Posted: 10/13/06

Association links UMHB
students to real-world ministry

By Jennifer Sicking

University of Mary Hardin-Baylor

BELTON—Twice a week, two University of Mary Hardin-Baylor counseling students put what they have learned in classrooms into practice in real-world situations as volunteer interns at Churches Touching Lives for Christ—a faith-based social services agency in Temple.

At the agency, the interns provide formal and informal counseling, said Ty Leonard, UMHB Community Life Center director. Formal counseling involves two people sitting in a room sitting together talking, and the informal involves the intern being a listening, caring presence among the agency’s clients.

“They’re making emotional connections out there with some people who sometimes don’t get that caring gesture,” Leonard said.

Bell Baptist Association made the connection possible by bringing together the agency and the university. The association also has approached the counseling center to provide services to all its churches—a project remains in the beginning stages, with a meeting planned soon to assess needs of churches.

“We will have a frank discussion of how we can coordinate our services and what we can do,” he said. “Some of what they can do could involve classes on parenting, school issues and grief.”

Both avenues of outreach—to the community and the churches—meet the community life center criteria.

“We are seeking to give back to the community. The community has always been supportive of UMHB and the center,” Leonard said. “By working with the Bell Baptist Association, we get a strong sense of what the community actually needs. The pastors and the churches are the front line.”

The opportunities also provide the students with a richer counseling experience, he added.

“It gives our students a true flavor of what it means to be a community counselor,” he said.

For Tom Henderson, director missions in Bell Baptist Association and adjunct professor at UMHB, Christianity in the real world is what both the university and association try to accomplish. It’s a relationship that goes both ways, providing education, training and opportunities.

Students gain practical experience in churches and local ministries. University professors provide training seminars and workshops for pastors and laity. Past seminar topics have included preaching and how to minister to the grieving, with an ethics and integrity seminar planned for February.

“There’s a synergy image of two working together can do more than apart,” Henderson said. “We provide students the opportunity and background to accomplish a common goal—expand the kingdom of God.”

Bill Muske, UMHB director of church relations, agrees.

“Both the university and the association should see themselves as only components to the larger picture. Both should have a kingdom approach rather than each being an end unto itself,” he said. “Our ultimate goal is to advance the kingdom of God in our Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. By working together, we can draw upon the resources of each other and strengthen the work of both.”

Each brings different valuable tools to the table to further that goal, working “hand in glove,” Henderson said. The university provides education, training and equipping for ministry, and the association offers students opportunities to live out Christianity in the world.

“We desire to produce and provide qualified individuals to fill ministry positions where needed,” Muske added. “We also desire to help those currently serving to improve themselves in areas of ministry.”

Posted: 10/12/06

BaptistWay Bible Series for October 22

God’s goodness is worthy of praise

• Psalms 100, 103

By David Wilkinson

Broadway Baptist Church, Fort Worth

Whenever I’m the husband I ought to be, I praise my wife. Out of a heart of gratitude, I give thanks for who Melanie is and for what she does. These twin expressions of her unique personhood are inseparably intertwined. I love her for what she does. And I love her for who she is.

In a similar way, when we gather for worship, we offer our praise to God, giving thanks for who God is and for all God does. Psalms 100 and 103 are liturgical psalms—songs of gratitude and praise—that give voice to our worship. When we read them and repeat them, meditate on them and sing them, we join the mighty chorus of God’s people who have gone before us in worship.

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Psalm 100

Psalm 100 has been among the church’s most popular psalms, often used as a morning prayer in monastic communities and as a call to worship in the church. It was written and used as a joyful processional song recited by worshippers as they moved through the gates and into the courts of the temple to enter into God’s presence. In four poetic lines of three measures each, worshippers offer their praise and thanksgiving to God. The heading or superscription—“A Psalm of Thanksgiving”—suggests the psalm was intended for the todah, a Hebrew word that incorporates both a thank offering or sacrifice and an act of praise. In worship, the two are closely related.

Through its litany of verbs, Psalm 100 reminds us that worship is both an attitude and an act. It calls us to enter, worship, praise, sing, thank and bless (vv. 1, 2 and 4). Worship involves purposeful intent; it is something we do.

Worship also is a reminder of who God is, who we are and who we are in relationship to God. The worshippers in procession proclaim that “the Lord is God” (v. 3), an allusion to God’s gift of God’s name to Moses (Exodus 3:14-15), often rendered, “I Am Who I Am.” Both “I Am Who I Am” and its related form, Yahweh, are derived from the Hebrew verb “to be.”

In worship, we acknowledge or confess that the Lord (Yahweh) is God, the one God who is creator of all and sovereign Lord over all. God made us, and we belong to God (v. 3). An alternate reading of this second measure of line 2 (v. 3)—“It is he that made us and not we ourselves” (NRSV)—suggests that the emphasis in both measures is on who God is. The attitude of worship is grounded in the humble confession that God is the Creator, and we are God’s creation.

Finally, the third measure of line 2 affirms our relationship to God. We know to whom we belong: We are God’s people; we are sheep tended, guided and protected by the Great Shepherd (v. 3).

The psalm ends (v. 5) with praise for the qualities of God’s divine nature that are repeated time after time in the Hebrew Scriptures: God’s eternal goodness, steadfast love (hesed) and faithfulness (‘emunah). We come to God in worship with the confident assurance that God’s goodness, mercy and love will never end; they will “endure forever … to all generations.” Worship always invites God’s people to “taste and see that the Lord is good!” (Psalm 34:8).

Psalm 103

This praise for a God whose steadfast mercy and love are never ending is repeated and expanded in Psalm 103, another of the most beloved hymns of worship. In many ways, Psalm 103 is like a hymn based clearly on a worship text and sermon, picking up and elaborating on their theological themes.

The psalm also expands on the theme of praise grounded in the character of God and our relationship to God. Like Psalm 100, this psalm resounds with praise for a God who acts. Again, the verbs trumpet God’s actions in salvation history (“He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel,” v. 7) and lead the worshippers to sing their praise.

In worship, we celebrate with gratitude all God has done and continues to do. We praise the God who forgives, heals, redeems, crowns, satisfies, and works vindication and justice (vv. 3-6).

The flip side of God’s character, the psalmist declares, is seen in what God out of mercy and love chooses not to do—namely, to “deal with us according to our sins” and “repay us according to our iniquities” (v. 10). Instead, like a father who loves his children, God has compassion on the children he has created (v. 13), offering immeasurable mercy, love and forgiveness (vv. 11-12).

Like Psalm 100, the praise of Psalm 103 also emerges from the relationship between Creator and creation—a relationship made possible only out of God’s everlasting love and mercy. Worship is a covenant act by a covenant people that leads us from the sanctuary into the world to live as God’s children in obedience to God’s commandments (vv. 17-18).

Finally, the praise of worship is both private and public and personal and corporate in nature. It is a spiritual act that wells up from the soul (vv. 1 and 22 that serve like bookends for the psalm). Yet the soul’s praise always is echoed in the worship of the community as seen in the psalmist’s repeated use of the inclusive word “all” (five times in the first six verses and four times in the last four).

So, we sing: “Now thank we all our God, With heart and hands and voices, Who wondrous things hath done, In whom his world rejoices.”

Discussion questions

• Identify (from memory or by scanning a hymnal) hymns that celebrate both who God is and what God does. In what other ways do these hymns reflect the themes of Psalms 100 and 103?

• In what ways is our praise lived (Psalm 103:20-21) as well as spoken and sung?

Posted: 10/12/06

Bible Studies for Life Series for October 22

We are most useful when firmly in his hands

• 2 Timothy 2:14-26

By Kenneth Lyle

Logsdon School of Theology, Abilene

Whenever the subject of usefulness comes up, I remember Jesus’ parable of the lost coin. The familiar story tells of a woman who has lost one-tenth of her income. She searches diligently for the lost coin, and when she finds it, she invites friends and family to come and celebrate—to celebrate a found coin, a renewed resource.

The coin represents something of value. The lost coin still has value, but it has lost its usefulness. No greater truth exists than God’s love for us. To God, we are incredibly valuable, yet many in church today have lost their usefulness. This lesson bids all Christians to “take hold of usefulness.”

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When we maintain genuine Pauline authorship of the pastorals, 2 Timothy represents the Apostle Paul’s last known letter. Paul pens this letter at a time near the end of his life. In addition to its inclusion in the pastoral epistles, 2 Timothy also represents a prison epistle. Paul faces his final incarceration and impending death, and he betrays a somber mood in parts of the letter.

The final verses of the letter (4:9-22) reflect an interesting combination of optimism blended with irritation. Paul looks forward to a hoped for visit from Timothy, and the return of his cloak and some treasured books (4:9-13). By contrast, Paul writes harsh words about some individuals who have done him great harm (4:14-15).

The overall feel of the letter suggests a hopeful resignation on Paul’s part to his earthly fate but an overwhelming confidence in God’s provision and care for both Paul personally and for the church.

Paul begins 2 Timothy with the expected salutation and greeting. The address follows the typical format of sender to recipient: “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus … To Timothy, my dear son” (1:1-2); however, Paul modifies slightly his anticipated greeting and wish for grace and peace to include the element of mercy “… from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord” (1:2).

The letter continues with a thanksgiving section where Paul presents himself as an example to Timothy. Paul provides personal details about his own situation, and he reminds Timothy of the Christian tradition in which they both stand (1:13-14).

The focal passage, 2:14-26, comes in the midst of Paul’s parenesis or exhortation to Timothy which continues to 4:8. Some scholars suggest this section of 2 Timothy bears the marks of a testament—a last word near the end of Paul’s life and ministry from the older Paul to the younger Timothy.

In this section, Paul takes up several of the themes we find in First Timothy—strength, endurance, hard work and struggle. Paul’s initial admonition to “… be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus” (v. 1), echoes Paul’s assertion “… Christ Jesus our Lord … has given me strength …” (1 Timothy 1:12). Paul encourages Timothy to pass on correct teaching, and to endure hardship (vv. 2-3).

Paul employs the familiar metaphors of soldier, athlete and farmer to encourage Timothy to endure and to work hard (vv. 4-7). Finally, just prior to the focal passage, Paul reminds Timothy of the gospel for which he is “… suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal” (v. 9). Paul’s citation of a “trustworthy saying” emphasizes the importance of dying, living, and enduring with Christ (vv. 10-13).

The exhortation continues in the focal passages where Paul distinguishes between two types of workers—those approved by God and those not approved by God. The key difference between approved workers and ashamed workers centers on how these workers “handle the word of truth” (v. 15).

Paul again warns Timothy about “godless chatter” and incorrect teaching, here putting a face on the opposition by naming Hymenaeus and Philetus (vv. 16-18). These two “false teachers” lead people astray and “destroy the faith of some” (v. 18). The personal contrast with Timothy could not be clearer: While Timothy continues to take hold of usefulness, the teaching of these “who have wandered away from the truth” takes hold of individuals like gangrene takes hold of an injured leg (v. 17).

After distinguishing between two types of workers, Paul continues his exhortation to Timothy by distinguishing two types of vessels—“some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble” (v. 20). Paul draws on imagery from the household, where some items are intended for open, public and noble purposes, while other items are intended for private and more base purposes.

Imagine your own house where there are certainly things that you proudly display and use openly—furniture, appliances and other furnishings; however, no doubt there are other items that you keep hidden—mops, buckets, cleaning supplies. To put it bluntly, Paul contrasts the usefulness of living room furniture with the usefulness of an outhouse seat. Paul admonishes Timothy to cultivate a usefulness that reflects instruments of noble purpose.

Paul completes his triad of contrasts by distinguishing between the wise and the foolish. Paul once again depicts the Christian life as one of pursuit: “Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace” (v. 22). Paul describes the foolish life in no uncertain terms and exhorts Timothy to avoid “… foolish and stupid arguments” (v. 23). In contrast, Timothy must “be kind to everyone, able to teach, and not resentful” instructing those who oppose him “in the hope that God will grant them repentance, leading them to a knowledge of the truth” (v. 25). Timothy must take hold of usefulness by choosing wisdom over foolishness.

As Christians, we have value to God, but we must choose to take hold of usefulness. We need to be workers who are approved, not ashamed. We need to be vessels that are noble, not ignoble. We need to be people who pursue wisdom not foolishness. We can be a valuable but useless resource like a lost coin sitting in the dark, dusty corner of life, or we can choose to be a valuable and useful resource worthy of celebration.

Discussion questions

• If you were writing a letter to your child or someone younger that you have a close relationship with, what advice would you give them?

• Paul wrote these words to Timothy. Do they still hold value for the people who read them today? What can be learned from them? What will you try to put into play this week?

Posted: 10/12/06

Explore the Bible Series for October 22

Christ provides our access to the Father

• Hebrews 8:1-2, 6-10; 9:22-28

By Howard Anderson

Diversified Spiritual Associates, San Antonio

As our High Priest, Jesus is the link between God and us. As High Priest, he holds us. Our safety does not depend on our grip, but on his. The truth is, Christianity’s superiority over all other religions is based on Jesus’ superior ministry, covenant and sacrifice.

Superior ministry (Hebrews 8:1-6)

Jesus Christ is our High Priest and was exalted at God’s right hand. Christ is the minister of realities of which the law was a shadow. He is the mediator of the new covenant and the only and true sacrifice. Christ is the source of all blessings: mercy, remission of sins, good things to come, eternal redemption, eternal inheritance, victory over our enemies, sanctification, perfection, forgetting of sins and access to God.

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Jesus Christ is the public servant who carries on the business of the whole human race with God. We all have common rights in his work and service. He is the minister of the heavenly things pertaining to our redemption and destiny.

Jesus Christ’s ministry is termed “more excellent.” Our High Priest is a present reality, a reality we need to grasp and know. Because Christ lives as our High Priest, we too have guaranteed access to God. In failure, we can claim the promised mercy. Under the daily pressures of our lives, we can claim the help of a Savior who knows our every need and who knows, as well, the path of victory. Jesus has a superior ministry.

Superior covenant (Hebrews 8:6-9:10)

The change in priesthood indicated a change in other elements of the Old Testament system. One was a change in covenant—a change in the nature of the promises God has made to us that define how he relates to us as his people.

The Old Testament promised that one day the old covenant of Mosaic Law would be replaced, because it was inadequate. The Hebrews’ yearning for the old ways was doubly unwise. The new covenant is better for us because in Jesus Christ we have a better High Priest.

God’s change in the system is a simple one. He takes the laws that express righteousness and puts them on the inner tablets of mind and heart, and not in external commandments. We must know what God’s righteous standards are and how to translate them into personal experience. The law can tell us what the standards are, but only a changed heart will enable us to live by those standards.

It is through the Holy Bible that we come to understand the will of God. It is here we find the principles that show us how to live a righteous life. The transformed heart will move us to righteousness by responding to God and his word. Professor Steve Lyons said, “A sermon lived is better than two sermons preached.” Our faith walk bears a better witness than our faith talk.

The Mosaic Law does deal with righteousness. The shadow it casts across the Old Testament showed that God, its giver, is righteous. The shadow shows us something of what righteous behavior is. The shadow shows us God really cares about seeing righteousness in us. The commandment law was only a shadow; it could not produce righteousness. It dealt with externals and did not touch the heart.

Then Jesus came, and his human personality was the full righteousness of commandment law expressed as living truth. In Jesus’ death and resurrection, he snatched us up and, calling us brothers and sisters, brought us into the divine family. In making us sons and daughters, God planted deep within us something of Jesus’ own personality. When Jesus entered our lives he brought righteousness with him. That which was expressed in external commands now is expressed in our hearts and minds. That very element of the old system that broke down (the human element) now has been changed.

The outer commandment law of the old has become an inner law through the new. Because of Jesus Christ, the door to God is always open, and so we always have hope. The doorkeepers, the Aaronic priests, are gone. Jesus has come, and he not only has thrown open the door, but he stands in it to welcome us personally when we turn to him (John 10:7, 9).

Superior sacrifice (Hebrews 9:11-28)

The superior sacrifice opens the way to God. Religion is access to God, and its function is to bring humankind into God’s presence. The function of all worship is to bring men and women into contact with the eternal realities. There can be no religion without sacrifice. Jesus Christ is the only High Priest who brings a sacrifice that can open the way to God and that sacrifice is himself.

The writer to the Hebrews tells of the sacrifice of bullocks and of goats on the Day of Atonement. The High Priest offered the bullock for his own sins and the scapegoat was led away to the wilderness bearing the sins of the people (Leviticus 16: 15, 21 and 22). He declares the sacrifice Jesus brings is far greater and far more effective.

This new tabernacle that brought humankind into the very presence of God was nothing else than the body of Jesus. The worship of the ancient tabernacle was designed to bring people into the presence of God. It could only do that in the most shadowy and imperfect way. The coming of Jesus really brought men and women into the presence of God, because in him, God entered this world of space and time in a human form, and to see Jesus is to see what God is like (John 14:9).

The superior sacrifice in Jesus cleanses our soul and takes the load of guilt from our conscience. The animal sacrifices of the old covenant could leave a person in estrangement from God; however, the sacrifice of Jesus shows us a God whose arms are always outstretched and in whose heart is only love.

The superior sacrifice of Jesus brought eternal redemption. The idea was that men and women were under the dominion of sin; and just as the purchase price had to be paid to free a person from slavery, so the purchase price had to be paid to free a man or woman from sin.

The superior sacrifice of Christ enabled humankind to leave the deeds of death and to become the servant of the living God. Jesus not only won forgiveness for humanity’s past sin, but also enabled them in the future to live a godly life. The superior sacrifice of Jesus was not only the paying of a debt—it was the giving of a victory. What Jesus did puts us right with God and what he does enables humankind to stay right with God.

The act of the cross brings to humanity the love of God in a way that takes our terror of him away. The presence of the living Christ brings to us the power of God so we can win a daily victory over sin.

The superior sacrifice of Jesus gains forgiveness for past sins. We should be punished for what we have done and shut out from God. Because of what Jesus did, the debt is wiped out, the breach is forgiven, the barrier is taken away.

The superior sacrifice of Jesus opens a new life for the future. It opens the way to fellowship with God. The God whom our sins had made a stranger, the sacrifice of Christ has made a friend. Because of what he did, the burden of the past is rolled away and life becomes life with God.

The work and superior sacrifice of Christ are supreme. Christ entered into no man-made Holy Place. He entered into the presence of God. We should think of Christianity not in terms of church membership but in terms of intimate fellowship with God. Christ entered into the presence of God not only for his own sake, but also for ours. It was to open the way for us and plead our cause.

The superior sacrifice of Christ never needs to be made again. Year after year, the ritual of the Day of Atonement had to go on and the things that blocked the road to God had to be atoned for. Through Christ’s superior sacrifice, the road to God is forever open.

Discussion questions

• Are you aware of the ministry of Christ on a daily basis? How can you go about becoming more aware of Christ’s ministry to you?

• What purpose does the Old Testament serve today?

• What are you willing to do to make sure that Christ’s sacrifice is brought to the awareness of others?

Posted: 10/11/06

Justices decline to rehear abortion case

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)—The Supreme Court declined Oct. 10 to reconsider their 1973 decision in Doe v. Bolton, the lesser-known companion case to the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion in all 50 states.

The Doe v. Bolton decision, which the court handed down the same day as its more famous sibling, loosened legal restrictions of medical procedures used in abortions.

The justices declined, without comment or recorded dissent, to hear Cano v. Baker. Sandra Cano, whose case was filed under the name “Mary Roe” to protect the then-22-year-old’s identity, had asked for a reconsideration of the decision. Her lawyers requested the action under a federal court rule that allows such re-evaluation of past decisions if changing circumstances have rendered them obsolete or unjust.

Cano has reportedly said an activist attorney pressured her into becoming the plaintiff in the abortion case.

Legal papers her attorneys filed in the case said advances in medical technology since the 33-year-old decisions called for such reconsideration. They said the justices had “frozen abortion law based on obsolete 1973 assumptions and prevented the normal regulation of the practice of medicine.”

Apparently, the high court disagreed.

Last year, the court rejected a similar attempt to reconsider the Roe v. Wade decision. Norma McCorvey—on whose behalf that case was filed under the pseudonym “Jane Roe”—had asked the justices to reconsider that case. In the years since the decision, McCorvey has embraced evangelical Christianity and now describes herself, according to her website, as “100 percent pro-life.”

On Nov. 8, the court is scheduled to hear a major case involving a federal ban on “partial-birth abortion.” In 2000, the court struck down a similar law banning such procedures in Nebraska.

But the court’s shifting make-up with regard to abortion rights since that decision leaves the federal law’s fate questionable. Earlier this year, Justice Samuel Alito succeeded retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. While O’Connor generally voted in support of abortion rights, most court observers expect Alito to be more suspicious of the constitutionality of those rights.

Posted: 10/10/06

Churches celebrate restoration after arson

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (ABP)—Eight months after arsonists destroyed several rural Baptist church buildings in Alabama, pastors and members from the victimized congregations joined to celebrate the churches’ restoration recently with government officials and leaders from the college where two of the three arsonists were students.

Alabama Gov. Bob Riley (R) and Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.), who themselves are both Baptists, attended the event, along with Birmingham-Southern College President David Pollick and Lemarse Washington of the National Conference for Community and Justice. The February fires damaged or destroyed nine Baptist churches, all located near each other in and around Alabama’s Bibb County. The fires made national headlines, calling to mind a string of suspicious fires at rural African-American churches across the South in the 1990s. However, many of the congregations in the February blazes had majority Anglo congregations.

The driving force behind the dinner was the Alabama Churches Rebuilding and Restoration Fund, established by Birmingham-Southern to distribute more than $368,000 to the churches affected by the fires.

A spokesperson for the Methodist school said the fund was created the same day Birmingham-Southern officials learned two of their students were charged with arson and conspiracy in connection to the fires. Pollick’s first response to the news, she said, was that the school should help rebuild the churches.

Benjamin Moseley and Russell Debusk, both 19, set the fires as a joke, according to authorities. They continued setting fires in order to divert attention from the first ones, they told police officers.

Bob Little, pastor of Galilee Baptist Church in Panola, Ala., said he harbors no ill will toward the young men. Little was born and reared in the congregation, whose building had stood more than 60 years before the fire. More than two hours south of Birmingham, Panola has a population of about 100 people.

Little’s church broke ground on a new building Sept. 30. Church members decided to build on a new plot of land in the middle of town and hope to be a pillar of the community there, he said.

“We don’t have any bitterness,” Little said. “All things work together for good for those who love the Lord. He’s going to work all things together for a purpose. Sometimes the acts of the world seem to be bad and bruising, but in this church, God can make them work together for good.”

More than 100 ATF personnel sorting through more than 800 leads worked on the case following the initial fires, which burned the morning of Feb. 3.

Fires completely destroyed Ashby Baptist Church in Brierfield, Rehobeth Baptist Church in Randolph, and Pleasant Sabine Baptist Church near Centreville. Old Union Baptist in Randolph and Antioch Baptist in Centreville had some damage. All of the churches except Pleasant Sabine belonged to the Southern Baptist Convention, the statewide Alabama Baptist Convention, and the local Bibb County Baptist Association.

Another string of fires Feb. 7 destroyed Little’s church and the Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church, near Boligee. Dancy Baptist Church near Aliceville and Spring Valley Baptist Church near Emelle suffered damage as well.

Jim Parker, pastor of Ashby Baptist, said in a National Public Radio interview that despite the destruction, his church plans to rebuild. They have been using two trailers donated by Southern Baptists as a sanctuary and for classroom space.

Even with the trailer-sanctuary, Parker said he has reason to believe Ashby Baptist has good years ahead.

“The church is still intact, because the people are the church,” he said.

“I can’t speak for other churches, but I can interpret what the fire has done for us,” Parker said. “What this has done is answered all those questions (about whether to expand) for us. The Lord has made a way for us to do some things that we otherwise would have not been able to do.”

Ashby Baptist had building insurance, and all gifts to Ashby that exceed what the church needs will be funneled to other burned churches, Jones said. The other churches are in various stages of planning, rebuilding and possibly relocating.

The rebuilding fund includes $55,000 from a collaborative effort between the National Conference for Community and Justice, Birmingham-based AmSouth Bank, and WBRC-TV, the Birmingham FOX affiliate. It also received $33,000 from the Community Foundation of West Alabama, a group that works with donors to create charitable funds and match them to causes.

An anonymous couple from Jackson Hole, Wyo., contributed $150,000 to the rebuilding process. The fund also received unsolicited donations from individuals, corporations and foundations across the country.

Under the circumstances, Little said, events like the dinner and support from Birmingham-Southern have helped tremendously. In hindsight, he said, the fires have moved his church to “another level.”

“Everything is going well. The congregation is healing,” he said. “Overall, the church has seen God doing some awesome, miraculous things.”

Posted: 10/10/06

Carson-Newman College
president gets 'no confidence' vote

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. (ABP)—The faculty at Carson-Newman College reported Oct. 5 a vote of “no confidence” for President James Netherton.

Approved by a 129-71 margin, the vote was tangible evidence of growing and widespread dissatisfaction among faculty in the Netherton administration’s leadership. Two hundred of the school’s 260 faculty members voted in the hour-long meeting.

The resolution was e-mailed by the chair of the faculty council to all faculty members after the vote.

“Be it therefore resolved that we the faculty do hereby declare that we individually and as a whole have no confidence in President Netherton and respectfully request the Board of Trustees to act for the health, well-being, and future of the college,” the statement said.

Stephen Karr, faculty council chair, added in the email that “a clarification was made immediately prior to the vote which pointed out that we were voting on this resolution— a vote of no confidence—not voting to remove the president from his position.”

While the faculty can express no confidence in Netherton, they cannot remove Netherton from office. Trustees, who have the power to fire Netherton, will meet later this month.

Karr, a biology professor, also said in the letter it was his “sincere wish, hope, and prayer that the college community will come together in a spirit of cooperation and Christian love, working towards resolving the challenges before us.”

“I respectfully request that each and every member of our college family pledge to face these challenges in an open and constructive fashion,” he said.

Trustee Chairman C. T. Cozart also issued a statement about the vote, saying the board “respects the opinion and perspective of the faculty and will be attentive to this expression in future deliberations.”

“All of us recognize and acknowledge there are concerns that need to be addressed, and we will do so in a constructive fashion, working with the trustees, administration, faculty, staff, alumni and other friends of the college,” he said.

Hired at Carson-Newman in 2000, Netherton worked previously as provost at Samford University in Birmingham, Ala. He followed Cordell Maddox, who had been president at Carson-Newman for 22 years. Before that, he served as provost at Samford University (1996-2000) and as senior vice-president and chief operating officer at Baylor University (1981-96).

Posted: 10/06/06

CYBER COLUMN:
Sitting in someone else’s chair

By Brett Younger

How do you react when you come to the kitchen table and someone is in your place? What happens when you walk into your office and find someone sitting in your chair? The way we respond says something about us. Some choose not to make a big deal out of it. We sit in another chair and try not to think about it, but all the while we feel strange sitting in someone else’s chair. Others respond more directly. We have no intention of giving up our place. We immediately say, “You’re in my chair. You need to move.” There must be a third category of people who are not only willing, but eager to sit in a different place and see from a different perspective, but the third group has to be the smallest.

Most of the time we have no desire to sit where others sit. We don’t want to know the people who sit elsewhere and think differently, because we like believing that our ideas are the best ideas. We divide the world into us and them. Like the Hatfields and McCoys, the Montagues and Capulets, we rarely question the lines—liberals and conservatives, educated and underprivileged, old and young, insiders and outsiders.

Doesn’t it feel awkward to walk into a home or a room or a church where everyone is something you’re not—a different race or the other gender or younger than you are? Do you unconsciously look for someone like you? We’re tempted to spend our lives looking for people like us. We too quickly become uncomfortable around people who aren’t like us.

If you said, “I think I met someone today who’s going to be a good friend,” would the people who know you best be able to guess how old your prospective friend is? Just by hearing that you’ve made a new friend, could we estimate how much money they make, how much education they have, or what religious beliefs they hold?

Self-centeredness is easier than compassion. Some rich people talk about the poor in a way that makes it obvious that they’ve never thought about what it’s like not to have a home. Some white people talk about people of color in a way that makes it clear that they’ve never imagined what it’s like to be a victim of prejudice. Some straight people talk about gay people in a way that leaves no doubt that they’ve never considered what it’s like to be gay. We have an obligation to keep asking what it’s like to be the other person.

This summer I was a counselor at children’s camp. Some of the adults at camp have so much trouble putting themselves in a child’s place that they cling to other adults. You know how if you’re in England and see someone wearing a Baylor T-shirt you feel compelled to introduce yourself, “Hi, I’m from Texas, too.” At children’s camp, it’s the same feeling, “Hi, I’m an adult, too.” After three days, I was begging adults to talk to me about anything that isn’t Harry Potter.

Except there are moments when God does help us understand. A sad little boy I didn’t know was walking back from the swimming pool by himself. I asked, “What church are you from?”

“I came with somebody else’s church.”

“Oh, so you had a buddy from that church.”

“Well, I thought I did.”

Do you remember what that feels like? What it’s like to be a child who left out?

It’s amazing what happens when we ask what it’s like to be someone else. What’s it like to be your child, your parent or your pastor? What’s it like to be a Republican or a Democrat? What’s it like to be Lebanese or Israeli? What’s it like to be Hispanic or Russian, to be 14 or 84, to be a mother with no food in the house or a widow whose husband of 50 years just died? What’s it like to be your neighbor or your enemy?

When I was in junior high school in Mississippi, a friend who was black told me that he didn’t like it when our school band played Dixie. I remember thinking, “I thought everyone loved Dixie.” He had to explain the good reasons he had for not liking Dixie. I had to think about whether I should like Dixie.

Counselors often encourage married couples to argue from the other side. When it’s done honestly, they understand in new ways.

Don’t you enjoy it when judges sentence slum lords to spend a month in their own apartment buildings? They must learn something.

It seems likely that if our parents had been Muslims we would have different ideas. Some of what we claim to believe now wouldn’t make as much sense.

It’s when we see from the other side that we learn. If we could trade places for just a day, imagine what we might discover—students and teachers, 70-year-olds and 7-year-olds, thin people and the more normally proportioned, married and single, parents and adults without children, natives and immigrants, church people and those who would rather be anywhere else, those who have been abused and those who have abused.

When we put ourselves in another’s place, we lose our sense of superiority and begin to feel compassion. It’s when your daughter says that she’s getting a divorce that you learn not to make sweeping judgments. You start to see more clearly. It’s when your best friend gets laid off that you stop seeing the unemployed as a statistic. You start to see faces instead of numbers. It’s when your brother admits that he’s an alcoholic that you stop calling alcoholics weak. You start to love.

Carlyle Marney said, “No drowning people are ever rescued from the dock.” No one is helped by people who sit in the same chair all of their lives. Sitting in someone else’s chair isn’t easy. We may sit in a chair in a hospital holding an arthritic hand. We may sit in a chair at a kitchen table sharing a cup of sorrow. We may sit in front of a computer praying that God will help us love people we’ve never seen clearly enough to love.

Brett Younger is pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth and the author of Who Moved My Pulpit? A Hilarious Look at Ministerial Life, available from Smyth & Helwys (800) 747-3016. You can e-mail him at byounger@broadwaybc.org.