Posted: 9/29/06

Acton School a hot commodity
in business education

By George Henson

Staff Writer

AUSTIN—The Acton School of Business may be little-known among Texas Baptists, but Hardin-Simmons University’s Austin campus has become a hot commodity in the world of business education.

The Princeton Review rated students in the school’s entrepreneurship program the most competitive in the country and its faculty as the third best in the country each of its first two years.

Forbes Magazine described the program as “an MBA for the real world.”

Co-founder and Master Teacher Jeff Sandefer appreciates the accolades, but he believes what students discover about themselves sets the program apart.

“We want students who have the intelligence and drive to change the world and the integrity to change it for the better. If we can awaken in each student a sense of their God-given gifts and help them to use these gifts to make a difference, the Acton MBA in entrepreneurship will change the world, one student at a time,” he said.

When the school was founded in 2003, its first major step was earning accreditation. When it came time to find a university partner, a legacy made Hardin-Simmons University Sandefer’s first choice. His great-grandfather was president of the Abilene school from 1909 until 1940, and Jefferson Davis Sandefer’s example made an impact on the great-grandson.

“My great-grandfather found his calling as president of a small college and is buried on the campus he worked so hard to build,” Sandefer wrote for Acton’s website. “On one side of his tombstone, it says: ‘If you would see his monument, look around.’ This reminds me each of us wants to contribute something meaningful with our lives.

“On the other side of the tombstone is inscribed, ‘A good name is rather to be had than great riches.’ This reminds me that leading a good life is even more important than what you contribute.”

His understanding that the legacy a person leaves behind—not the amount of money he or she makes—is the indicator of success has made Acton a unique business school, faculty and staff agreed.

“We ask our students to find a calling in life and not just to find a job,” Acton Director Georgia Spaeth said.

To help students find that calling, the school employs its “Life of Meaning” course and personal counseling.

“Most folks who come back for an MBA are looking for a way to make a difference,” Curriculum Director Steven Tomlinson said.

That goes along with one of the school’s core values: “We believe in building profitable businesses but know that a meaningful life is much more important.”

The MBA in entrepreneurship is unusual in that it is a one-year course of study, but it is intense.

“Our students deserve the ‘most competitive’ ranking because they consider a 90-hour work week routine. Acton is like a Navy Seal boot camp for the next generation of entrepreneurs,” Sandefer said.

Students spend 80 to 90 hours each week thoroughly investigating from all angles problems drawn from more than 300 real-world case studies, selling products door-to-door and building assembly lines.

And that is in addition to the “Life of Meaning” coursework, where students delve into themselves.

“It pulls back a curtain and helps you become clear-eyed about your aspirations,” Tomlinson said. “We try to see how many hard lessons can be learned here in the present so they don’t have to be learned in the future.

“We teach about finding calling by being thoughtful, but also by experiences. We tell our students to test hunches about what they are good at and how they can connect those talents to the challenges facing the world,” he said.

“We are really trying to help them find contentment by looking at their gifts and the needs of the world and find a connection between those two things.”

The case studies and experiential exercises expose students to a variety of real-world scenarios, he said.

“By the time they graduate, they have had a decade worth of experiences,” Tomlinson said.

Helping students find their niche in the world energizes the instructors, he added. “It’s both an art and a ministry; it’s very gratifying.” Students learn the rewards of hard work in tangible ways. They pay for the first of the two semesters, about $17,500. Students who successfully complete the program receive fellowships from entrepreneurs that reimburse them for 100 percent of their tuition.

Later, when the graduates are established in their careers, they are expected to help by contributing to the education of others. Graduates who believe Acton has delivered on its promise to help them not only run a successful business, but also have meaningful lives, are honor-bound to donate part of their future salary until another fellowship is funded.

“Our fellowships are like a money-back guarantee that forces us to deliver what we promise,” Acton Master Teacher Jack Long said.

Nancy Kucinski, assistant professor of management at Hardin-Simmons Univer-sity in Abilene, said the partnership has been mutually beneficial. Several of the HSU business faculty have attended workshops led by Acton faculty to help them hone their skills in the case-study approach to teaching.

“It’s a wonderful relationship,” she 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: 9/29/06

Diplomats need to know religion

By Kim Lawton

Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly

NEW YORK (RNS)—Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is breaking ranks with the conventional wisdom of her profession.

Diplomats traditionally were taught to keep far away from potentially controversial subjects like religion, she said. But now, Albright is making a high-profile plea that religion play a more prominent role both in the making of foreign policy and in the training diplomats receive.

“Rather than keeping religion and religious leaders out of things, we need their help,” she told the PBS program Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.

“In looking at what was going on in the world, it was evident that religion and the force of religion and people’s interpretation of how they saw God really is very much a part of international relations.”

Albright spells out her views in a new book, The Mighty and the Almighty. Specifically, she sees a need for increased study of religion in training the U.S. diplomatic corps.

“Our diplomats are very well trained, and they are very capable,” she said. “But they have not really focused on religion per se as a subject of study.”

More controversially, she also is calling for a more “hands-on” role for religious leaders in diplomacy.

“A secretary of state has economic advisers and arms control advisers and environmental advisers,” she noted. “And so I would advocate having religious advisers that are complementing all the other advisers.”

Religious leaders could be used “prior to negotiations at high levels among different parties” and then afterward to “validate some of the decisions that have been made after negotiators have finished,” she said.

But she acknowledged it can be a delicate balancing act. “It’s a question as to how much you really want religious doctrine to intrude into issues of how the state is run,” she said. “I believe in the separation of church and state. But you cannot separate people from their faith.”

She conceded the Clinton administration didn’t always get religion right. “One issue where we considered a lot of the religious dimensions, but I think made some mistakes, was at Camp David,” she said, describing the efforts to negotiate a Middle East peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.

“There were lots of aspects of the Palestinian issue that as a Palestinian leader, Chairman (Yasser) Arafat could make decisions on,” she said. “But when we were asking him to make the decisions about the holy places, the truth is that he did not have a sole understanding or sole responsibility for the holy places.”

In her book, she is critical of how the Bush administration uses religion.

“We are not above the law,” she writes, “nor do we have a divine calling to spread democracy any more than we have a national mission to spread Christianity.”

She further criticizes the way President Bush uses religious rhetoric. She said Bush implies the United States “has God’s blessing for everything. And that God is on our side—rather than the way President Lincoln would have framed it, which is we need to be on God’s side.”

Asked why this is more troubling to her than the way religion similarly was invoked by leaders of the civil rights movement in the 1960s, Albright said there is “a very fine line in terms of when you think God is blessing what you are doing, and you need that validation from God, versus saying that you are really doing God’s work in the particular way that has been stated by some people in the administration.”

Bush has alienated potential allies who disagree with his way of using religion, she asserted. “What was happening was he was making it seem as if picking a fight with us was picking a fight with God,” she said.

But she acknowledged that figuring out the appropriate boundaries between the proper use and the misuse of religion is a complex endeavor.

“We are dealing with the very basic issues of human existence, and everybody comes with a certain amount of their own history—thousands of years of culture and history,” she said. “When you try to answer very complicated questions with black-and- white answers, you can’t do it. And that’s why I think we need to be aware of the grays.”

During her term as head of the State Department, Albright sought to expand relations with American Muslim leaders, including establishing the now traditional State Department-sponsored Iftar meal to break Ramadan fasting.

“We have to understand Islam better,” she said. “I think we all have a tendency to generalize, to focus on the worst part of what is happening under the auspices, so to speak, of Islam. And that’s extremism and some of the violence.”

Albright’s colleagues in the diplomatic community are “a little surprised” at her new focus on religion and international relations. “They really look at me as if I had, you know, ventured into some post-secretary of state mode where I just didn’t understand what was going on.”

She said it won’t be “an easy sell” to get diplomats and other decision makers to look at the role religion plays. “It does complicate things,” she said. But she added: “By not considering the role that religion plays, I think we are being oblivious to a whole dimension of the problem. And we, in many ways, are making it more difficult to solve problems.” 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: 9/29/06

Around the State

• Recording artist Randy Travis will bring an inspirational concert to the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Oct. 7 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $30 and can be purchased in advance by calling (254) 295-5444.

• Reid Ryan, founder and CEO of the Round Rock Express and Corpus Christi Hooks minor league baseball clubs, will speak at the Oct. 9 11 a.m. chapel service at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.

• Houston Baptist University’s College of Nursing will offer an international sprituality and health conference Oct. 12. Religious traditions and the relationship of these traditions to providing culturally sensitive nursing care to members of a diverse community will be identified. Practices in relation to caring for the ill, birthing and dying process in Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist and Hindu faith traditions will be explained.

• Registration for the Carroll Institute’s Emmanuel term, Sept. 28-Nov. 22, will close Oct. 13. The class schedule is available at www.bhcti.org. A total of 41 classes are offered in teaching churches and online.

• Sam Fogle, vice president for administration and finance at East Texas Baptist University, retired Oct. 1. He will continue as a part-time project manager for the construction of the Ornelas University Center.

• The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has awarded $5,000 scholarships to 80 students at 11 partner schools. Among the recipients were Dan Bullock, Josh Reglin, Chris St. Clair and Kate Whitney at Hardin-Simmons University’s Logsdon School of Theology, and Josh Brewer, Casondra Brown, Tiffany Combs, Graham Cook, Heather Deal, Jeff Holcomb, Jaime McGloth-lin, Jon Polk, Jon Mark Shil-lington and Emily Womack at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary.

• Students at Howard Payne University came away $20 richer after hearing Bo Pilgrim, chairman of the board and co-founder of Pilgrim’s Pride Corp., speak at chapel. Pilgrim gave each student the money along with the booklet Good News for Modern Man.

• William Holmes has joined Baptist University of the Americas as director of institutional effectiveness and research, and assistant academic dean.

• The Marion M. Harris Endowed Missions Scholarship has been established at Truett Theological Seminary with a gift from the Marion M. Harris Evangelistic Association and other memorial gifts to honor Harris. He died in July at age 86 after 56 years as a pastor and preacher. For 36 years, his daily devotionals, “God’s Word for Today,” played on Marshall radio stations.

Anniversaries

• Baptist Country Chapel in Buchanan Lake Village, fifth, Oct. 8. Refreshments, guest speakers, music and a reflection on the church’s history will follow the morning service. Junior McNew is pastor.

• Greenvine Church in Burton, 145th, Oct. 15. Former Pastor Alan Knuckles will speak in the morning service and Charles Otto will bring the special music. A catered meal will follow. Tickets are $7 for adults or $5 for children under 10. Following the meal, former Pastor Don Mashburn will speak and the gospel singing group Blessed Rock will perform. To make reservations for the meal, send money and names to the church at 5010 FM 2502, Burton 77835. Bob Gregory is pastor.

• Trinity Church in Sweet-water, 50th, Oct. 21-22. Former pastors will host a program Saturday from 4 p.m to 5:30 p.m. A meal will follow in the fellowship hall. After the meal, a video presentation of the church’s history will be shown. Former youth and music ministers will close the program with memories and special music. Sunday morning’s worship service also will incorporate former ministers. A meal will follow. Ward Hayes is pastor.

• First Church in Lewisville, 125th, Oct. 22. A gospel music celebration at 2 p.m. will follow a noon meal. Stephen Hatfield is pastor.

• South Garland Church in Garland, 35th, Nov. 11. A celebration meal will be held at The Atrium in the Granville Fine Arts Center in Garland at 6 p.m. Cynthia Clawson will perform. Tickets for members and former members are $15 until Oct. 20. Beginning Oct. 22, tickets will be open to everyone at $20 each. For ticket and child care information, call (972) 271-5428. Larry Davis is pastor.

• Lanny Tanton, fifth, as pastor of First Church in Dripping Springs, Nov. 16.

Retiring

• David George, as pastor of Immanuel Church in Nashville, Tenn., after 30 years of service. He also was pastor of Willow Point Church in Jack County, as well as churches in Louisiana and Arkansas during his more than 40 years as a pastor. He also has served as pastor in residence at Truett Theological Seminary in Waco.

Death

• Luther Dillard, 82, Sept. 15 in LaGrange. A graduate of Howard Payne University and Southwestern Theological Sem-inary, he was a pastor 56 years. He served First Church in Granger, First Church in Somerville, Herty Church in Lufkin, First Church in Tomball, Pine Burr Church in Beaumont, Taylor’s Valley Church in Taylor’s Valley and County Line Church in Rogers. He is survived by his wife, Faye; daughters, Linda Creighton and Judy Campbell; sons, Dan and Joel; sister, Lois Lisenbe; 11 grandchildren; and 13 great grandchildren.

Events

• First Church in Memphis named O.K. Bowen pastor emeritus Sept. 17. Bowen has the longest tenure of any pastor in the church’s more than 100-year history, serving there 22 years. Daniel Downey is pastor.

• Calder Church in Beau-mont will hold a homecoming celebration Oct. 8 to commemorate 59 years of service to the community. A continental breakfast and historical display will precede Sunday school. A catered lunch will follow the morning service. Make reservations by calling (409) 892-4251. James Fuller is pastor.

Licensed

• Robert Sandy to the ministry at Herty Church in Lufkin.

Ordained

• Jim Hudson to the ministry at First Church in Bayside.

• David Riemenschneider as a deacon at First Church in Woodsboro.

Revivals

• First Church, Mineral Wells; Oct. 8-11; evangelist, Buckner Fanning; music, Tommy Lyons; pastor, Mark Bumpus.

• First Church, Wortham; Oct. 8-11; evangelist, Randy Fair; music, The Fair Family; pastor, Steven Schulte.

• First Church, Celeste; Oct. 8-11; evangelist, Bob Layman; music, Bill and Ivy Jean Sky-Eagle; pastor, James Ralson.

• First Church, Goldthwaite; Oct. 15-18; evangelists, Presnall Wood, Dwaine Green, Tommy Jones, Dale Gore and Dan Connally; pastor, Doug Holtz-claw.

• First Church, Blackwell; Oct. 15-18; evangelist, Kyle Horton; pastor, Aubrey Jones.

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: 9/29/06

Associational changes take on a variety of forms

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

“The world is changing. Churches are changing. So, why would Baptist associations be any different?” some observers of Baptist life have asked.

Challenged by population shifts and culture changes, many associations recently have worked through—or are in the process of completing—a revisioning process in an attempt to find the best ways to serve their churches.

Some associations have combined into larger areas, and some areas have divided back into associations. Some associations are focused on networking. Others attempt to provide resources. Still others want to provide counsel for congregations. Some associations attempt to unite behind cultural similarities.

“The state is changing,” said Lorenzo Pena, director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas associations team. “Churches are changing. We’re all facing challenges. That leads to changes” in Baptist associations.

Latin American Baptist Association in Southeast Texas offers an example of an affinity-group association, where churches are united by a common cultural identity.

Austin Baptist Association has focused its efforts on church starting, charting a vision for launching congregations in a growing city.

That vision has encouraged larger churches to re-engage in associational activities, said David Smith, Austin Baptist Association director of missions.

Churches are interested in the Austin association because it has a vision larger than any one church can accomplish on its own, Smith noted.

Amarillo Area Baptist Association has found focusing on missions is effective. Director of Missions Bryan Houser attempts to connect churches to mission and ministry opportunities. He also helps facilitate partnerships. As a secondary result, fellowship between church leaders is increasing, he said.

In their efforts to serve churches, associations are working with a variety of groups, gleaning materials they believe to be helpful. Leaders may help churches connect with a variety of Sunday school material, including publications from BaptistWay Press and LifeWay Christian Resources.

Associations recently have added assistance in the form of BGCT congregational strategists and church starters spread across the state.

These convention staff members seek to strengthen churches and many times work with association staff members.

Houser applauded the work of BGCT Congregational Strategist Charles Davenport and BGCT Church Starter John Silva in the Amarillo area. They understand West Texas culture and how to best minister in it, he said.

Smith, whose organization is a Southern Baptist Convention North American Mission Board exemplary association, said the Austin Baptist Association is seeking to expand God’s kingdom. If a group outside the association can help accomplish that goal, he is willing to work with them.

“Come in, and help all you can,” Smith said. “If you can offer something I can’t, blessings on you. I’m not kidding. Anyone that can offer assistance to our churches is very good.” 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: 9/29/06

Rapid change likely ahead for Baptist associations

By George Henson

Staff Writer

Associations have led a rollercoaster existence throughout their history, and their future should to prove just as exciting, according to Paul Stripling, executive director emeritus of Waco Regional Baptist Network and author of Turning Points in the History of Baptist Associations in America.

Stripling wrote the book at the invitation of the Southern Baptist Associational Directors of Missions task force for the commemoration of the 300th anniversary next year of Baptist associations.

While associations of churches have met an important need since the first American Baptist association formed in Philadelphia in 1707, there have been numerous circumstances that have changed the manner in which they have functioned, he noted.

Associations can be expected to continue to change, and perhaps at an even faster pace, he asserted.

In his book, Stripling alludes to predictions made by George Bullard, director of the Hollifield Leadership Center and Lake Hickory Learning Communities, about the coming days of associations. Bullard stressed that associations must focus on relevancy and flexibility in the days ahead, and he offered four principles—or movements—for how associations should interact with the churches they serve.

The first movement is to be faithful, effective and innovative. Associations that do not serve all the congregations in their association give up the right to serve any congregation, he purports.

Second, the association must be ready to work with the congregations who are ready to make changes without neglecting those who are not at that level, Bullard asserts.

Third, associations must realize some congregations that will not change, and it is not the associational staff’s responsibility to remake them into their image of what a church should be, but rather to allow the church to follow God’s leading.

Associations also must help congregations multiple themselves, Bullard said.

“The most effective way to transform your district association is through new units reaching lost, unchurched and hurting people,” Bullard said during a speech at the University of Richmond to associational leaders in 2002.

In the face of the rapid changes of the day, Stripling believes the most important thing associations and churches can do is stay focused on those things that do not change.

“I believe their can be no success in the introduction of change factors in associationalism today without an understanding of the kingdom principle, which is built on a worldview of missions, without any restrictions by time, race, ethnic background or geographical locations,” Stripling said.

“I would hope that associations—and directors of missions—would continue to remember the words on a calendar published by an insurance firm years ago: ‘The way to endure change is to find something that never changes.’ Basically, we are working together to serve our Lord until he comes again.”

One idea that must be protected regardless of changes made in associations is that churches need one another.

“While the association has gone through many changes, there has remained a hunger for the fellowship that brought churches together in the first place,” Stripling said. “No matter what comes, the ability for churches to come together and help one another must be protected.

“I think the concern I have is that in all our change that we not forget the interpersonal relationships—the personal touch of ministry—whether to the pastor of 20 or the pastor of a congregation of 2,000.

“I believe we can change in methodology, but we cannot forget the person out there in the trenches that may be hurting and in need of that personal touch,” Stripling 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: 9/29/06

Christian teens likely to become
apathetic 20-somethings

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

DALLAS (ABP)—Six out of 10 teens involved in a church probably will not continue their spiritual commitment into early adulthood, according to research by the Barna Group.

The study, conducted from 2001 to 2006, shows that despite previously high levels of spiritual activity, many people in their 20s lose interest in religious activities and often carry that apathy into middle age.

But the survey also found that 20 percent of people in their 20s maintain the same spiritual activities—like attending church, studying the Bible, donating money and using Christian media—they did in high school.

Nineteen percent of teens who did not participate in those activities remained disconnected from the Christian faith in adulthood.

Some experts question whether the disengagement is just a phase typical of that age or whether it is unique to the current generation, Research Director David Kinnaman said. Both explanations have some merit, he acknowledged, but ultimately that debate misses the point.

The point is “the current state of ministry to 20-somethings is woefully inadequate to address the spiritual needs of millions of young adults,” he said.

On the other hand, ministry to teens is thriving. The report reveals half of the nation’s 24 million teens attend some sort of church-related activity each week. More than 75 percent discuss faith with friends, and three out of five attend at least one youth group meeting at a church during a three-month period. All told, more than 80 percent of teens attend church for at least two months during high school.

Teens generally are receptive to matters of faith because of a certain willingness to explore their character, try new things and establish an identity, Kinnaman said.

“There are certainly effective youth ministries across the country, but the levels of disengagement among 20-somethings suggests that youth ministry fails too often at discipleship and faith formation,” he said.

As for those in their 20s, the transition from church kid to indifferent adult happens most often during college. And for most adults, the disengagement is not temporary.

The Barna report shows even people in their 30s are less likely than older adults to be active in religion. Just two fifths of parents in their 30s regularly take their children to church, compared to half of parents who are older than 40. One out of every three parents in their 20s does the same.

The Barna report isn’t all about a religious slip, though. When it comes to identifying with a religion, 78 percent of 20-somethings maintain allegiance to Christianity, compared with 83 percent of teens. Most young adults describe themselves as “deeply spiritual” as well, the study found.

In agreement with several other recent religion studies, however, the Barna study found that young adults feel little allegiance to a certain congregation or denomination. Almost 70 percent of them think if they cannot find a local church to “help them become more like Christ, then they will find people and groups that will, and connect with them instead of a local church.”

People in their 20s were also as likely as older Americans to attend “events not sponsored by a local church, to participate in a spiritually oriented small group at work, to have a conversation with someone else who holds them accountable for living faith principles, and to attend a house church not associated with a conventional church.”

The solution to the dichotomy, Kinnaman said, is not necessarily a youth ministry overhaul but a move toward developing sustainable faith in young people.

Youth ministries should be judged not by the number of attendees or the sophistication of events, he said. Instead, churches should focus on helping teens learn “commitment, passion and resources to pursue Christ intentionally and whole-heartedly after they leave the youth ministry nest.”

“Our team is conducting more research into what leads to a sustainable faith, but we have already observed some key enhancements that youth workers may consider,” he said.

“One of those is to be more personalized in ministry. Every teen has different needs, questions and doubts, so helping them to wrestle through those specific issues and to understand God’s unique purpose for their lives is significant.”

Another idea, he added, is to instill in teenagers a “biblical viewpoint.” That way, they’ll process life—and its inevitable conflicts—through a godly worldview.

“This is not so much about having the right head knowledge as it is about helping teens respond to situations and decisions in light of God’s principles for life,” he said.

Located in Ventura, Calif., the Barna Group collected data from interviews with 22,103 adults and 2,124 teenagers nationwide. Researchers used online and telephone surveys within the continental 48 states.

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: 9/29/06

Book Reviews

Terrify No More by Gary A. Haugen with Gregg Hunter (W Publishing Group)

According to National Geographic, about 27 million slaves live in our modern-day world. These slaves range from girls as young as 5 years old, forced to sell their bodies in the sex-trafficking underworld, to whole families bound to toil away their lives making bricks or cigarettes in South Asia and other regions.

The four-fold purpose of International Justice Mission and its teams of investigators, undercover operatives and attorneys is to venture into the shady corners of the globe to rescue people helpless and oppressed by bondage, to bring the perpetrators of abuse to justice, to minister to the victims through compassionate aftercare and to change communities so the injustices no longer are acceptable.

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

Join Gary Haugen, International Justice Mission’s president and founder, as he takes readers through both heart-breaking and exciting real-life journeys into the darkness of evil to radiate the light of God’s truth and grace by “defending the fatherless and the oppressed in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more” (Psalm 10:18).

Greg Bowman,

minister to students

First Baptist Church

Duncanville

A Time to Mend by Angela Hunt (Steeple Hill)

In A Time to Mend, Christy Award-winner Angela Hunt refreshes and revises her 1997 Christian romance, Gentle Touch, a story of healing—body, heart and soul.

At age 27, Jacquelyn Wilkes works as an oncology nurse, a profession and specialty chosen after her mother’s untimely death from breast cancer during the daughter’s teen years. The two-time nurse-of-the-year maintains an aloof distance from her patients and remains at arm’s length from family and friends. All goes smoothly until an outstanding single oncologist joins the hospital staff. Dr. Jonah Martin brings with him an aggressive treatment style, a warm bedside manner, a cold shoulder to the nursing staff and a secret. Nurse Wilkes immediately clashes with the doctor and avoids the handsome physician until she finds herself fighting for her life and chooses Dr. Martin to treat her own breast cancer.

When boyfriend Craig deserts her during those difficult days, Jonah connects Jackie with a terminal patient who helps her return to the faith of her childhood. As the doctor and nurse begin to connect on both personal and professional levels, Jonah’s secret threatens to crush their budding relationship and his blossoming career. Jacquelyn realizes she must find a way to heal her own heart and Jonah’s as well as she draws from her faith and her doctor’s past to change the future.

A quick read, A Time to Mend offers generous doses of romance, breast-cancer information and hope through Christ.

Kathy Robinson Hillman, former president

Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas

Waco

The New American Pioneers: Why Are We Afraid of Mexican Immigrants? by Juan Hernandez (Pneuma Life Publishing)

Juan Hernandez has become a lightening rod for immigration issues as Texas and the United States consider significant immigration reform that must address enhanced border security and the need for a viable guest-worker system.

Hernandez writes from the perspective of dual citizenship in Mexico and the United States and as personal adviser to former Mexico President Vicente Fox. Although the first part of his book reads more as an autobiography, Hernandez effectively moves to illustrate the fears and prejudices surrounding the huge immigration movement from impoverished countries to what is perceived as a “land flowing with milk and honey.”

The concluding section may be the most important, as Hernandez transcends political rhetoric and racial fears to reveal the personal stories of “aliens and immigrants” as people with hopes, dreams and fears common to all of us.

This is an important perspective and a must read as we consider complex immigration issues as reasoned people of faith.

Jim Young,

social justice specialist

Baptist General Convention of Texas

Dallas 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: 9/29/06

Baptist Briefs

Arkansas paper could lose independence. Arkansas Baptist leaders will try to turn control of the Arkansas Baptist News over to the state convention staff, replacing the independent board that currently governs the newspaper. A task force, appointed last year by the president of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention, will make recommendations to the annual convention meeting—including one asking the president of the Arkansas Executive Board and the president of the newspaper board to appoint a committee to discuss the possibility of merging the paper with another publication under the jurisdiction of the state convention’s Executive Board. The constitution and bylaws of the Arkansas convention require the Arkansas Baptist News be governed by a 15-member board of directors. Any recommendation to merge the newspaper into the Executive Board would necessitate a constitutional amendment, which would require approval by a two-thirds majority of messengers at two consecutive state convention meetings. That likely would take until November 2008 to accomplish.

Missouri Baptist executive director survives ouster effort. David Clippard remains executive director of the Missouri Baptist Convention, despite an apparent effort to oust him Sept. 22. Following a marathon, closed-door meeting at the convention building in Jefferson City, Executive Board members attempted to quell infighting between the convention’s factions by affirming Clippard and his apparent protagonist, fundamentalist leader Roger Moran. In a press release issued three days after the meeting, Executive Board members confirmed they investigated concerns that had been brought to the board and affirmed Clippard, Moran, the work of the nominating committee Moran chairs, and the convention’s other committees.

President urges SBC to be relevant, seek revival. Southern Baptist Convention President Frank Page warned the SBC Executive Committee their denomination must retain its relevancy in a rapidly changing world. “In the eyes of many … we have become an archaic, burdensome bureaucracy that has no relevancy for today or the days to come,” he said. Page called for “a Holy Ghost revival” in the denomination. One obstacle to such revival, he said, is the divisions that exist in the SBC.

Ten percent of Southern Baptist pastors thoroughly Calvinist. One Southern Baptist pastor in 10 considers himself a five-point Calvinist, a survey by LifeWay Research revealed. LifeWay surveyed 413 pastors and discovered 10 percent identify themselves as subscribing to total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace and perseverance of the saints, while 85 percent said they do not consider themselves five-point Calvinists, 4 percent don’t know and 1 percent refused to answer. The research revealed no significant statistical difference in the responses of pastors who are over age 40 and those who are under 40.

Trustee wants tongues addressed in BF&M. A seminary trustee, whose recent chapel sermon was barred from the school’s website because of his comments about speaking in tongues, has asked that the Southern Baptist Convention address the issue in its official confession of faith. Dwight McKissic, pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington and a trustee at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, sent a letter to SBC President Frank Page and members of the SBC Executive Committee asking them to “initiate a process of addressing and formally adopting a position sanctioned by the SBC in 2007 or 2008 annual meeting, to be included in the Baptist Faith & Message, regarding our position(s) on spiritual gifts, private prayer language and speaking in tongues.”

CBF receives missional church grant. The Waco-based Christ Is Our Salvation foundation has given the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship a $1.5 million grant to transform CBF churches into missional congregations—churches where missions permeates every aspect of congregational life. The grant will be spent over the next three years. Half of the funds will go to congregations who complete the eight-week CBF program “It’s Time: A Journey Toward Missional Faithfulness” and meet other requirements. CBF expects to use the grant money to help churches conduct censuses, which will provide data for identifying and developing specific focus areas in congregations. The grant also will provide for four annual retreats focused on developing congregational ministers among laity. CBF leaders also will work with Baylor University’s Center for Family and Community Ministries to strengthen family life in the church context. The Fellowship also will work with the center to create church-based internships for undergraduate and graduate students. 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: 9/29/06

2nd Opinion:
Associations to celebrate milestone

By Stephen Parks & Lynn Parks

Next year marks the 300th anniversary of the first Baptist association in America, Philadelphia Baptist Association, formed in 1707. Baptists created associations to establish doctrinal parameters and fellowship with like-minded believers. Associations provided advice on Baptist practices, helped churches find credentialed ministers and safeguarded doctrinal and ethical integrity. They enabled churches to cooperate geographically in mission, educational and benevolence ventures. For example, Philadelphia Association started Brown University. Philadelphia Association has been the prototype for Southern Baptist associations and conventions since 1707.

By the late 1700s, associations focused on mission work, and new churches sprung up all along the Atlantic seaboard and even west of the Alleghenies. In 1792, in England, William Carey proposed his association send Baptist missionaries to “heathen” populations, and the modern missionary movement was born.

Eventually, Baptists realized they needed larger networks to support expanding mission and benevolence projects. One avenue, missionary societies, received support primarily from individuals. The other avenue was larger associations of churches. So, three associations in South Carolina sent delegates to form the first state convention in 1821. In 1845, the Southern Baptist Convention was formed. Since that time, Southern Baptists have followed the model of cooperation established by associations rather than a societal model.

For more than a century, Baptist work in America had been carried on by churches working together through associations. The advent of state conventions and the Southern Baptist Convention caused many associations to focus on supporting the larger conventions. Many associations came to depend heavily on conventions during the hard times after the Civil War, and as a result, associations largely became promoters of convention initiatives, especially missions. Helping coordinate cooperative efforts between associations and the denomination were “missionaries” or “agents,” forerunners of today’s associational directors of missions. The tendency toward centralization intensified when associations were left out of the funding mechanism of the Cooperative Program in 1925. Missionaries serving associations or districts usually received support, at least in part, by national or state conventions, building a loyalty to promote those causes.

The 1963 Conference on Associational Missions and the 1974 National Convocation on the Southern Baptist Association helped return the focus of associations to fellowship and cooperative efforts among churches in each association, rather than associations primarily as promoters of convention initiatives. These meetings reaffirmed the autonomy of the association and recognized the director of missions as a full member of Southern Baptist mission efforts. Since these two meetings, many associations have experienced renewed vitality in fellowship, meeting the needs of churches and local mission efforts.

When the “conservative resurgence” began in the SBC in the late 1970s, some associations were drawn into the dispute. For example, in some states, when there was a perception that the existing state conventions and associations did not support the SBC enough, new entities were started. The new SBC-aligned Southern Baptists of Texas Convention is an example, and in some places in Texas, new associations have been started among exclusively SBTC churches. However, almost all existing associations have demonstrated that focusing on fellowship, purpose and missions can overcome “political” divisions.

Since Philadelphia Association formed in 1707, many associations have formed, including more than 1,100 associations historically related to the Southern Baptist Convention. For three centuries, the association has remained the most effective Baptist entity for doctrinal accountability, ongoing fellowship and encouragement, local mission and ministry efforts, and communication among churches. There is almost universal recognition that “if national and state conventions ever cease to exist, the local association will still be functioning.”

U.S. Baptist associations will celebrate the 300th anniversary of associations in America in a variety of ways, including a celebration rally in San Antonio June 10, 2007. Paul Stripling, former director of missions for Waco Baptist Association, has written a wonderful historical overview, Turning Points in the History of Baptist Associations in America. For more information on the rally and the book, see the www.sbcadom.net website.

Stephen Parks is chairman of the 2007 Celebration Taskforce for the Southern Baptist Conference of Associational Directors of Missions and is director of missions for Unity Baptist Association in Lufkin. Lynn Parks is director of academic programs at Texas State Technical College in Waco. They are brothers. 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: 9/29/06

Counseling center a boon to
Bluebonnet pastors, churches

By George Henson

Staff Writer

NEW BRAUNFELS—Director of Missions J.K. Minton believes pastors shouldn’t be counselors. And unlike most places, pastors in Bluebonnet Baptist Association no longer have to serve in a role for which many feel neither prepared nor called.

“For many years, I have believed and preached that pastors had no business in the counseling business,” he said. “We are not qualified, and that is not our calling. Such pastoral counseling is ineffective and fraught with peril, since the great majority of counselees are women. Enough pastors have slipped into immorality by forming emotional relationships with women during pastoral counseling.

“The more I said that, the more I realized: What’s the alternative? Get fired.”

While he was on a mission trip in Washington, on a ferry crossing the Puget Sound, Minton talked with Ray Still, pastor of Oakwood Baptist Church in New Braunfels, about the need for church-based professional counseling.

Minton describes Still as a man who “doesn’t make impulsive decisions,” but the idea was one he warmed to quickly. Out of that discussion, Oakwood Baptist’s counseling center took shape.

From the start, the ministry has been built on three tenets: That it be biblical in nature, that licensed professionals do the counseling and that it be affordable.

In January 2003, the ministry began seeing clients. And the ministry has far surpassed what anyone dreamed it could be, Minton said.

“I would have thought by now I would have heard from somebody complaining about something, but it just hasn’t happened,” he said.

Earlier this year, the counseling center moved from its facilities at the church to a new building Oakwood bought especially for the counseling center. Its location away from the church provides a greater degree of anonymity to Oakwood members who wish to come for counseling. Celebrate Recovery groups that help people deal with various addictions also meet in the building on Monday evenings and Saturday mornings.

Clients’ problems have run the gamut from marriage and family issues to addictions, grief, depression and mental illness, said Judy Walter, director of the counseling center.

That’s a big reason why the off-site location is important, she noted.

“Confidentiality is such a big thing, and some people don’t want to walk into their church to do counseling,” she pointed out.

The ministry is open to all churches in the association. Counseling is priced at $50 per session.

The person coming for counseling pays $10, and the church that refers them and the association split the remaining cost.

“From the get-go, the effectiveness and response from pastors has been great,” Minton said.

The center also accepts referrals from churches of other denominations and walk-in clients. The need has grown to the degree that eight counselors now serve in the ministry.

Generally, the center is not designed for long-term counseling of clients, Walter said. Most attend sessions for less that six months—some only a couple of sessions.

“Our goal is to walk alongside them, be Jesus to them, until they are emotionally and spiritually strong enough to rely on Jesus on their own,” Walter said.

“All of us have marveled at how many we have seen come to the Lord. The thrust of the program is not evangelism, but it is evangelistic.”

As a pastor, Still has known the benefit of the center first-hand.

“It’s difficult to be doing the ministry you need to be doing in your church and have counseling responsibilities on top of that, especially when you don’t have the training,” he said.

Another benefit is that when pastors counsel a couple or family through a difficult period, the family often soon leaves because they are embarrassed the pastor knows their flaws, Still said. The counseling ministry has alleviated that.

“No one has left the fellowship of the church after coming for counseling,” he said.

While Oakwood has taken the lead in the ministry, Still said it has been a group effort.

“Oakwood had some resources to offer, and to partner those with the other churches in the association has been a good marriage,” he said.

Most importantly, lives are being changed, he said.

“There is a need in many people’s lives for counseling that is not going to be too expensive,” Still said.

Both Minton and Still attributed much of the ministry’s success to Walter’s leadership.

“It’s a wonderful thing when you have a need and God raises up a person to meet that need,” Minton said.

The center saw 57 clients in a recent two-week period. Numbers fluctuate throughout the year, with peak periods even busier.

Still believes the need for this ministry exists in virtually every association. While costs may prevent some associations from starting a counseling ministry, expense hasn’t been a problem in Bluebonnet Association. Once people see lives changed and the marriages of friends reclaimed, they give generously, Still said.

Minton agreed. “God has always covered the gap between what the churches could afford to pay. After it became apparent it was going to happen, the question came up, ‘How are you going to pay for it?’ But it’s never been a question. The money’s always been there.”

If a pastor or a pastor’s family member is the client, the association picks up the share the church would have paid to maintain their privacy.

The center has benefited the entire association, Still said.

“It’s been a huge asset—especially for those on staff. We can direct people to counseling and know they are going to hear what God wants them to hear,” he said.

“It’s been an investment, but it’s a worthy investment into people’s lives. Every association could do this. It might be on a smaller scale, but do this, and it would be a huge benefit.” 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: 9/29/06

DOWN HOME:
Language faintly resembles English

The people who made our garage-door opener probably are very smart. And, after five years and almost 115,000 miles of testing their product, I’d say the people who built my car are keenly intelligent.

Unfortunately, English is a language with which they are only vaguely familiar.

This revelation came to me the other night, as I sat in my car, diligently decoding the owner’s manual, then climbing up a ladder to decipher the instructions written on the side of the garage-door opener.

My problem started shortly after Joanna and I bought our new (to us) home and realized we had only one remote control for the door opener. Fortunately—or so I thought—my car has three buttons on the driver’s sun visor that can be “trained” to tell a garage door to open.

Problem is, the engineers who made these gadgets don’t come along to “train” the driver of my car.

So, I started the car (the first, and last, clear instructions in the owner’s manual) and began to push and hold various combinations of buttons. First, I pushed buttons 1 and 3 to “clear” the old settings on my sun visor and waited for the red light to flash. Then I pointed Joanna’s garage-door remote control exactly two inches from the sun visor, and then I pushed more buttons and waited for more red lights. Then I ran up the ladder and pointed the remote at the door opener and then pushed a red button.

Then I tried to open the garage door with my sun visor. Of course, nothing happened.

That’s not true. I wasted an evening and burned several gallons of gas, since—for reasons that defy my nonmechanical logic, the car must be running for the sun visor to open the garage door. Or, in this case, to not open the garage door. I went to bed.

The next day, I called the guy who once worked on our old garage door at our old house. He knows garage-door openers. And he speaks plain English.

“Easy,” he said. “You’re programming the sun visor correctly. But after you punch the red button on the door opener once—just once—then go back and punch the button on your sun visor just once.” Ta-da!

Welcome to the world of the recently moved homeowner. I’ve read reams of instructions, for everything from installing a towel rack, to hanging two-inch blinds, to putting a clock together.

Reading instructions is insurance. I might as well read most instructions in German, French or Japanese. But if anything goes wrong, at least I can say, “Honey, I read the instructions.”

What I really need is someone like the guy at the garage-door opener place, who (a) knows what he’s doing and (b) speaks my language. It’s amazing what you can do when someone who knows what he’s doing tells you clearly how to do it.

My garage-door fiasco and other mechanical-installation blunders have reminded me of my life. I get confused and make a mess of it. And then I finally turn to God, who tells me which buttons to push. Ta-da!

–Marv Knox 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: 9/29/06

EDITORIAL:
Take steps to reduce terrorist threat

Did you ever think we would look back at the Cold War as something akin to the good ol’ days?

As a young seminary student, I participated in a peacemaking group. In addition to efforts to ease racial tensions in our community, our primary focus was the nuclear-freeze movement. We wanted to stop proliferation of nuclear warheads by the United States and the Soviet Union. The sobering realization that both countries could annihilate the human race many times over motivated us to write letters to Congress, speak up for arms reduction, and urge Christians and other citizens to join our cause and advocate for peace. As a first-time father, I felt frightened to bring a child into a world where simple miscommunication, to say nothing of malice and aggression, could usher “nuclear winter” across the planet.

A generation later, the Soviet Union has fallen. My children are grown. The “peace movement” is quieter. And, although many of those warheads still exist, most Americans and Russians don’t think much about the Kremlin-to-the-White-House nuclear hotline.

Frankly, I miss the Cold War. I don’t want to go back. But I’d trade today’s terrorism tinderbox for yesterday’s superpower standoff—in the time it takes a suicide bomber to blow himself and his victims to Kingdom Come.

Don’t misunderstand; I’m not diminishing the Cold War or the 70-year Soviet reign of terror. But the nature of totalitarianism capped the number and kind of would-be despots. We learned this in Eastern Europe after the Iron Curtain fell. Now, like a broken hornets’ nest, the forces that would wreak havoc worldwide are unstable, on the loose, angry and aggressive.

In addition to absence of a superpower that keeps political/military leaders in line, several factors make today’s situation more unbalanced and dangerous. Communication, of course, is a key. The Internet facilitates recruiting, indoctrinating, training, mobilizing and activating terrorists. Globalism has flattened the borders and boundaries between nations and cultures. People move about much more frequently and easily, enabling access—to leaders who whip them into fanaticism, as well as to victims who die in their wake. You can come up with other factors in this equation: From the convenience of a practically universal language, English, to the speed and ease of travel, to the affront of Western media’s hedonism upon Eastern sensibilities.

This last factor points toward the most important variable in the calculus that makes today’s global terrorism more dangerous than yesterday’s Cold War: Religion.

Communism was cold and calculating. Islamic extremism is hot and incendiary. Muslim clerics who recruit terrorists not only distort Christianity and Judaism, but they also exploit every weakness, every simple statement, every moral failure and every uncomfortable word of truth. They even misrepresent their own scriptures and religious history to fan flames of hatred and animosity.

Consider the vitriol and violence triggered when Pope Benedict cited a 14th century emperor’s statement that Mohammed’s influence was “evil and inhuman.” Never mind that he twice stressed these words were not his own. Never mind that he invited Muslims to the table of faith and reason. Never mind that he apologized. Still, as the Wall Street Journal reports, Benedict prompted a vicious response: Iraqi terrorists called for attacks on the Vatican. A Somalian cleric said Muslims should “hunt down” and kill the pope. A nun was gunned down in Mogadishu. Pakistan’s parliament condemned the pope.

This might seem far-off and exotic. But since we know terrorists fly planes into buildings and wear bombs to blow up civilians, it also seems very near and intensely personal.

Terrorism’s randomness and Islamic extremism’s fanaticism throw us off stride. We think we can’t do anything about it. But we can take at least three steps:

• Pay attention and learn. If you haven’t done so, read the package of articles on Islam in the Sept. 18 Baptist Standard. Read newspapers and magazines. Pay attention to global media, especially from other countries, like the BBC. You never know when an informed word will calm chaos.

• Put flesh on ideology. Get to know Muslims, and let them get to know a Christian—you. In Texas these days, you don’t have to look far. Personal experience will change perspectives and provide a platform for progress.

• Pray. Don’t have faith enough to pray that Osama bin Laden and other terrorist leaders will become Christians? Then pray they will live by the higher tenets of their own faith. Prayer brought down the Iron Curtain; perhaps it will part the Fanatic Veil. 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.