Posted: 10/13/06

Periodic check-ups aid financial health

Many financial ailments can be avoided with periodic check-ups. Sherre Stephens, a certified employee benefits specialist and director of executive and institutional benefit design for GuideStone Financial Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention, prescribes a six-point self-examination:

• Maximize retirement plan deferrals.

“Deferrals to your employer’s retirement plan reduce current federal income tax liability and enhance your retirement savings,” she wrote in a recent column distributed by GuideStone.

“If your employer offers a match, don’t pass up this benefit. The 2006 basic limit is $15,000—$20,000 if you are age 50 or older.”

• Check withholding election.

• Bankrupt believers may tithe • Periodic check-ups aid financial health • Keep tabs on credit scores, adviser says • Good stewardship demands proper estate planning • Lease-to-own program enables home ownership • Strategy for lowering credit card debt • How to cope with high energy costs • Are 401(k) and 403(b) Roth contributions right for you? • How to opt in to medicare coverage • EDITORIAL: Oh, that we would debate gross or net

“You may look forward to a refund in early 2007, but this is tantamount to an interest-free loan to the government. Alternatively, you don’t want to owe taxes when you file for the 2006 tax year. The Internet offers many calculators to help you determine if you are over- or under-withholding,” Stephens said.

• Review investments.

“Are your investments on track? Do you need to rebalance your portfolio? Many employers now provide free investment advice for retirement plan assets,” she wrote.

Stephens suggests that investors consider consolidating investment holdings and checking beneficiary designations.

• Use a cafeteria/flex plan if it is available.

Many employers offer reimbursement for allowable expenses such as medical bills or child-care expenses.

“If possible, invest the reimbursement,” Stephens suggests.

• Consider impact of the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act.

In part, this law extends the alternative minimum tax exemption levels through the end of this year at a rate of $62,550 for joint filers and $42,500 for single taxpayers.

“The act also extends the lower tax rate for qualified dividends and capital gains through 2011, which gives you an additional year for capital gains planning,” Stephens noted.

• Prepare for open enrollment.

“Many employers hold open enrollment in the fall” for benefits programs, she notes. “Begin reviewing your choices, especially if you’ve had family situation change. Research your options now to avoid last-minute choices.”

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: 10/13/06

Keep tabs on credit scores, adviser says

Numbers unknown by most people may affect their ability to secure a loan, buy an insurance policy or even get a job.

Three credit bureaus track consumers’ credit histories, and that information is used to calculate and report a person’s credit score.

“Many businesses use your credit score as a way to assess your ability to handle your financial responsibilities,” said Don McLeod, a certified financial planner and area director in retirement solutions and services with GuideStone Financial Resources, a Southern Baptist agency.

“Think of your credit score as your financial GPA,” McLeod wrote in a recent column distributed by GuideStone. “Your score could range from 300 to 850. Of course, the higher, the better.” McLeod offers three suggestions about how a person can keep tabs on his or her credit score:

• Prosperity gospel promises material blessings to faithful • Bankrupt believers may tithe • Periodic check-ups aid financial health • Keep tabs on credit scores, adviser says • Good stewardship demands proper estate planning • Lease-to-own program enables home ownership • Strategy for lowering credit card debt • How to cope with high energy costs • Are 401(k) and 403(b) Roth contributions right for you? • How to opt in to medicare coverage • EDITORIAL: Oh, that we would debate gross or net

• Get a free credit report each year.

Congress passed a law that requires the credit bureaus to provide an individual a free credit report each year, available at www.AnnualCreditReport.com. Individuals also can request a free report directly from the three reporting companies Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

However, the actual credit score, available from www.MyFico.com, costs $45.

• Check the report for accuracy.

“Mistakes are common on the credit reports,” McLeod writes. “Check the accuracy of the information, including your previous jobs, your previous addresses, and the accounts listed. Check to make sure that any accounts that you thought you closed are actually closed.

“If there are accounts that should have been closed, contact those companies to close the accounts. For other errors, contact the reporting bureau in writing.”

• Know what affects a credit score.

The two most important factors that make up a person’s credit score are payment history and the amount owed, McLeod notes.

“Always pay all of your bills on time if at all possible, even if it means only paying a minimum amount. Even one late payment can impact you in a negative way,” he notes.

“Set up automatic payments from your checking account so you don’t inadvertently miss a payment. Also, keep your debt to available credit ratio to a minimum. Try not to max out a credit card, and never go above a spending limit. Also, do not open up too many credit accounts. This goes against your score.

“A little knowledge and planning can go a long way toward helping you keep a good financial score.”

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: 10/13/06

Good stewardship demands proper estate planning

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

Christians who die without making a will demonstrate poor stewardship, said Bill Arnold, president of the Texas Baptist Missions Foundation.

“If you die without a will, I guarantee your family will not rise up and call you blessed,” said Arnold, a certified financial planner. “The state of Texas has a will for you. But you probably won’t like it.”

Rather than allowing the state to divide assets following a death or leaving family members guessing about a deceased loved one’s wishes, Christians should give priority to estate planning as a matter of stewardship, he said.

Arnold suggests seven steps to effective estate planning:

• Know what’s in the estate.

“Write down everything that’s in your estate,” he suggested.

Even when people make an inventory, many fail to include collections that have appreciated in value or tend to undervalue real estate holdings, he noted.

• Decide on goals.

“Get a clear sense of what you want to accomplish—what kind of legacy you want to leave,” he said.

Arnold challenges Christian to “make God a partner” in their estate planning.

“I can’t quote you chapter and verse, but I believe leaving a tithe or more of an estate to the Lord’s work would bring a smile to God’s face,” he said.

• Decide what transfer techniques to use.

A financial planner can help a Christian decide the best giving technique—a bequest, a charitable trust, an IRA or a pension plan—to meet an individual’s goals, Arnold noted.

• Choose an executor.

Not only should one person be selected to distribute the assets of an estate, but an alternate also should be designated, Arnold suggested.

• Write it down.

“Better yet, get an attorney to do it,” Arnold said. Some people balk at the expense involved in having an attorney draw up a will, but he insisted the expense is comparatively minimal and well worth it.

“Put it in perspective. We’re talking about what it’s taken a person a lifetime to accumulate,” he said. “It’s like striking a match. You only get one chance to do it right. It can’t be fixed after a death without a lot of expense.”

• Keep it safe.

Store the will and other vital documents in a safety deposit box, Arnold recommended. “And make sure someone knows where it is.”

• Review it periodically.

Carefully look at a will and revise it as needed every three to five years or when events warrant a review.

“Events that would trigger a review would include a move to another state, a significant change in the tax laws, the death, marriage or divorce of someone named in the will, the birth of anyone you might want to name in the will or any significant change in assets, such as an inheritance,” Arnold 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: 10/13/06

Lease-to-own program enables home ownership

By Barbara Bedrick

Texas Baptist Communications

DALLAS—By Christmas, some Texas families may celebrate the season by making plans to move into a new home, thanks to an innovative lease-to-own program involving the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

The partnership between the BGCT and the Community Empower home ownership counseling network—along with CitiMortgage and Ebby Halliday Realtors—provides an 18-month new-home lease to potential homebuyers.

“The bottom line here is that we’re not trying to just build new homes; we’re trying to help churches reach more people for Christ,” explained Terry Austin, BGCT stewardship director. “However, we realize you can’t be financially stable until you own your own home.”

The BGCT initially plans to sponsor 12 “Forget the Rent” workshops at Baptist churches in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and San Antonio beginning Oct. 18.

Workshop leaders will provide a comprehensive credit improvement analysis for each participant, and they will explain how to improve credit scores. A month-long series of classes follows. The BGCT is providing teachers to lead classes in credit and money management skills that will be the first step toward home ownership.

“We have set a goal to have least 50 families on their way to a new home by year’s end,” Austin said. “We’re still searching for more teachers, which will expedite this program’s success.”

Some church leaders say they believe this ministry meshes with their goals for community outreach and transformation.

“What a great opportunity for our state convention to partner with local churches to reach their communities,” said Jerry Spivey, minister of education and administration at Cliff Temple Baptist Church in Dallas.

“As soon as the word got out that Cliff Temple was offering this home ownership seminar, in English and Spanish, our phones started ringing.”

Another congregation embracing the home ownership ministry is South Oaks Baptist Church in Arlington because it fits the congregation’s missional strategy to offer tools and programs beneficial to people in their community.

“We had already been working on this strategy, including developing weekday classes on improving parent skills, finance workshops for the home, classes on coping with grief, and more when we were approached by Terry Austin,” said Keith Lowry, minister of outreach and evangelism.

“It was an easy decision to say yes. Anything we can do to invite our neighbors into our building, giving us an opportunity to become better friends and neighbors—we’re for it. We’re in. We can’t wait to meet our new friends.”

The lease-to-own seminars already scheduled are at six North Texas locations. For more information, contact South Oaks Baptist Church in Arlington at www.south oaks.org or (817) 478-8284, Trinity Hills Baptist Church in Benbrook at www.trinity hills.org or (817) 249-0704, Spring Hill Road Baptist Church in Aubrey at www.springhillroadchurch.org or (940) 365-3521, High Pointe Baptist Church in Cedar Hill at www.highpointe.org or (972) 293-0155, Irving Baptist Fellowship Church in Irving at (972) 313-7742 and Cliff Temple Baptist Church in Dallas at www.clifftemple.org or (214) 942-8601.

For information about seminars in San Antonio, contact Northeast Baptist Church at www.nebaptistchurch.org or (210) 824-7235, Redeeming Grace Baptist Church at www.rgbc.org or (210) 661-5024 or South San Filadelfia Baptist Church at (210) 225-7537.

Online registration is available at www.ForgetTheRentTexas.com, or register by calling the BGCT Service Center at (888) 244-9400.

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: 10/13/06

Prosperity gospel promises
material blessings to faithful

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

A recent TIME magazine cover story raised the question: “Does God want you to be rich?” The answer from many pulpits, best-selling books and television evangelists seems to be, “Not only rich, but healthy and happy, too.” The implications of that response trouble some Baptist pastors, theologians and ethicists.

The prosperity gospel—also known as “name it and claim it,” “word of faith,” “positive confession” or “seed-faith” theology—teaches that God wants his children to prosper and be in good health. It calls on followers to step out by faith and claim the prosperity that is the birthright of every Christian.

“The Bible says, ‘God takes pleasure in prospering his children.’ As his children prosper spiritually, physically and materially, their increase brings pleasure to God,” Joel Osteen, pastor of Houston’s Lakewood Church and popular TV preacher, writes in his best-selling book, Your Best Life Now. “Your lot in life is to continually increase. Your lot in life is to be an overcomer, to live prosperously in every area.”

• Prosperity gospel promises material blessings to faithful • Bankrupt believers may tithe • Periodic check-ups aid financial health • Keep tabs on credit scores, adviser says • Good stewardship demands proper estate planning • Lease-to-own program enables home ownership • Strategy for lowering credit card debt • How to cope with high energy costs • Are 401(k) and 403(b) Roth contributions right for you? • How to opt in to medicare coverage • EDITORIAL: Oh, that we would debate gross or net

Proponents of the prosperity gospel present it as a positive antidote to the negativism and judgmentalism they say drives some people away from Christianity. They point to Old Testament passages that seem to equate material wealth with God’s favor and to New Testament teachings about abundant life.

Critics of the prosperity gospel call it shallow and superficial, at best.

The God of the prosperity gospel is too small, said Suzii Paynter, director of the Christian Life Commission, the moral concerns agency of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

“One of my pet peeves about the prosperity doctrine is that it limits God,” she said. “It makes him into a behavioral psychologist who resorts to external rewards to manipulate the ‘rat race’ human beings. That’s in contrast to the transforming God C.S. Lewis describes in Mere Christianity—the God who overhauls our hearts so that we truly desire his goodness and his will on behalf of others, not to accumulate for ourselves.”

Joel Osteen, pastor at Lakewood Church in Houston and author of the bestseller Your Best Life Now, preaches that God wants Christians to be prosperous and happy. (RNS photo courtesy of Lakewood Church)

Some have even harsher words for the prosperity gospel. At the recent meeting of the National Baptist Convention USA in Dallas, President William Shaw labeled the teaching as “blasphemy” that entices people to follow “mammon”—material wealth and physical wellbeing—rather than follow the self-sacrificial example of Christ.

“Material goods may satisfy, but they do not fulfill,” Shaw said in his presidential address to the nation’s largest African-American Baptist group.

Javier Elizondo, vice president of academic affairs at Baptist University of the Americas, believes prosperity gospel preachers pervert the true gospel and distort biblical teachings.

“The proponents of the prosperity gospel ignore a big chunk of the Bible that speaks favorably about the poor, the stranger, the orphan and the widow and all the judgments made on the rich,” he said. “Their Bible consists of a few isolated verses which they take out of context and misrepresent.”

The prosperity gospel appeals to many people because “we all love a feel-good theology,” said Chris Simmons, pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in inner-city Dallas. “But it gives false hope.”

Good feelings must translate into good deeds if the gospel is genuine, Simmons insisted.

“Any gospel that focuses on getting more for me and not on my responsibility of giving more to others is errant,” he said. “If you have been blessed, you need to allow that prosperity to flow to others and become a channel of blessing, not a reservoir of blessing.”

An unhealthy focus on material prosperity also can cause the wealthy to view poor people judgmentally and tempt Christians to live beyond their means—presenting the false appearance that God has blessed them, Simmons noted.

“Equating a genuine relationship with God to the amount in a person’s checkbook is very dangerous,” he said.

The prosperity gospel has roots deep in the Pentecostal Holiness movement. But church historian Bill Leonard believes Baptists also provided fertile ground where the teaching could grow.

“It’s somewhat implicit in small but significant ways in the old tithing testimonies Baptists used to have,” said Leonard, dean of the divinity school at Wake Forest University. “The message was that tithing brought blessing. It was not the major message, but it was present.”

Revivalism in the 19th and early 20th centuries also promoted an early form of the prosperity gospel, he noted, saying, “It was presented in the message that salvation meant benefits not only in the world to come, but also in this one.”

Leonard views evangelist Oral Roberts as a significant influence on current prosperity gospel preachers through the “seed-faith” teaching he promoted on his television programs, in his crusades and through the school he built in Tulsa, Okla.

Roberts taught his followers a three-step process for success: Recognize God as the source of your total supply. Plant a seed of faith. And expect a miracle.

“Anytime you give, think of it as Seed-Faith. Then a wonderful new attitude will possess you. No longer will you think of your giving as a debt you owe, but rather as a seed you sow,” Roberts wrote in How to Live a Successful Christian Life. “It will put joy in your giving and help you shift your mind into expecting to receive a miracle harvest from a good God.”

Prosperity gospel preachers who have inherited Roberts’ mantle often urge followers to “plant a seed of faith” by giving to their ministries, quoting the words of Jesus recorded in Luke’s Gospel: “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

The most crass and manipulative TV evangelists present a simple formula, saying God will multiply and return to the giver whatever amount is given to a particular ministry. Leonard equates this to playing “a spiritual lottery.”

“It is an understanding of faith that says if we do certain things, God will deliver for us,” he said, comparing it to the medieval church’s practice of selling indulgences.

Christians whose faith rests on the shaky foundation of promised material prosperity may become disillusioned and bitter when reality doesn’t match the promise, Leonard observed. “The landscape is littered with people who gave money and got nothing, ”he said.

Preachers who promise material blessings have “a built-in escape clause in the contract” because they can always say a giver lacked sufficient faith,” Leonard noted. “But a lot of people don’t read the small print.” 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: 10/16/06

Strategy for lowering credit card debt

By Mike Harris

The number one rule to reduce debt is “keep hope alive.” One important way to do this is to deal with the sense of guilt involved with having debt in the first place. It’s important to note that many of God’s finest people struggle with debt. According to The Dallas Morning News, the average student loan debt for a new pastor coming from seminary in 2001 was $25,018. If you have debt, you have a lot of company. We often start behind, and it is hard to catch up, especially for those in ministry. You have to be brave to even start addressing this issue.

A second way to keep hope alive is to tally all your debts. List the company’s name, balance, interest rate and monthly payment. Circle the lowest balance. Make it your first victim. Pay the other accounts their minimums and put all extra debt reduction efforts into paying off this account. When it is paid off, use this extra amount towards your next lowest balance. Within a matter of months you will reduce the number of bills.

Third, cut expenses. Drink water instead of tea. Eliminate unused or unnecessary services, such as premium cable or expensive cellular phone plans. Reducing expenses is easier than earning more income because new income is subject to both Social Security and income taxes. Consider: a person in the 15% income tax bracket must actually earn $12.27 extra to have $10 to use against debt because of taxes. Because of the unique tax status ministers face, they must make $12.80 extra to have that same $10 to attack the debt.

Finally, continue your generous giving to God’s kingdom. When we are under pressure, we need God’s blessings even more. Could there be a worst place to cut back than on our commitment to the God whose blessings we need so badly?

Mike Harris is an area director and a Certified Financial Planner at GuideStone Financial Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention

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: 10/16/06

How to cope with high energy costs

By Roy Hayhurst

The arrival of your monthly electric bill can be a tough experience as energy prices continue to rise around the country. Instead of complaining about the rising costs of energy at your home, church or school, there are simple steps you can take to mitigate these escalating expenses. Among the steps:

Turn off the lights. According to the Energy Department, “only about 10%–15% of the electricity that incandescent lights consume results in light — the rest is turned into heat.” That means if you have incandescent lights, turn them off anytime they are not in use — not only will it save electricity costs, but it will help keep a room cooler.

Consider replacing your incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent lights. Compact fluorescent bulbs are more expensive — costing 10–20 times more than incandescent bulbs — but last 10–15 times longer. They also produce the same light as incandescent bulbs that need 3–4 times the wattage and most fit in your existing light fixtures with little or no modification.

Heating and cooling account for 56% of the energy use in a typical home. Bumping that thermostat a couple of degrees higher in summer, or a few degrees cooler in winter can bring significant savings.

Look for cracks or areas where your air conditioning or heating is escaping into the outside — forcing your air conditioner or heater to work harder and consuming more energy. Simple (and relatively inexpensive) weather stripping from your neighborhood hardware store can help keep your home’s air conditioner unit from working too hard.

When it comes time to replace home appliances, look for an EnergyGuide Label (required by the Federal Trade Commission on most home appliances, except ranges and ovens), which provides an estimate of the product’s energy consumption or efficiency. Another program, the ENERGY STAR label appears on appliances and home electronics that meet strict efficiency standards set forth by the federal government.

Simple steps can help you reduce your energy bills and cope with rising costs, saving you some pain in your wallet and aggravation all year long.

Roy Hayhurst is a communications development leader for GuideStone Financial Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention.

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: 10/16/06

Are 401(k) & 403(b) Roth
contributions right for you?

By Sherre Stepehens

Starting this year, your employer may add a 401(k) or 403(b) Roth contribution to its retirement plan, but is this option right for you? It depends. Consider the following key points.

Eligibility. Roth IRAs are not available to higher income taxpayers; however, income limitations do not apply to 401(k) or 403(b) Roth contributions. If you are eligible to make elective deferrals, you are eligible to make Roth contributions.

Taxes. Which is more valuable to you, paying taxes now or later? If you are in a very low tax bracket now and expect to be in a higher tax bracket in the future, or you have many years ahead to contribute and accumulate earnings, a 401(k) or 403(b) Roth contribution may be beneficial. Decades of compounding earnings can result in significant accumulations and tax-free distributions can provide more purchasing power during retirement years.

Contribution limits. The contribution limits for 401(k) or 403(b) Roth contributions are substantially higher than Roth IRA limits. For 2006, the Roth IRA limit is $4,000 ($5,000 if age 50 or older). The 401(k) or 403(b) Roth contribution limit is the same as for elective deferrals (for 2006, $15,000 or $20,000 if age 50 or older). The $15,000/$20,000 limit applies to the sum of all elective deferrals and 401(k) or 403(b) Roth contributions.

Rollovers. You can roll a 401(k) or 403(b) Roth account balance to a Roth IRA, but distributions from a Roth IRA cannot be rolled into your retirement plan. Recently, the IRS issued proposed regulations that would allow you to roll over a 401(k) Roth account balance to another qualified plan. Only a direct rollover is available if you want to move 100% of the 401(k) Roth account balance. If you prefer to consolidate retirement assets with one provider, keep in mind the current limitation and watch for finalization of the proposed rollover regulations.

Impact on Social Security benefits. Tax-free distributions from your 401(k) or 403(b) Roth account do not impact the taxability of Social Security benefits.

Still uncertain? Perhaps a blend of elective deferrals and 401(k) or 403(b) Roth contributions would be a practical approach. Talk with your tax or financial advisor about what’s right for you.

Last, be aware that 401(k) or 403(b) Roth contributions are scheduled to go away at the end of 2010 unless Congress takes action to extend the time limit or make them permanent.

Sherre Stephens is a certified employee benefits specialist and director of executive and institutional benefit design for GuideStone Financial Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention.

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: 10/16/06

How to opt in to medicare coverage

By Sherre Stephens

Those who opt out of Social Security coverage often reconsider this decision later in life due to the lack of Medicare coverage. Under current rules, here is a summary of how to opt into Medicare coverage at age 65.

Eligibility for Medicare Part A (hospital insurance)

There is no premium if you or your spouse has 40 or more quarters of coverage, age 65, and a citizen or lawfully permanent resident of the United States. However, if you have insufficient quarter of coverage, you can buy Medicare Part A coverage as follows:

With 30-39 quarters of coverage, the monthly premium is $216.

With less than 30 quarters of coverage, the 2006 monthly premium is $393.

Summary of Part A coverage

Part A covers medically necessary hospital stays; skilled nursing home facility care (after a related three day inpatient hospital stay); reasonable and necessary home health care, including medical social services, durable medical equipment, medical supplies and other specified services; hospice care; and pints of blood needed during a covered stay in a hospital or skilled nursing facility.

Eligibility for Medicare Part B (medical insurance)

Premium-free Part A covered individuals are automatically eligible for Part B. However, if you are not automatically eligible for Part A coverage, you can buy Part B coverage once you attain age 65 and you are a citizen or lawfully permanent resident of the United States. If you fail to buy coverage when first eligible, your monthly premium will increase 10% for each 12 month period you delay enrollment. This penalty applies as long as you have Part B coverage. Certain special exceptions apply. For 2006, the monthly premium for Part B coverage is $88.50. An annual Part B deductible applies before Medicare begins to pay its share. The 2006 deductible is $124.

Summary of Part B coverage

Part B medical insurance helps pay for doctors’ services; outpatient care; and many medical expenses incurred when you are not in the hospital, such as the costs of necessary medical equipment, tests, and services provided by clinics and laboratories.

Certain special coverage exceptions exist for Parts A and B. Medicare deductible and premium rates may change every year in January. Log onto www.medicare.gov/publications/pubs/pdf/10050.pdf for more details.

Sherre Stephens is a certified employee benefits specialist and director of executive and institutional benefit design for GuideStone Financial Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention.

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: 10/16/06

CYBER COLUMN:
The church

By John Duncan

I’m sitting here under the old oak tree, reflecting on the church. A picture of a church building hangs on the wall in my office. The white wooden church reminds me of the simplicity of the past, the joy of the present, the hope of the future and God’s own peculiar people.

The church is the ecclesia, Greek for the people “called out,” or a Roman way of saying that the church is an association of people and obligations and reciprocal, circular response of love to the cross and to Jesus and to each other. The church is the bride of Christ, people making preparations for the walk down the aisle and the cake and the flowers and the celebratory joy of a white wedding dress and birdseed scattered in a euphoric moment of hysteria. The church is a fellowship of the spirit, koinonia, which means that the church is a place where people share, care and bear one another’s burdens.

The church is a kingdom of priests, which means the church is a free-spirit kind of place and a free-thinking kind of place, where people can pray, discuss, interpret the Bible on their own, and believe in Jesus with purpose and passion. The church is the body of Christ, which, of course, means every little hangnail and stumped toe and elbow and heart and capillary and eyeball in the church is important, because the church cost Jesus an arm and a leg on the cross, and he is the head, but by God’s grace, it all fits together like puzzles put together on fold-out tables. I have found that Jesus’ body, the church, is not always healthy and does not always look the greatest and sometimes it feels bad about itself, and other times it shines like a guy with a good tan but, regardless, it is still the part and parts that Jesus works with and loves and uses for his glory and weeps over and laughs over and even smiles, and angels rejoice when one lost sinner enters the fold. The church, after all, is quite an organism and a place and a people and God’s very own.

I have been in large and small churches, witnessed Christ’s body running and limping and have seen the church on glowing days of good report and sad days of deep depression, and yet still the church is God’s very own. St. Peter calls the church God’s peculiar people. I find myself emphasizing “peculiar.”

I am back to that picture on the wall. The church served as my first pastorate. Twelve people attended very Sunday, and 28 came one Sunday when the Boy Scouts showed up on a weekend campout. I was in high cotton on that Sunday. Everybody loves a good report. There were the Taylors and the Campbells and the Parks, especially Emma, who played the piano every dear old Sunday while I led the singing. She loved to play Make Me a Channel of Blessing. She was a blessing along with the other folk who gathered on Sunday and made up that rural church near the Colorado River in Central Texas.

We had no air conditioning in that church, but the open windows with screens sufficed. I almost blew the church up one winter Sunday when it was about 23 degrees Fahrenheit and the ice-cold wind whistled through that rickety wooden building. I knelt on my knees, found where to turn on the gas, turned the knob, lazily struck a match and POOF! In one anxious moment, I singed my eyebrows, felt the pulse of my heart in my throat and gut and everywhere else and praised the Lord for life and breath and learned a lesson never forgotten: Do not delay (when lighting a gas stove)! I grew up and the city, and a thermostat on the wall suddenly made much better sense to me than a gas stove. That moment gave me a rush like space shuttle astronauts must get when NASA’s mission control fires rocket boosters ready for lift off!

I guess you could say this city boy learned so much in that church. I learned the difference between sheep and goats because one day Merle Taylor was weaning baby goats and, looking for a dignified thing to say, I said, “Mr. Taylor, I like you’re sheep.” He chuckled and said, “Preacher, them’s goats.” I learned that sometimes the dignified thing is to say nothing at all, because it’s better to leave your foolishness in your heart than to spill it through your lips. I learned that goats can look like sheep. I learned that weaning can be a painful process.

I learned about people: Emma Parks made the best pecan pie, and the Taylors were peanut farmers, and harvest season was important, and the land was important to God, and that not everybody agreed on everything even with only 12 people, and not to take everything personal, because peculiar people say stuff and, well, attend church as God’s peculiar people and that we’re all peculiar, and church people want to know the prayer list, and then, like now, we prayed for people with cancer and the lost and missions and the church and grandkids and the harvest and God’s work and broken legs, broken water pipes and broken hearts. I learned about life, because Merle Taylor once said this about farming, “Sometimes you sit here on the porch after the seeds have been planted and watch the crops grow, and sometimes they grow, and sometimes there is no rain or the grasshoppers ruin the crop, and sometimes it is a bumper crop, and sometimes it’s bust. All you can do is learn to trust the Lord.” I learned in church and at church you have to learn to trust the Lord.

I learned that people are peculiar and that prayer works and Jesus saves and pecan pie breaks down barriers at kitchen tables and that when you love Jesus and Jesus loves you and people love each other, that God’s peculiar people become, well, as peculiar as your family history or the cast of characters that show up at your family reunion or about as peculiar as the relatives you did not know you had who show up at a church hosted meal after a funeral for a relative. Oh the stories! Oh the people! Oh the memories! God loves his peculiar people.

That church on the wall has concrete cinder blocks that hold it up. Christ holds it up, too. An outhouse stands nearby. A green-metal roof covers the church. Rain pounded that roof. I can hear the creaking of boards, smell the wooden benches, see the hand-made pulpit, and step away from the gas stove as I picture the church in my mind. I look out the screened window and see trees, the cows swishing their tails, rows of peanuts, a harvesting tractor, and bluebonnets painted on a canvas of green cascading up the rolling hills. I can see people listening, hear one snoring out loud, hear the buzzing of bees while I preached in the spring, see the black dog that walked the aisle one Sunday, and feel the POOF of fire electrifying my eyebrows. I figure, we’re all peculiar people, a people after God’s own heart, the people whom God loves.

I love the church. It has been 20, almost 25, years since I pastored that white-wooden church with an outhouse and buzzing bees and gas fire in the winter and peanut farmers and those wonderful, peculiar people. Then, as now, I am still taking Merle Taylor’s advice, planting seeds, watching the harvest and learning to trust the Lord. I thank the Lord for his peculiar people, there and here and everywhere. I am reflecting, remembering, and sure wishing for a piece of Emma’s pecan pie!

John Duncan is pastor of Lakeside Baptist Church in Granbury, Texas, and the writer of numerous articles in various journals and magazines. You can respond to his column by e-mailing him at jduncan@lakesidebc.org.

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

Posted: 10/13/06

RIGHT or WRONG?
Church-state separation

I’ve heard that if the First Amendment were up for a vote, it would not pass and many Baptists would lead the charge against it. But my understanding is that separation of church and state—which the First Amendment protects—is a traditional Baptist tenet. So, how can we re-establish Baptist support for church-state separation?

Why would any Baptist want to overturn the First Amendment? I cannot imagine any Baptist inviting government oversight of our preaching and worship services, so I don’t believe any would want to discard the Free Exercise Clause, which denies Congress the power to “prohibit the free exercise” of religion. Some, however, want to at least modify the Establishment Clause, which prohibits Congress from establishing religion as a state project. Why? Clearly some Baptists want to use the power of the state to reassert a religious influence in our land in hope that such an influence would stem the tide of what they consider to be the serious moral decline of our culture.

Concern for such moral decline is well founded. The question, though, is whether such a strategy for moral transformation is either appropriate or effective. Until recently, the dominant Baptist answer to this has been a resounding “No!” Any reassertion of this traditional Baptist outlook will come through courageous pastors and adult Sunday school leaders who will have to counter powerful voices that have influenced many Christians through various media channels.

What resources might leaders in Baptist churches employ? One resource is better acquaintance with Baptist history regarding the origins of the First Amendment. The influence of early Baptists in America, such as Roger Williams, Isaac Backus and John Leland, should be noted. An invaluable resource in this regard is William R. Estep’s Revolution within the Revolution. Estep explains the First Amendment is “basic to all else that follows in the Bill of Rights.” He further shows that “at every point in the struggle for religious freedom in the colonies, the Baptists led the way.” Leaders need to (re-)acquaint people in the pews with what is a central feature of our Baptist heritage.

A second resource often is overlooked—Baptist architecture. Baptist churches generally have a baptistry, not a baptismal font. This design feature reminds us we practice believer’s baptism out of the conviction that faith is not something someone else can do to you. Our use of the baptistry, in which candidates for baptism are called upon to make personal confession that Jesus Christ is Lord, expresses this most central Baptist conviction that no coercive power such as government can accomplish what Christians believe is the work of the Holy Spirit.

Ultimately, however, it must be our Baptist commitment to biblical teaching that shapes our vision and practice on how we can positively affect our world. What does Scripture have to say about how moral life is to be shaped in light of God’s will? Is it through law backed up by the coercive power of the state? That is what the pre-Christian Paul believed on his way to Damascus. Commitment to law backed by the threat of punishment drove him to persecute early followers of Jesus. How different was his strategy after his encounter with the resurrected Jesus! We must learn from the Apostle Paul the lesson that it is gospel, not law, the work of the Spirit, not the state, new life in Christ, not the instruments of the flesh, that will transform lives and our world.

Jeph Holloway, professor of religion

East Texas Baptist University, Marshall

Right or Wrong? is sponsored by the T.B. Maston Chair of Christian Ethics at Hardin-Simmons University’s Logsdon School of Theology. Send your questions about how to apply your faith to btillman@hsutx.edu. News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.

Posted: 5/19/03

TOGETHER:
Changed lives change lives of others

Intentional evangelism is one of the 11 characteristics of a healthy church. Jesus sent his disciples into the lost world announcing the Good News of the kingdom of God. When you are lost and have no idea of the way home, the very best news in all the Earth is when someone calls out, “Follow me, and I will take you home.”

We all love John 3:16, with its declaration that God loves us so much he wants to spend eternity with us. Have you also noticed the spirit of John 3:17? “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” The whole life of Jesus bears out that spirit. He lifted up every person who came to him. He welcomed all who approached. His condemnation rested upon those who, in their self-righteousness, felt they needed no repentance and counted themselves better than others. They built walls instead of bridges.

As I call you to consider the importance of evangelism in your local church, I have to also remind you of a specific warning from Jesus: “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are” (Matthew 23:15). This frightening warning is not to discourage us from bearing witness and inviting people to become disciples of Christ. It reminds us that we must help people come to Christ and enroll in his school of discipleship, not become clones of us.

As a pastor, I encouraged my church to practice “invitation evangelism.” Everyone can invite people to come to a place where God's people are gathering. If they come where there is prayer for the lost, a climate of genuine interest in people, welcome for the stranger and the good news of Jesus Christ presented in a credible and compelling way, God's Spirit can draw them to faith and new life. In my experience, the greatest instruments for bringing people to Christ are the lives of faithful church members who use every opportunity to invite acquaintances, friends and family to come and go with them. And as Rick Warren has said, “Changed lives are a church's greatest advertisement.”

Some of our churches are finding wonderful help in sharing the gospel by using FAITH. This plan for personal witnessing emphasizes the importance of Sunday School classes as groups of people who pray for others, invite others, go visit others, seek to help them come to faith in Christ and incorporate them into the life of small groups, as well as the church. Some churches are finding success in a plan called G.R.O.W. Others see multitudes come to faith through special events, including revival meetings.

It's one thing, of course, to say we believe in evangelism. Calvin Miller once noted about Baptists, “Even those who never do it must pay some lip service just to keep their self-respect.” But I want to encourage all of us to be thoughtful, prayerful and intentional about evangelism. The BGCT Center for Strategic Evangelism, led by Rick Davis, wants to partner with your church for intentional evangelism strategies and resources. Their resources can be easily found by calling toll free at (888) 269-3826.

We are loved.

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.