said she wanted to be “open to God in that process.” As she wrapped up her studies, the family took a step she was sure would quash any hopes for working in ministry. They moved back to Alabama.

Sims felt fairly certain she was returning to a place “where there was, in all likelihood, no possibility that I would find a ministry opportunity.”

The couple landed at Hillcrest Baptist Church.

“We were afraid there may just be fundamentalist Baptist churches in Mobile and were heartened that at Hillcrest there were folks who read Scripture in ways that were not narrow. And above all, we were blown away by the warmth of the congregation,” she said.

About two months after she was ordained, the congregation voted to call Sims as its associate pastor. The church’s action was based on her qualifications, she said, not her gender.

“Our agenda is to serve others in the name of Jesus Christ,” she said.

“Our agenda is to live out a vital faith. Our agenda is the agenda of the Christian church, which is to share the good news of the gospel. That is our agenda.”

Dudley Wilson, the church’s pastor, said the congregation needed someone to focus on engaging those outside the church as well as to develop discipleship within the church.

“The reason that we called Ellen was not that Ellen was a female,” he said. “She was a gifted person who to us seemed to have the gifts that Hillcrest needed.”

While women serving in pastoral ministry within Baptist circles remains an anomaly, their numbers are growing. According to a report commissioned by Baptist Women in Ministry, “The State of Women in Baptist Life 2005,” 60 women were ordained to ministry and 102 served as pastors, co-pastors and church planters, or organizers of mission congregations, in groups affiliated with the Alliance of Baptists, the Cooperative Baptist Fellow-ship, the Baptist General Association of Virginia and the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

In more than 30 years as a teacher, Bill Leonard, author of Baptists in America and dean of Wake Forest University Divinity School in Winston-Salem, N.C., has noted more women seeking ordination. Despite the passage of time, he said, the pursuit of senior pastorates for women hasn’t grown easier.

“So many very gifted Baptist women are leaving the Baptist fold for denominations that more readily accept and appoint them to church situations,” he said.

For her part, Sims said she’d prefer to live in a world where men and women served equally in the church and gender wouldn’t be an issue.

“I didn’t become a minister to become a symbol, to become exploited for somebody else’s agenda other than to serve Jesus Christ.”

Yet, she said, inclusion is an important value at Hillcrest Baptist Church.

“We believe that Jesus Christ included every single person, and that’s part of our understanding of what it means to be a disciple of Christ,” she said. “So if being something of a pioneer … is a way of maybe sharing that piece of the gospel, then I suppose that’s a good thing to do.”

Kristen Campbell writes for The Mobile Register in Mobile, 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.