Posted: 9/29/06

TOGETHER:
Real missions makes us more like Jesus

Can missions work ever be wrong? Does some kind of mission activity make God sick at heart? Apparently so.

Jesus spoke seven woes (Matthew 23) upon the Pharisees and other religious scholars and leaders of his day. They were more knowledgeable regarding the Bible than any other people. They were credentialed, admired, but haughty and self-righteous as well. And the second of the seven woes (in this word “woes” is the pathos of God’s heart including wrath and pain, anger and sorrow) is this surprising word: “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are” (Matthew 23:15).

Executive Director BGCT Executive Board

The Judaism of Jesus’ time was vigorous in its missionary efforts. This mission zeal abated after the destruction of the temple some 30 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. What is on Jesus’ mind here? Could he mean that when converts are made by men, rather than by the power of God’s Holy Spirit, they still are unconverted?

On one occasion, Billy Graham met a man on a downtown street who clearly was drunk and wasted by his sin. “Oh, Mr. Graham, I am so glad to see you. You converted me in one of your meetings.”

To which, Billy Graham, said somewhat wistfully, “I’m afraid that’s true, man. It’s pretty clear God did not convert you.”

It is a warning that every preacher and missionary should take seriously. Am I trying to convert people to something less than God in Jesus Christ? We are not asking people to be converted to us or to our way of thinking about everything. We are inviting them to allow God to convert them to himself so they can begin to grow into the likeness of Christ.

I am thankful to be a Baptist kind of Christian. I love to teach the Bible, and that almost always leads me to Baptist doctrines. But I often would tell new members in our church that although there are important issues that make some of us decide to be Baptists, the absolutely critical matter is whether one can say with heartfelt commitment, “Jesus is Lord.” When you meet someone who can faithfully confess, “Jesus is Lord,” you have met a brother or a sister (Romans 10:8-9; 8:28-29).

Our Texas Baptist family is committed to missions. If you cut us, we bleed missions, evangelism and ministry. We are committed to starting new churches, to going wherever we can to share the story of Jesus, to inviting people to believe and follow him, and to helping all who believe to grow in Christ. When this growth happens, a person begins to reflect the glory of God and thus to be more like Jesus.

We want to cross any barrier to sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, and we want to join him in telling the story that saves all who believe. We want to be God’s instruments that he can use in drawing others to himself, and we want people to get a good glimpse of Christ when they look at us. But it is never about converting people to us or to our own way. It is about Jesus and his gospel—for only Jesus saves.

We are loved.

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

UMHB students invest time
in neighborhood children

By Jennifer Sicking

University of Mary Hardin-Baylor

BELTON—Business management student Felicia Cano sees her Tuesday and Thursday afternoons as an investment.

“It really gives us the opportunity to invest in kids’ lives,” said Cano, a University of Mary Hardin-Baylor junior from Bay City.

“They don’t see love—that anyone cares or is committed most of the time. It gives us a chance to show Christ’s love just by playing with them.”

University of Mary Hardin-Baylor student Allison Daniel helps a neighborhood child on the swings.

Cano and about 20 other University of Mary Hardin-Baylor students spend one hour twice a week playing with children in low-income areas of Belton.

The students team up with Hope for the Hungry, a faith-based international agency.

Ben Ray, who works with the Belton-based organization, said the group focused exclusively on its children homes and missionaries outside the United States for many years, until someone mentioned the unmet needs of local children.

“We’re losing a generation of kids,” Ray said. “They’re not getting the role models growing up. This is a way to reach out to them.”

Twice a week, UMHB students meet at the Baptist Student Ministry wearing red T-shirts proclaiming their mission—“Love kids. Play games. Share Jesus”—before heading to a designated area for ministry.

On a recent Thursday, students knocked on doors in a low-income neighborhood and invited children to play in a nearby park. Soon, about 20 children arrived and joined in a spirited kickball game.

Kat Smith, a freshman Christian ministries major from Fort Worth, sees playing as a way to continue her ministry to children.

“I lived in Mexico for a while, and I interned at an orphanage,” she said. “I loved working with the kids there.”

The Belton ministry offers the kind of personalized attention that allow students to develop meaningful relationships with children, she noted.

“The numbers aren’t too large, so you can get to know the kids,” she said.

Katerina Davila, 11, said she enjoys coming to the park to play with the college students.

“You get to do stuff like kickball,” she said while taking a break from doing cartwheels as she waited her turn to kick the ball. “You get to run and have fun.”

After working off some energy, the children gather in a circle under a shade tree for a drink of cold water and a Bible story. Ray told the children the parable of the farmer sowing seed in his field.

“The seed is the good news that Jesus gives us new life,” Ray said.

While some people, like the ground, reject the seed, others accept the seed by then new life is choked out through rocks or thorns. However, some ground accepts the seed and it grows abundantly.

“When we accept the good news and receive it in, it can change lives,” he said.

The children then spread handfuls of seed on the ground.

Nathan Nipp, a junior history major from Houston, said this is his first year to participate in the ministry.

“Over the summer, I thought I needed to do some sort of outreach,” he said. Upon returning to school, he heard about the ministry and attended a meeting. “I thought this is something I can do.”

Initially, he didn’t see himself as a “kid person,” but involvement in the ministry has given him an opportunity to stretch and grow.

“The more I do this, the more comfortable I get with the kids,” he said. “It’s a good way to get in ministry.” 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

Waco church for homeless inspires others

By Ken Walker

Special to the Baptist Standard

LEXINGTON, Ky.—The Church Under the Bridge in the Lexington, Ky., serves the same type of homeless and low-income people as a Waco congregation that inspired it—even though the Kentucky congregation never has met under a bridge.

Attracting from 200 to 400 people to Sunday afternoon services, the group recently marked its second anniversary.

Jimmy Dorrell, pastor of the original Church Under the Bridge in Waco, was excited to learn that another congregation is using the same name. In addition to the original in Waco, others are in Austin and San Antonio.

“That’s encouraging,” said Dorrell of Mission Waco, an adjunct professor at Baylor University and Truett Theological Seminary. “It’s the multiplication of the church to reach the ones we often exclude. I wish there were hundreds. The model is easy. It just means caring for people.”

About 20 Lexington-area churches, including six congregations in the Kentucky Baptist Convention, have helped conduct services.

“It’s really a neat ministry,” said Brian Harris, a member of Central Baptist Church in nearby Winchester, Ky. “A good percentage are homeless, and another percentage are not totally mentally competent, but all blend together well.”

Coordinator Allison Johnston said its vision is to serve the spiritual, physical and emotional needs of the homeless and marginally housed.

“We believe that the love of Jesus will be seen through our services,” Johnson said.

The inspiration for Lexington’s Church Under the Bridge originated with Stella Kidd, a member of Immanuel Baptist Church in Lexington.

Kidd acknowledges she was alarmed after her daughter, Chrissi Stevens, enrolled at Baylor in 2002 and called later to say she had found a church home. The problem was where the group met—under an Interstate 35 bridge near campus.

“I thought: ‘She’s going to church with all the drunks. This can’t be safe,’” Kidd recalled.

However, after visiting her daughter two months later and attending services, Kidd changed her mind.

“It was overwhelming to see the love of Jesus in action,” Kidd said. “It was wonderful to see people do whatever it takes to take the love of Jesus to people so they can see it.”

After returning to Lexington, Kidd—co-owner of a photo studio—showed pictures of the unconventional church to her office manager. That sparked discussions about how they could start a similar effort.

Those conversations led to the formation of a four-member steering committee. Each discussed their vision with members of their home church and gathered support.

In 2004, the first service was held at a YMCA. It has since shifted a couple times and currently meets on the front lawn of the Episcopal diocese downtown.

When the weather turns cooler this fall, services will move to a nearby elementary school.

The steering committee also recruited various churches to help put on services and serve the meal that follows. The response has demonstrated the project’s appeal.

“I have yet to find a minister who’s come who says, ‘I’m not interested in coming back,’” Kidd said.

Stevens, who visited the church during college breaks, calls the Lexington outreach “really exciting,” saying it enables her mother to put her social work degree to good use.

“She’s been able to meet the needs of the congregation as well as take the love of God to needy people groups,” said Stevens, who graduated in May and is working as a nurse in Columbia, S.C.

The Waco ministry made a long-term impact on Stevens, who said she had never been exposed to ministry to the homeless prior to Church Under the Bridge.

After moving to Dallas to complete her nursing degree, Stevens and her husband, Matthew, became active at Inner City Baptist Church. She said both experiences will be useful when they head overseas to do mission work as part of her husband’s studies for a master of divinity degree.

“In each culture overseas, we’re going to be contextualizing our ministry to meet the needs of those groups,” Stevens said. “God has given us some wonderful exposure in developing those skills.”

Although the services in Lexington feature Baptist-style invitations to accept Christ as Lord and Savior, organizers haven’t tracked conversions.

Still, Kidd knows they have made an impact on many parishioners. She cites one woman who has enrolled in night school and a man with a master’s degree who has left the streets and is helping other homeless people.

Another formerly homeless man also turned his life around.

“He’s serving burgers at McDonald’s, and you’d think he was president of the United States,” Kidd said. “He’s so proud he has a job and his own place to live.”

One of the biggest strides is extending a welcoming hand to people who have been rejected so often they are wary of others, Kidd said.

“God is using a lot of (volunteers) to help these people feel loved,” Kidd 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

Valley investigation could cost $150,000

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

DALLAS—The Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board will learn Oct. 31 the results of an investigation into alleged mismanagement of church-starting funds in the Rio Grande Valley—a probe that could cost up to $150,000.

At the board’s Sept. 25-26 meeting, Chairman Bob Fowler of Houston announced a called board meeting from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 31 at the Baptist Building in Dallas. At that time, Brownsville Attorney Diane Dillard will present findings from the five-month investigation she has headed.

She initially will present her complete report to the Executive Board officers and to the BGCT executive leadership staff Oct. 24.

Directors will not receive findings from the investigation until their called meeting.

“After the (September Executive Board) meeting and because of discussions held with others, (Vice Chairman) Jim Nelson and I have determined that it will be best for us to distribute the summary to board members when they arrive in Dallas for the special called meeting,” Fowler explained.

“This will enable board members to receive the summary and hear the explanation directly from our investigators at the same time and avoid a widespread sharing of this information until that can occur. The board authorized the funding of this investigation and has been assured that its results would be brought to the board first, after an initial presentation to the officers and to Executive Director Charles Wade. We operate as a board and not as individual directors. We need to hear the results together, as a board, whatever those results may be.”

The full printed report will be made available after the called meeting to any director who requests it.

In May, the Executive Board approved $50,000 from contingency funds for the investigation and granted the board’s chair and the BGCT executive director the ability to authorize another $50,000, if needed.

At the time, the attorney and her associates expected to complete their work prior to the board’s September meeting.

“This has proven to be more complex and involved than we or they anticipated,” Fowler told the board, noting the probe has involved two attorneys, a private investigator and a forensic accountant.

In addition to completing numerous interviews, they also have requested 11,000 pages of financial documents from the Baptist Building for review, and billable hours were approaching the $100,000 mark, he noted.

As a result, the board approved a recommendation from its Administration Support Committee authorizing up to an additional $50,000 for the investigation.

The investigation centers on suspicions regarding the large number of cell-group missions reported as church-starts in the lower Rio Grande Valley from 1996 to 2003. Critics allege some church-starts that received financial help from the BGCT never existed except on paper. They assert some individuals may have profited by claiming to start multiple, nonexistent “mystery missions.”

In addition to authorizing additional funds for the investigation, the Executive Board also:

• Approved an additional $350,000 grant to the WorldconneX missions network from the J.K. Wadley Mission Fund.

• Approved up to $300,000 to continue providing a limited number of Baptist Standard subscriptions to leaders of BGCT-affiliated churches.

• Recommended a special agreement that would allow Valley Baptist Health System to elect up to three non-Baptist Christians on its 15-member board of trustees. The agreement is subject to approval by messengers to the BGCT annual meeting, Nov. 13-14 in Dallas.

• Affirmed the decision to retain Grant Thornton to conduct the 2006 financial audit.

• Filled vacancies and approved terms of service members of several councils and committees.

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

WorldconneX links layman’s
vision with village’s need

By David Williams

WorldconneX

PASADENA—A Texas Baptist layman wanted to provide a water well for someone in another country. A village in Kenya needed a source for water. And the WorldconneX missions network matched the resource to the need through Buckner Orphan Care International.

It started when Lee Vaughn, a retired oil company worker, approached retired missionary John Mills, who teaches adult Sunday school at South Main Baptist Church in Pasadena.

“He came to me simply knowing that we had been missionaries in West Africa and was interested in giving money to provide a well,” said Mills, who had served as West Africa regional leader with the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board.

Vaughn explained he had received a small inheritance and wanted to use it to help someone by providing a water well.

“When I was a kid, I had to carry water about a quarter of a mile,” Vaughn said. “So, I feel for people who have to do that, and I know how important it is to have good, clean water.”

Vaughn previously had donated a well to an orphanage in Mexico, but this time he was having some trouble finding a channel for making his gift. He hoped to provide the well somewhere in Africa.

Vaughn asked Mills for suggestions. Mills, in turn, talked to their pastor, Ron Lyles, who suggested they contact WorldconneX for help.

“I called WorldconneX in Dallas,” Mills said. “They came up with the idea that Buckner was doing a project that would need a well.”

The connection came through a series of events in rapid succession, which participants saw as God’s hand at work. Victor Upton, WorldconneX systems support leader, was traveling in Kenya when he first received an e-mail alerting him to look for a well project in Africa.

The next morning, Upton had breakfast with Randy Daniels, Buckner’s director of international programs, who was in Kenya to check on a child-development center Buckner was building in a nearby village.

“Victor mentioned this potential donor who wanted to do a well somewhere in the world and, I said, ‘What about right here?’” Daniels recalled.

He told Upton about the project in Busia, one of five early childhood education centers Buckner is developing in rural areas of Kenya. In addition to serving about 75 children, the facility also will serve as a community center and a staging area for missions efforts such as humanitarian aid, training, camps and Vacation Bible Schools.

Upton told Vaughn about the opportunity, and then put him in touch with Daniels at Buckner. A few days later, Vaughn sent a check to cover the $13,000 well project.

Buckner has drawn up plans for the well and is in the process of securing a contract for the work.

“The well will absolutely invigorate this place,” Daniels said. “That well will not only serve the child development center, but also that local community, which for the most part does not have access to water.”

Vaughn had heard of Buckner, knew of its reputation and was pleased to be making his contribution through them.

“The main idea is to win lost people to Christ,” Vaughn said.

“It gives the missionaries a way to get in. When the people see what is being done for them, the missionaries can talk to them and win them to Christ. That’s the main idea.” 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

CYBER COLUMN:
Perfect lawn

By Berry Simpson

I have been reading a book I found on the new-book shelf at the Midland County Library, American Green: The Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Lawn, by Ted Steinberg. One amazing fact I’ve learned: Americans spend an estimated $40 billion a year on lawn care.

Steinberg would be disappointed to know that the Simpson family doesn’t have a lawn in the front yard; at least, not a conventional turf-grass lawn. Some years ago, we replaced our grass with a variety of ground covers that some former neighbors might say is nothing but “a big science fair experiment.” The reason we did it was because we wanted something different and more interesting, and because I decided I was sick of mowing. We were successful. Our yard is interesting, if confusing, and I only mow the front yard once a year when Cyndi makes me cut down the Vinca after the daisies have dropped their flowers.

We do have grass in our back yard, however, but only because we have a dog who lives back there and needs grass as part of her environment. Her name is Lady, and she is a Golden Labrador who hates the water and refuses to retrieve (glaring weaknesses in the world of Labrador Retrievers). But she like to run long distances with Cyndi. She’s run over 10 miles on many occasions. Now, she’s suffering the effects of old age, and her body can’t run as well as her mind thinks it can. I can relate to that. (She shows no interest in reading my journals, or in much of anything I have to say for that matter, so I know she won’t mind my mentioning her.)

So we have a back lawn for Lady’s sake. And this summer it’s looked better than it’s looked in years because, well it’s rained a lot lately, and that makes a big difference. But besides that, it was mowed every week all summer. In previous summers, we were out of town so much or I was sick of mowing in 100-degree heat so much the lawn often went three or four weeks between mowings, and it always looked pathetic. Lawns need more attention than I was prepared to give, and our back yard suffered because of me.

But at the beginning of this summer, I learned that my good friend Todd was leaving his lucrative job as a physics teacher and coach and looking for work in the private sector. While he was job hunting; he intended to mow lawns for extra money, and I felt called to help him and his young family by hiring him to mow my lawn every Wednesday. Some may’ve thought that I was taking advantage of Todd’s plight and simply “dodging work,” but I stuck to my commitment and contributed to Todd’s new life all summer long. And our nicely manicured lawn shows the happy results.

We have a mixture of Bermuda grass and St. Augustine grass in the back yard. We used to have a lot of dense Bermuda when the kids were young until our pet rabbits ate it all right down to the dirt. So I replanted and we soon had another dense Bermuda lawn until our Honey Locust trees got big enough to shade-out much of the grass. I didn’t mind the shading effect, and, in fact, I took advantage of it with frequent naps in my hammock. But then the trees died of old age and bores, and I lost my treasured shade, and the grass never grew back to its previous lushness—I think out of sympathy.

The St. Augustine came from our neighbor to the south who one year went crazy and redid his entire back yard. His St. Augustine was so aggressive in its search for new territory it crept under the wooden fence separating our yards and invaded my spotty Bermuda. It steadily moved north and has, of date, conquered half of our backyard. I’m OK with that. I want grass that is happy to be there and ambitious enough to seize the territory, not has-been grass still pouting over old glory days, even if I myself an still pouting over the loss of my hammock shade.

Ted Steinberg quoted Abraham Levitt, creator of the first great planned suburb, Levittown, on Long Island, and pioneer in the American quest for the perfect lawn, who said: “Grass is the very foundation of life.” Well, maybe it is. I have a complicated relationship with my lawn. I want it to look nice and friendly and inviting and pretty, but I don’t want to spend any time working on it. I’d rather lay in my hammock in the shade and read a book.

“I run in the path of Your commands, for You have set my heart free” (Psalm 119:32).

Berry Simpson, a Sunday school teacher at First Baptist Church in Midland, is a petroleum engineer, writer, runner and member of the city council in Midland. You can contact him through e-mail at berry@stonefoot.org.

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

Posted: 9/29/06

Church arguments spilling
out into blogs and websites

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (ABP)—Bellevue Baptist Church is on the cutting edge of a growing trend—at least when it comes to conflict. Like members from several other prominent churches nationwide, congregants at the Memphis-area megachurch are using websites and blogs to post details about ongoing dissent within the ranks.

But do such high-tech tactics empower church members to address conflict or merely make the conflict worse while airing a church's dirty laundry to the world?

The issue at Bellevue involves Pastor Steve Gaines and a group of longtime church members, who say he’s receiving an inappropriately high salary, is pushing the church toward an elder-led system and has forced out a popular music director.

Others have said Gaines uses intimidation and arrogance as his main method of operation. Still more say they feel it’s too soon to change the 30,000-member church after the 2005 death of legendary pastor Adrian Rogers. Gaines, along with a strong contingent behind him, has denied the allegations.

As part of their protest, Bellevue members created www.bellevuetruth.blogspot.com and www.savingbellevue.com, which includes letters from members, a transcript of an interview with a concerned deacon, and links to sites of churches in comparable straits. As of Sept. 26, the site had received more than 90,000 hits.

Across town at Germantown Baptist Church, and hundreds of miles away at Montrose Baptist Church in Rockville, Md., congregants have faced similar divisions and used similar methods to disseminate information and garner support. At First Baptist Church in Colleyville, bloggers brought scrutiny to financial dealings that led to the pastor's resignation.

All four church conflicts involved conservative churches divided over leadership style and use of authority. But the trend to take those battles to cyberspace is not limited to churches of a particular political stripe.

In Germantown, member Clark Finch helped organize www.savegbc.com to rally members against instituting elder rule at the 9,000-member church. Finch and other opponents used the anti-elder website to enlist historians, professors and laypeople to save their church “from the improper use of elders,” Finch said. He supports “leading elders” but not “ruling elders,” a role he said constitutes a dangerous departure from biblical descriptions of the office. So far, the opposition to elder-rule has held sway.

In Rockville, confusion about financial conflicts of interest caused the apparent need for an alternative information source—a website called “Friends of Montrose Baptist” at www.montrosebaptist.org. The site was instrumental in communication between church members during the scandal.

Although pastor Ray Hope resigned in 2002 after church leaders investigated his involvement in recruiting students to attend the church’s school, the website still posts chats, news and reviews for “those who have been wacked-upside-the-head [sic] with the 2×4 of spiritual abuse, but still love God.”

Blog and website proponents claim they need the online vehicle to level the playing field. The technology lets them publish information—like church financial statements or proposed bylaws—that would otherwise be hidden by dictatorial pastors and elders. Supporters also say blogs are necessary to distribute information actively blocked by other, more conventional channels. Some supporters say opposing factions within a church need a forum to communicate their concerns.

William Thornton, an Atlanta resident who has not met Bellevue pastor Gaines, wrote on www.Baptistlife.com that the pastor had been not only inept at dealing with direct criticism, but he lacked the skills to deal with online criticism as well.

“I think it's the same old story of blogging being ignored until it is recognized that thousands of people are reading one side of a story,” Thornton wrote. “Gaines might [do well to] drive across town and talk to Sam Shaw at Germantown Baptist, who was skewered by bloggers and websites on a church proposal that was defeated and eventually led to his resignation.”

Bob Perry, congregational-health team leader of the Baptist General Convention of Missouri, disagrees with the need to use blogs as weapons. Perry said that blogging about denominational politics on a national level is useful to inform mass audiences via a broad medium—bloggers recently helped effect reforms in the Southern Baptist Convention and its North American Mission Board—but it’s unacceptable, he continued, to use blogs for conflict revsolution in individual churches.

“I think at the local church level, it is very, very wrong,” Perry said. “I just can’t imagine that there’s any real value to this.”

Christians should use biblical models for resolving conflict, like the 18th chapter of Matthew, he added. If dissenters need a forum, Perry said, use the church directory to mail correspondence to relevant people, or have large church meetings. Just don’t advertise the problem on the Internet.

“I think a part of what’s implied in (Matthew) is that one of the principles you use is don’t let the resolution process spread the conflict to a broader audience than it had to begin with,” he said. “I think blogging is one giant violation of that principle.”

Perry also noted a passage in First Corinthians where the Apostle Paul exhorts followers to avoid settling disputes in secular courts. He said the principle there applies to blogging about church conflict, which places an internal church dispute on the Internet so “it is laid out before a whole unbelieving world.”

“God only knows the damage it does to the cause of Christ,” Perry said. “You’ve got people reading blogs in India and China—folks we are hoping to evangelize. And they are reading about local disputes in Baptist churches. I think it’s just very unhealthy.”

On the other hand, Joe Deupree believes knowledge is power, especially when it comes to church conflicts. Deupree was instrumental in generating, among other outlets, online media coverage during alleged improprieties at First Baptist Church of Colleyville. Bloggers picked up the links, and Pastor Frank Harber resigned Aug. 18 after months of online and print queries about questionable real estate transactions involving the church.

An independent audit revealed no questionable financial practices, church members learned Sept. 24 at an annual business meeting. Still, the Internet made the Colleyville group successful in the “educational process” that finally ousted Harber, Deupree said.

“My thought on religion is that it should be completely open. Hopefully, we have left our secret societies and medieval hidden messages” behind, he said. “It’s better to be completely transparent than let people wonder what you’re trying to hide.”

Deupree said there are some parameters for proper Internet use amid church conflict, however.

“Be sure anything you put in there is factual, and if there is any doubt, don’t do it,” Deupree said. “Anything you get off other sites, give it a check with two or three sources.”

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: 9/28/06

BaptistWay Bible Series for October 8

The joy of worshipping together

• Psalm 84

By David Wilkinson

Broadway Baptist Church, Fort Worth

Years ago, when our family lived in Nashville, my friend Gerry called me on a Thursday night to tell me his wife had the flu, leaving him with a ticket to the homecoming game at his beloved alma mater, the University of Georgia. I like football, so I was delighted to go along for the ride. But I was unprepared for my introduction to “Dawg” devotion.

As any bona fide college football fan would readily attest, game day begins long before kickoff. In this case, the anticipation began as soon as we headed south for the drive to Atlanta. It gathered momentum throughout the evening at the home of Gerry’s former college roommate, where all conversation after “hello” was devoted to the glories of UGA football.

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By mid-morning the next day, the anticipation had reached full speed. Although the campus in Athens was only an hour away, the pilgrimage from the Atlanta suburbs began five hours before kickoff.

We ate lunch at a local restaurant packed with red-clad fans. After squeezing into the campus bookstore to buy UGA sweatshirts and other paraphernalia for Gerry’s children, we began the long walk to the stadium, joining one of the multiple streams of boisterous fans converging into a sea of red.

An hour later, as the Bulldogs’ kicker approached the ball for kickoff, I stared in amazement as Jerry—a brilliant physician and otherwise intelligent human being—rose with the throng and barked at the top of his lungs.

After reading Psalm 84 with its description of the joy of worship, I wondered: What if Christians approached our Sunday morning gatherings with as much anticipation and exuberance as those Georgia football fans?

Familiar notes

Throughout our study of the Psalms, it may be helpful to return to previous passages to be reminded of the prominent themes and larger purposes of this inspired collection of poetry, song and prayer.

The language of Psalm 84 reverberates with familiar themes encountered in earlier lessons. The longing for God’s presence (v. 2) echoes the opening lines of Psalm 42. The series of beatitudes (vv. 4, 5 and 12) picks up the refrain with which the book of Psalms begins (1:1). The love for the house of God (vv. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 10) and the rituals of worship are reminiscent of Psalms 22:22, 25; 23:6; 27:4; 42:4; 43:4; and 73:17.

Pleas and praise for God’s provision and protection, including the images of God as sun and shield (v. 11), repeat the notes of Psalms 1:6, 3:3; 22:4-5; 23:4; and 27:1, 5. The contrast of God’s care for the righteous and judgment of the wicked (vv. 10-11) returns to a familiar theme found in Psalms 1; 3:7-8; and 73:27-28.

First and foremost, however, this is a psalm of worship. The language of praise and worship, especially as expressed in the form of music (v. 4), captures the spirit of the Psalter as the hymnal of God’s people (Psalms 13:6, 27:6; 42:4; and 43:4).

Psalm 84 often is classified as a hymn of praise to Zion (with Psalms 46, 48, 76, 87 and 122), but it also belongs in spirit to the collection of pilgrim songs (Psalms 120-134). It also can be paired with Psalms 42-43. While the latter speak of the thirst for God, Psalm 84 testifies to the fulfillment of that yearning in the joy of being in the presence of God.

Sacred space

The psalmist’s six-fold references to the sanctuary or temple—from God’s “dwelling place” (v. 1) to “the house of my God” (v. 10)—offer an important reminder of the importance of “place” in the worship of God. God’s Spirit may be everywhere, but that does not mean God is placeless. God comes to us in time and space. Our sanctuaries, our places of worship, are made holy by God’s presence.

In the spirit of the Old Testament’s description of worshippers in joyful procession to the temple, we go to worship God as a community of believers who gather for that purpose. As Old Testament scholar James L. Mays reminds us: “God dwells in heaven, but he has place on earth. We ‘go’ to God. Every visit to a temple or church or meeting of believers is in a profound sense a pilgrimage. We ‘go,’ not just for practical or personal reasons; we go theologically.”

When we go in the spirit of the psalmist, we go with joy. The psalmist’s longing for “the courts of the Lord” (v. 2) and his joy in worshiping in the house of God (vv. 2, 4 and 10) echo the familiar refrain of Psalm 122:1: “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord!’”

They also challenge our tepid appreciation for the centrality of corporate worship in the life of faith. Indeed, the psalmist’s yearning stands in stark contrast to our frequent reluctance to get out of bed on Sunday morning to “go to church.”

Language of worship

The psalmist’s use of various terms for God—“Lord of hosts” (vv. 1, 3 and 12), “Lord God of hosts” (v. 8), “God of gods” (v. 7), and “God of Jacob” (v. 8)—represents more than creative use of synonyms. The language speaks to the vast richness of God’s nature, to God’s sovereignty and to God’s covenant relationship with the people of Israel.

In the mystery of God’s love for us, we worship not only the God of the universe and the God of time and eternity, but also the God who is our God. God is both the subject and object of our worship. As such, genuine worship calls for giving our whole selves, our “heart and flesh,” to God (v. 2).

Out of this spirit and understanding of genuine worship, the psalmist declares he would rather have a single day standing at the mere threshold of the house of God (in keeping with the literal meaning of the phrase, “I would rather be a doorkeeper”) than a thousand days spent elsewhere (v. 10). May the psalmist’s experience of the irreplaceable place of worship be true for each of us.

Discussion questions

• In what ways does this psalm call you to the purpose of worship?

• Does the psalmist’s exclamation of sheer joy in anticipation of worship resonate with your experience? Why or why not?

• Try substituting the name of your church for each of the psalm’s references to the house of God (verses 1, 2, 3, 4 and 10). Does this express your attitude toward worship?

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: 9/28/06

Bible Studies for Life Series for October 8

Take hold of godliness in action and attitude

• 1 Timothy 4:6-16

By Kenneth Lyle

Logsdon School of Theology, Abilene

A little over a year ago, my then 15-year-old-son, Walker, suffered an injury to his left shoulder while playing football. Four weeks earlier he had suffered the same injury to his right shoulder. After the first injury, he spent four weeks in physical therapy rehabbing his right shoulder. He spent hours exercising and reconditioning his right shoulder. After four weeks, the doctor said he was OK to play.

On the first day back to practice, Walker suffered the same injury to his left shoulder. This time the shoulder required surgery. The surgery and subsequent rehab effectively ended Walker’s football season.

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Walker went into off-season workouts with a renewed enthusiasm to be ready for the next football season. He ran, lifted weights, participated in agility training, ate the right foods, drank the right shakes and by all accounts seemed ready for the fall.

On the third day of pre-season workouts, Walker twisted his knee during a drill and strained his anterior cruciate ligament. Not a tear, but enough to keep him out of practice for several weeks. After much thought, Walker made the decision not to play football.

Walker’s story provides an apt athletic metaphor about the relative value of being prepared physically. No matter how much a person trains for the athletic event, there still is the possibility of failure and injury.

In 1 Timothy 4:6-16, Paul centers his encouragement to Timothy on an athletic metaphor in order to draw a powerful and necessary distinction between physical preparedness and spiritual preparedness. Paul does not dismiss the need for physical exercise, but he urges Timothy to engage in the kind of training regime that leads to an evident and admirable godliness. The lesson bids us to “Take Hold of Godliness,” by developing and demonstrating godly lifestyles.

The background passages for this lesson are instructive. Paul spends a great deal of time in chapters 2 and 3 describing a vision of life within the church. Paul offers advice about the nature of prayer (2:1-15), proper dress and deportment (3:9-10), and the qualifications for bishops (3:1-7) and deacons (3:8-13).

At the end of this section, Paul offers a word of explanation to Timothy: “Although I hope to come to you soon, I am writing you these instructions so that if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:14-15). Clearly, Paul demonstrates a primary concern for what the church, the household of God, should not just look like, but what it should act like.

In that context, Paul sets out to describe to Timothy what his role should be within the household of God. In last week’s focal passage, Paul encouraged Timothy to “Take Hold of Truth.” Here, Paul continues that thought with a further description of the kind of false teaching Timothy might face.

Paul tells Timothy that, “If you point these things out … you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed” (4:6). The preceding verses provide the content of the “these things” of verse 6.

Paul describes a belief system which disparages marriage and forbids the eating of certain foods. Paul describes the adherents and dispensers of these teachings as “hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron (4:2).

While specific identification of these “false teachers” is not possible, it seems likely they represent a gnostic tendency within the church that drew strong distinctions between the body and the spirit, and often misplaced emphasis on either ascetic or libertine practices. Here the focus of the false teachers seems to be on what a person must give up in order to achieve super spiritual status.

Paul rebuts the erroneous conclusions of these false teachers and offers a clever counter argument and substitute regime. Paul reminds Timothy that “everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving … (4:4). Paul essentially argues it is not food or marriage that should be avoided, but rather the “godless myths and old wives tales” (4:7) which are the source of poor spiritual nutrition.

Paul not only argues for proper spiritual nourishment; he also prescribes a regime of spiritual training. Paul adapts a proverbial saying about the relative value of physical training, which in its original context would have supported the intellectual life over the athletic life.

It is important to note that Paul does not here disparage physical exercise in favor of the spiritual disciplines. His point is that “godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come” (4:8). Physical exercise is beneficial and provides benefits visible in this life—likewise the disciplines of prayer, Bible study and worship. Paul also wants Timothy to grasp the eternal and abundant benefits of a godly life.

Chapter 4 concludes with a call for Timothy to demonstrate godliness in both internal and external ways. Paul reminds Timothy of the gift of God’s grace that needs to be demonstrated “in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity” (v. 12); but he also encourages Timothy to practice “public reading of scripture … preaching … and teaching” (v. 13). It is important to acknowledge that Paul does not just encourage displays of godliness as an end; rather, Paul recognizes power of a godly life to make disciples (vv. 15-16). Paul wants to make clear Timothy’s role in the household of God. Timothy, by his very life, is to demonstrate a winsome godliness that benefits those around him.

Discussion questions

• What kinds of behaviors are usually held up as examples in the life of the church? What kinds should be?

• Are there “godless myths and old wives tales” that get too much attention in church?

• How do we balance the need for internal expression of spiritual discipline with the requirement for and external demonstration of godliness?

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: 9/28/06

Explore the Bible Series for October 8

Christian maturity is not accidental

• Hebrews 5:11-6:12

By Howard Anderson

Diversified Spiritual Associates, San Antonio

The writer of Hebrews was discouraged because the Jewish believers could not grasp Christ’s high priesthood. They could not grasp the basic truths, apply them, and by constant application, go on to maturity. These Christians are immature and “slow to learn” not having grasped even the elementary truths of the gospel. To be mature is to evolve toward full development. Immaturity is a lack of growth and development.

Description of immaturity (Hebrews 5:11-14)

The writer to the Hebrews deals with the difficulties that confront him in attempting to get across an adequate conception of Christianity to listeners who are “dull of hearing.” The writer is complaining about the quality of their faith. They were slow-moving in mind, lazy in understanding, dull of hearing and illogically forgetful.

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True Christian faith should culminate in growing knowledge. He is about to start into the very heart of his epistle—that Jesus is “a high priest after the order of Melchizedek” (v. 10); but he finds it hard to speak, for his readers should understand, and they do not.

These Jewish believers were Christians for some years. The mere passage of time, if saving faith is at work, should have led them through many experiences of the goodness of God to an advanced knowledge of divine matters. Every believer is to be a teacher (2 Timothy 3:15). If these Hebrews really had obeyed the gospel of Christ, they would have been passing on that message to others. This is our Christian responsibility in the church.

Knowledge without obedience does not advance a person. By rejecting saving faith, the Hebrews were regressing in their understanding concerning the Messiah. They had been exposed to the gospel long enough to be teaching it to others but were babies, too infantile and unskilled to comprehend, let alone teach, the truth of God. “The word of righteousness” (v. 13) is the message about the righteousness of Christ that we have by faith (Romans 3:21-22) rather than works.

In verse 14, “of full age” refers to the completion that comes when one becomes a believer in Christ, rather than referring to a Christian who has become mature. Jesus invited unbelieving Jews to the salvation that came only through following him in faith (Matthew 19:21). Those who come to Jesus Christ by faith are mature and able to receive the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 2:6). The immature person’s righteousness is not in Christ (Phillippians 3:2-20).

Directions to the immature (Hebrews 6:1-8)

The writer to the Hebrews was certain of the need for progress in the Christian life. Teachers would get far if they had to lay the foundations all over again every time they began to teach. “Let us go on unto perfection” does not imply complete knowledge but certain maturity in the Christian faith. As we grow older, we should be able to think for ourselves. We should be able to say better who we believe Jesus Christ to be. We should have a deeper grasp of the facts and the significances of the Christian faith.

As a person grows older, there should be more and more of the reflection of Christ upon him or her. In our daily faith walk, we should be eradicating ourselves of old faults and achieving new virtues. There can be no standing still in the Christian life—the person who ceases to be better ceases to be good.

The Christian life begins with repentance that is literally a change of mind. The person has a new attitude toward God, humankind, life and self. It is repentance from dead works. Coming to Jesus Christ, we realize our works had nothing to do with salvation or the life Jesus offers. We turn away from ”works righteousness” in the Christian life as well. Our achievement of salvation is by the grace of God.

Baptism is by total immersion in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Laying on of hands is the sign of setting apart to some special office or ordination. Resurrection from the dead and eternal judgment summarize the believer’s hope.

Encouragement for maturing (Hebrews 6:9-12)

This is the only passage in the whole letter where the writer addresses his people as “beloved.” The writer was yearning over humankind, as God himself does. We discover that even if the people to whom he is writing have failed to grow up in Christian faith and knowledge and even if they have been falling away from their first enthusiasm, they have never given up their practical service to their fellow Christians.

Sometimes in the Christian life, we come to times that are barren; the church services have nothing to say to us, the teaching we do in Sunday school or the singing we do in the choir or the service we give in a ministry becomes a labor without joy.

At such a time, there are two alternatives. We can give up our worship and our service, but if we do, we are lost. On the other hand, we can go determinedly on with them, and the strange thing is that the light, romance and joy will return. In the barren times, the best thing to do is to go on with the habits of the Christian life and of the church. If we do, we can be sure the sun will shine again.

Christians who are mature should be imitators of those who through faith and patience inherited the promise. Our challenge is to go in the realization that others have gone through the struggle and won the victory. The mature Christian is not treading an untraveled pathway, but are treading where the saints have gone ahead of him.

Discussion questions

• How can you ensure your Christian maturity?

• Is the maturity of others in the body of Christ your responsibility as well?

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: 9/25/06

CYBER COLUMN:
Striving for excellence to please God

By Jeanie Miley

On a warm fall Saturday night, I attended a concert put on by some of the most highly trained ministers of music in the country. The Centurymen is what they are called, and I’m pretty sure they are some of the best singers in the whole world. (They looked pretty handsome in their tuxes, too.)

I sat near the front, and so I got to watch the accompanists closely. I loved watching them do what they do. I felt so blessed, watching one of the world’s great choral conductors, a genius among us, conduct those professional musicians in a concert that made chills run up and down my spine over and over.

I could not stop smiling, just from the sheer joy and privilege of being in the presence of musicians who are sublimely talented, uncommonly committed to their craft and willing to endure a lifetime of rigorous discipline. The beneficiary of their gifts, I experienced God’s love and grace through them, measure after measure, song after glorious song.

About halfway through the concert, I couldn’t stop the tears of gladness. “This excellence in church music,” I thought to myself, “is one of the things I value most and love best from my Baptist heritage.”

Riding home with friends who grew up Baptist like I did, we talked about some of the things we value most about our heritage, and excellent church music was one of the things each of us said was essential to the faith development and the strength of faith we experienced.

Some of us talked about times when we had been exposed to a highly trained choral director, organist or pianist who had inspired us to stretch a little more in order to aim just a little higher and develop whatever natural talent we might have had because excellence was what God expected of us.

Some of us had stories of teachers and mentors who pushed us more than we enjoyed at the time to “study to show ourselves approved unto God” in an era when it was a good thing to do your best, excel in school and aim for excellence. Each of us had someone who demanded excellence from us at a tender time in our lives, expecting us to give more than we knew we could give.

Each of us remembered how we were taught the parable of the talents. We told stories about times when we had to reach down inside ourselves for strength, endurance and persistence we didn’t know we had because excellence was what God expected of us! Doing our best was a sacred obligation, a divine imperative—a privilege.

I’m thankful I got from my Baptist heritage that stout hymn that admonished me to “give of my best to the Master.”

I’m grateful that there were people who expected me to show up on Sunday mornings in my Sunday best, not for show but as a symbol that there is something about going to church that has to do with dignity and respect.

Indeed, the Good News invites each of us to come to God just as we are. We don’t have to glitz and glam ourselves to look good to God or other people. And when we fall short and fail, God loves us and offers mercy and grace.

Now and then, however, it’s almost unbearably sweet to be in the presence of people who are pushing the standard of excellence ’way out on a far edge.

I can’t sing like the musicians I heard, but the God-who-does-all-things-well used the magnificent music of The Centurymen to fill my heart and soul with inspiration. Their beautiful excellence inspired me to do what I do better. Their discipline encouraged me to do what I can do—as if unto the Lord and with all my heart.

Jeanie Miley is an author and columnist and a retreat and workshop leader. She is married to Martus Miley, pastor of River Oaks Baptist Church in Houston, and they have three adult daughters. Got feedback? Write her at Writer2530@aol.com.

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: 9/22/06

McKissic wants SBC to address
'tongues' in Baptist Faith & Message

By Robert Marus

Associated Baptist Press

NASHVILLE (ABP)—A Southern Baptist trustee, whose recent seminary chapel sermon was partially censored over his comments on speaking in tongues, has asked that the denomination 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 in nearby Fort Worth, publicized a letter he sent to members of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, which met Sept. 18-19 in Nashville, Tenn.

In it, he asks SBC President Frank Page and other leaders to study the issue of tongues among Southern Baptists.

“The purpose of this letter is to respectfully and prayerfully request that the president and Executive Committee of (the) SBC 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,” he wrote.

Page, asked by a reporter during the Executive Committee meeting Sept. 19 if he had any reaction to McKissic’s request, said he had not had sufficient time “to study it in any detail” and that “obviously, at this meeting, it was too soon to deal with it.” However, Page added, “We’re going to take it seriously, because there are some concerns in it that I happen to share.”

The Baptist Faith and Message is the denomination’s official confessional statement. It was last amended in 2000.

In his Aug. 29 chapel sermon at Southwestern, McKissic recounted how, while a student at the seminary in 1981, he had an experience of speaking in a “private prayer language” that he believes was evidence of the Holy Spirit helping him communicate with God. McKissic said he continues to have such experiences.

He also criticized a policy, recently established by trustees at the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board, that bans the appointment of missionaries who practice such private versions of glossolalia, or speaking in tongues.

On orders from seminary president Paige Patterson, the school refrained from its normal practice of immediately placing a recording of the morning chapel sermon on its website. In the early evening hours, school officials released a statement saying they made the decision because McKissic had criticized actions by the trustees of a sister SBC institution and because seminary leaders “reserve the right not to disseminate openly views which we fear may be harmful to the churches.”

McKissic’s statements—and Patterson’s reaction—caused a whirl of activity among Southern Baptist bloggers, many of whom accused Patterson of hypocrisy. They noted he had earlier used his office to circulate a “white paper,” written by a former colleague, criticizing the SBC’s International Mission Board and its president, Jerry Rankin, on strategy issues.

McKissic’s request for official SBC action came on the eve of the SBC Executive Committee’s fall meeting.

In his letter, McKissic said the denomination and its institutions need doctrinal clarification on the issue of speaking in tongues because some SBC leaders appear to hold to a “cessationist” view of tongues and other extraordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit outlined in Scripture. Cessationists believe tongues and other such gifts ceased after the apostolic era.

“There is clearly a lack of consensus and clarity on these issues among Southern Baptist(s),” McKissic wrote. “Because some in our convention are ‘cessationist’ and semi-cessationists who hold powerful positions of authority, they are defining Southern Baptist(s) in the public square as cessationist or semi-cessationist, and this position has never been sanctioned in the ‘Baptist Faith & Message.’ It is an assumption by many that the majority of Southern Baptist are cessationist, but many of our leading professors and preachers do not hold a cessationist viewpoint.”

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.