Posted: 9/01/06

New DBU students become
oriented to community service

By Tim Gingrich

Dallas Baptist University

DALLAS—About 500 Dallas Baptist University students served at 12 locations across the Dallas-Fort Worth area—building a home for a Hurricane Katrina evacuee family, packing shoes for overseas orphans and meeting other needs—during the school’s orientation week.

It marked the 19th year DBU has included community service projects as part of its orientation week for new students. Volunteers included both incoming freshmen and their orientation leaders.

DBU Freshman Kendra Roberts puts the finishing touches on a Habitat home in Dallas. (Photo by Chris Hendricks)

Nearly two dozen students partnered with Habitat for Humanity to install windows, paint trim, plant trees and put the finishing touches on a Habitat home for New Orleans evacuees who relocated to Dallas after Hurricane Katrina.

“They gave us a home,” future resident Charles Armelin said, speaking of the outpouring of volunteer support his family received from the Dallas community and DBU students. “We’ve been welcomed to Dallas by people who take time out of their life to help.”

Wiping sweat from her forehead, DBU freshman Alix Nance explained how serving in the community helped her new classmates build relationships.

“This is not a pretty job,” she said. “But when everyone is working hard, you can get to know people for who they really are.”

More than 100 students—including 10 members of the new NCAA Division II basketball team—volunteered throughout the heat of the day unloading shipments of donated food and supplies at Mission Arlington/Mission Metroplex, despite temperatures of around 125 degrees in the trailers.

“The time out there made me appreciate all of the hard work that the people at Mission Arlington do every day and how much those donations do for people in need,” said Justin Pinckney, a DBU basketball player from New Mexico.

“The work was hard, spending all day out there in the sun, but it was definitely worth it. As a team, whenever you work hard and sweat, you get to know each other much better, and you get to just have fun with each other.”

DBU students Anthony Dalton and Ryan Doskocil help to clean up the outside of Cliff Temple Baptist Church. (Photo by Tim Gingrich)

Head Coach Black Flickner accompanied his players on their service project.

“DBU basketball is about more than winning basketball games,” Flickner said. “Helping our students to become active in the community and grow as servant leaders is as important as anything that we do on the court. … It may have been hot, but there is nothing more we would have rather done today.”

Jasa Knight, a freshman from Abilene, served with several dozen new students with Buckner Orphan Care International and its Shoes for Orphan Souls program.

“It’s really cool to know you’re making a difference,” she said. Students filled a storeroom with sneakers and prepared shipments for delivery to children around the world.

“This project has definitely encouraged me to serve in the future,” Knight said.

“I hadn’t really thought about it before, but today made me see the wonderful opportunity to serve.”

Many area organizations rely on the assistance of DBU students and other volunteers to achieve their service-oriented goals, which are often limited only by human resources.

“We operate almost exclusively on volunteer support,” said Marsha Mills, director of the Goslin Care Ministry at Cliff Temple Baptist Church in Oak Cliff. The ministry already has equipped more than 200 children with school supplies for the coming year. “Getting involved lets these university students see a new side of the world, and it does something to your heart.”

In addition to Habitat for Humanity, Mission Arlington, Shoes for Orphan Souls, and Cliff Temple Baptist Church, service sites this year included Brother Bill’s Helping Hand in West Dallas, the homeless ministry of Beautiful Feet in Fort Worth, Grace Temple Baptist Church in Oak Cliff, the Dallas Life Foundation, the Family Place, West Dallas Community Centers, Mission Midlothian and the North Texas Food Bank.

“We had an enormous group of students serving this year, which allowed us to do more than in years past,” said Mark Hale, associate vice president for student affairs at DBU.

“The long-term goal of volunteering during orientation is to demonstrate the idea of servant leadership that we stress here at DBU and, hopefully, encourage a lifetime of serving others.”

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: DBU Freshman Stacy Deetz paints the trim on a Habitat home. DBU students Tiera Londot (left) and Paula Manning stock the pantry at Goslin Care Ministry. Members of the DBU basketball team unload donated supplies at Mission Arlington. DBU Freshman Kendra Roberts puts the finishing touches on a Habitat home in Dallas. DBU student Ryan Doskocil helps to clean up the outside of Cliff Temple Baptist Church. (Photos by Tim Gingrich & Chris Hendricks) 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: 9/01/06

BGCT trailer benefits cowboy churches

By George Henson

Staff Writer

HILLSBORO—Tapping feet and gently clapping hands accompanied the guitar pickers leading music on a blistering hot white-rock parking lot. About 30 hardy souls braved triple-digit temperatures to help launch a western heritage church in rural Hill County.

But they found relief from the scorching Texas sun, thanks to the awning on the Baptist Ge-neral Convention of Texas’ cowboy church truck and trailer.

Gifts from the Baptist Foundation of Texas, High Plains Christian Ministry of Amarillo and individual donors financed the rig. The BGCT has funded its upkeep and expenses, said Ron Nolen, coordinator of the Texas Fellowship of Cowboy Churches and recently retired director of western-heritage ministries for the state convention.

The truck and trailer have covered the state in the last two years, Nolen said. The rig has been seen frequently in parades and at rodeos and used by volunteers as a place to dispense New Testaments and water, as well as provide restroom facilities.

It also has been the first meeting place for a number of western-heritage church starts with no building to call home.

“It has served Texas Baptists well,” Nolen said. “It certainly is an example of Texas Baptists understanding cultural relativity. And it enables us to gain credibility so that we can share the gospel, which is the primary purpose of everything we do.”

Ken Ansell, pastor both of Frontier Cowboy Church in Waxahachie and the new church in Hill County, said the trailer has been a valuable asset.

“It gives us a great amount of credibility to have the BGCT logo on there for the people of Hill County who don’t know us. It shows we’re not some bunch of yahoos who just showed up,” he said.

The trailer has been exciting for the people in the new church start as well, Ansell said.

He recalled one man who arrived early at the rock parking lot at the end of a rock road next to the Hill College rodeo arena. The man looked around and saw nothing that looked like a likely meeting place, and he was beginning to think he had misunderstood where the group would meet. Then Ansell drove up pulling the trailer.

“I just knew we were in the wrong place,” the man told Ansell. “But then y’all drove up with the trailer, and 10 minutes later, we were set up to do church.”

The awning that extends from the side of the trailer and the folding chairs make setting up in a shady place quick work.

“It shows you can do church anywhere, wherever two or three are gathered,” Ansell said.

The trailer is a tool available to all the BGCT’s western-heritage churches, Nolen said.

It will be used Sept. 7-10 at the Hood County Rodeo Grounds by Triple Cross Cowboy Church, a new congregation sponsored by First Baptist Church in Granbury. A buck-out is scheduled Thursday evening, a rodeo will be held Friday evening and Saturday, and the church will hold its first public worship service Sunday. The service will not be held under the awning, since a larger group is expected, but in a building on the grounds. Raymond Lane is pastor of Triple Cross Cowboy Church.

“Everywhere this trailer goes, it’s a tremendous testimony of what happens when Baptists work together and reach out to men and women of the western culture through innovative means,” Nolen 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: 9/01/06

Missions takes hit in proposed 2007 BGCT budget

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

DALLAS—The proposed $50.6 million budget the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board will consider at its Sept. 25-26 meeting cuts $700,000 from the missions, evangelism and ministry area.

The recommended 2007 budget eliminates three positions. If the proposed budget is approved, staff whose positions will be cut effective Dec. 31 are Missional Church Director Milfred Minatrea, who has served with the BGCT since 1995; Community Missions Director Jim Young, who joined the BGCT staff in 1999; and Tommy Goode, a specialist with the BGCT City Core Initiative, an urban missions strategy launched in 2003.

Funds would be redirected to the Baptist Building’s service center, the research & development office, congregational strategists and affinity groups.

“It can be hard for Texas Baptists to hear that we are moving some funds away from the missions, evangelism and ministry team, but it’s good to remember that virtually everything the BGCT does is centered on missions, evangelism and ministry,” Executive Director Charles Wade said. “That’s what Texas Baptists care about, and that’s what the BGCT helps them do.”

About $4.9 million in the proposed budget would fund congregational strategists, church starters and affinity group leaders—an amount roughly equal to the total budget for missions, evangelism and ministry.

The shift in funding reflects the BGCT emphasis on shifting resources to respond more directly to the needs of churches, Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer David Nabors said.

“It reflects the reorganization and is in direct response to what the churches asked us to do,” he said.

Nabors declined to provide information about how much of the redirected money will go to field personnel such as congregational strategists and how much will fund the service center and the research & development office at the Baptist Building.

“The Executive Board has the responsibility of recommending the budget to the convention’s annual meeting, and until they have had an opportunity to review and discuss the budget, it is inappropriate to release details,” he said.

A news release by the BGCT communications office, however, indicated BGCT-related institutions would receive about $19.9 million and collegiate ministry close to $4.1 million according to the proposed budget.

The budget adopted by messengers to last year’s BGCT annual meeting earmarked $23,577,559 for institutional ministries, including $3.89 million for collegiate ministries.

The proposed budget is a $1.163 million increase over the 2006 operating budget. Of the $49,437,000 budget for 2006, $41.297 million is funded through the Cooperative Program and $8.14 million through interest income on wills, trusts and investments, the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions and other sources.

Roberto Cepeda, chair of the Executive Board’s Church Missions & Ministries Committee, said he initially was concerned when he learned about apparent cuts in missions and ministries, and he discussed the issue with BGCT senior administrators.

“As it was explained to me, the money is being moved around to different areas. I was assured the same ministries will be taken care of but in different ways,” said Cepeda, pastor of First Baptist Church in Los Fresnos.

“My understanding is that some of the tasks will be picked up by the congregational strategists, but I don’t know all the specifics yet. … I have been told a lot of the (missions, evangelism and ministry) responsibilities will be shifted to other people.”

Cepeda said he has asked Baptist Building staff to present a clear, detailed presentation to his committee when they meet immediately prior to the Executive Board meeting.

“I know the committee will want to know how the jobs will be done. I’ve been assured we will get an explanation when we get to the board meeting.”

Chief Operating Officer Ron Gunter confirmed many of the responsibilities of discontinued program areas will be reassigned to other staff.

In some instances, the BGCT will shift some job assignments that were part of a larger portfolio of responsibilities to a staff member who will take on a specific task full-time. One example is disaster relief response—a job that involves coordination with Texas Baptist Men ministries and various BGCT program areas.

Immigration ministry—a new job assignment previously assumed by community missions—will be reassigned to the Christian Life Commission.

“This has gained a large amount of interest and now needs a full-time staff member,” Gunter 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: 9/01/06

‘Home Sweet Home Alabama,’
thanks to relief groups

By Robert Marus

Associated Baptist Press

BAYOU LA BATRE, Ala. (ABP)—Hurricane Katrina was the first in an interconnected series of tragedies that left Amy Walker feeling helpless and lost.

But like the part of Alabama where she lives, her life is being rebuilt, thanks to coordination between relief organizations, Baptist and other church volunteers, and government agencies.

“God has answered my prayers in more ways than one,” she said, soon after a tear-soaked ceremony in which she received the keys to a new mobile home—“a miracle,” she told a group of well-wishers and reporters.

Although Katrina did its most spectacular damage in areas to the west—New Orleans and the Mississippi coast—the storm surge still was plenty damaging as far east as Alabama. It left about 1,700 homeless and wrecked scores of shrimp boats based in Grand Bay and Bayou La Batre, neighboring fishing hamlets located where Mobile Bay meets the Gulf of Mexico.

The Walkers, who live in Grand Bay, lost their manufactured home to Katrina’s vicious storm surge. Then, when visiting what was left of the home to salvage meager possessions, Walker fell through the weakened floor, seriously injuring herself.

Resulting surgeries and complications left her with deep-vein thrombosis, which has made employment impossible, walking difficult and health compromised.

With mounting medical bills, a mountain of prescription drugs and a husband who had to quit his job to care for her and their three daughters, the 30-year-old Walker felt she was at the end of her rope. Like many Katrina victims, the five family members had been living in a cramped trailer provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Remembering a relief organization that had provided her family with help at Christmastime, Walker went to see Henry “Digger” Creel in the Volunteers of America Southeast office in nearby Bayou La Batre.

“When I walked into Mr. Digger’s office, I didn’t feel like a number anymore. I felt like a person,” she said in the living room of her new home.

Creel—a Baptist minister—coordinates housing relief in the Alabama portion of the hurricane zone for Volunteers of America, which is a nationwide faith-based service organization. When he heard the Walkers’ story, Creel resolved to find a way to help the family gain some financial stability.

He coordinated with the Mobile County Long Term Recovery Committee, which includes government agencies, denominational relief groups and other organizations. The groups received private and government funding to buy the trailer from a national mobile-home manufacturer with a regional office in Mobile, located about 40 miles away. The company sold the home to the committee below cost, and also donated appliances and some furniture for the house.

In addition, the manufacturer’s regional manager donated the first $1,000 to a college scholarship fund that Volunteers of America set up for the Walker girls—ages 7, 9 and 11.

Amy Walker, who is a member of Friendship Baptist Church in Grand Bay, said before she went to Creel’s office to ask for help, she “felt like it was the end of the world for me. … I got tired of waking up and hearing my kids ask me, ‘Mama, what are we going to do about a house?’”

Of her decision to go to Volunteers of America, she said, “I felt like God sent me there that day.”

Creel said the Walkers are representative of hundreds of other families in the blue-collar area whose lives were turned upside down by Katrina.

In the immediate aftermath of the storm, Volunteers of America and groups such as the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Alabama distributed provisions to storm victims in Bayou La Batre. Creel then set up an office there for long-term relief work, where he helps find housing solutions for area residents. Most of them still live in FEMA trailers or other temporary housing.

Aiding in that work as well, Creel said, have been teams from CBF of Alabama and its counterparts in Georgia and other states. They have come to do long-term rehabilitation work, such as gutting and restoring flooded homes.

Church-based volunteer workers have kept hope alive in the region, which already was depressed due to the American shrimping industry’s financial woes, he noted.

“Without the faith-based response … it just would not have happened,” Creel said. “The faith-based organizations that stepped up to the plate all over Mississippi and Louisiana and here—that made the difference.”

But the area’s biggest long-term needs are for a steady flow of volunteers and government funding. Creel said funds for rebuilding have been slow to come from state and federal agencies—and when they do come, it’s with a host of restrictions.

In the wake of the storm, Bayou La Batre native Lillie Kraver went to work for Creel’s organization as a liaison to government agencies.

“I had to, because I know the people,” she said. “It’s home, and I had to fight to get as much funding for them as possible, so they can have some sort of normalcy back in their lives. … And without God’s help, there’s no way we could do this. The doors that he has opened—it has been amazing.”

Creel said one of his biggest fears is that the volunteer stream will begin to dry up, now that much of the nation’s memories of Katrina are beginning to fade. For instance, with the school year getting under way, the youth groups and teams of college students who had come in large numbers all summer won’t be coming again until winter or spring break.

“As is the case in these types of disasters, a year later we’re out of the spotlight, we’re out of the focus,” Creel said. “We still have a tremendous need for volunteers.” 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: 9/01/06

Around the State

• Southwest Winds, from the U.S. Air Force Band of the West, will present a concert Sept. 9 at 7:30 p.m. at Hughes Recital Hall on the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor campus.

• Baylor University awarded degrees to more than 500 summer graduates last month. During the ceremony, Charles Kemp, senior lecturer at Baylor’s Louise Herrington School of Nursing and clinical director of the Agape Clinic in Dallas, was presented the Abner V. McCall Humanitarian Award, and Charles Wade, executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, was presented the George W. Truett Distinguished Church Service Award.

• East Texas Baptist University nursing student Julie Parker has been named the recipient of the “Promise of Nursing” scholarship for the Dallas/Fort Worth regional area. The $5,000 scholarship is to be used for tuition, books and academic fees.

• Cameron Mason, a student at Wake Forest University Divinity School, Katherine Gil-bert, a student at the Candler School of Theology of Emory University, and Kendal Smith, a student at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary, have been named a Congrega-tional Fellows by the Fund for Theological Education. The $5,000 award each received will match support they will receive from Wilshire Church in Dallas.

• Michael Graham has been elected chairman of the board of trustees for Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas. He is a member of Park Cities Church in Dallas.

Anniversaries

• South Park Church in Beaumont, 80th, Aug. 13. The church plans a celebration and rededication when repairs from Hurricane Rita are completed. James Blackwell is pastor.

• Travis Bryant, 10th, as minister of music and singles at First Church in New Boston, Aug. 13.

• First Church in Vega, 100th, Sept. 3. Geary Martin is pastor.

• Hamby Church in Abilene, 100th, Sept. 10. Festivities will begin when Glenn Lawrence arrives in horse and buggy to speak about the early life of the church and community. Several other former pastors also will share memories of their ministry at the church. The day will include singing, fellowship and a chuckwagon barbecue. For more information, call (325) 548-2772. Harold Barnes is pastor.

• Elm Grove Church in Belton, 95th, Sept. 10. The morning service will feature former pastors and music by several gospel singers. A lunch and afternoon program will follow. Dale Gore is pastor.

• Joe Rogers, 10th, as pastor of Morgan Mill Church in Morgan Mill, Sept. 17. Former Pastor Ronnie Fox will speak in the morning service. A lunch and concert by local musicians will follow.

• Fellowship Church in Longview, 30th, Sept. 17. Former pastors Kenneth Mills, Wayne Gooden, David Lawson and Ben Clayton will attend. A catered meal of catfish and chicken will follow. Call (903) 720-6219 for reservations. Ronnie Hood is pastor.

• David Valentine, fifth, as pastor of First Church in Huntsville, Sept. 26. A celebration lunch will be held Oct. 1.

• Jay Farrar, 50th, in the ministry. He is pastor of Christ’s Fellowship by the Bay in Corpus Christi. His previous service included almost 30 years as pastor of Lexington Church in Corpus Christi, and he was vice president of South Texas School of Christian Studies five years.

• First Church in Lampasas, 150th, Oct. 1. A catered lunch will follow the morning service. Photos of church functions are being sought. For more information or to make reservations for the lunch, call (512) 556-3673 before Sept. 20. Rick Willis is pastor.

• First Church in Seminole, 100th, Oct. 7-8. A banquet requiring reservations will be held Saturday. Singing, preaching and lunch will be held Sunday. Former pastors and staff will be featured in all services. For more information or to make reservations, call (432) 758-3291. Randy Gressett is pastor.

• Calvary Church in Hughes Springs, 40th, Oct. 8. The 11 a.m. service will begin with a roll call of charter members. A catered lunch will follow the morning service. For more information, call (903) 639-2936. Ron Dyess is pastor.

• Hickory Tree Church in Balch Springs, 65th, Oct. 14-15. A covered-dish luncheon will be held at noon Saturday and will include a time of fellowship. A catered meal will follow Sunday’s service. For more information, call (972) 286-3289. Jack Rodgers is pastor.

• San Gabriel Church in Thorndale, 150th, Oct. 15. Anyone with memorabilia from the church’s history is asked to call J.C. Payne at (512) 862-1403. The celebration will begin at 10 a.m. with former Pastor John Roark preaching. Former Pastor Randy Osborn will speak in the worship service, followed by a meal. John Stanislaw, former member and pastor of First Church in Coleman, will speak in an afternoon service.

• Grace Church in China Spring, 25th, Oct. 15. John Whitlatch, the first pastor of the church, and former Pastor Ross Davis will speak. A meal will follow the morning service. Erik Emblem is pastor.

Retiring

• Geary McManus, as pastor of Knobbs Springs Church in McDade, Sept. 10. He has been pastor of the church 33 years. He also was pastor of First Church in Lyons, Providence Church near Caldwell and First Church in Lott. A reception will be held in his honor from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

• Dewayne Beaty, as associate pastor and minister to senior adults at First Church in Longview, Sept. 17. He came to the church 33 years ago as youth and recreation minister. He has been in ministry 51 years. A reception will be held at 6 p.m.

Deaths

• Leonard Conner, 88, May 30 in Granbury. He was pastor of churches in New Mexico and Michigan. Until the time of his death, he was active member at Southside Church in Granbury. He was preceded in death by eight brothers and sisters, two grandchildren and a great-grandchild. He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Mary; daughters, Frankie Crow, Lyndell Torode and Cynthia Baker; sisters, Helen Campbell and Johnnie Deavenport; 17 grandchildren; and 17 great-grandchildren.

• Marion Harris, 86, July 21 in Marshall. He was a pastor and preached revivals 56 years. He was pastor of Live Oak Church in Gatesville, First Church in Devers, First Church in Mineola, First Church in Marshall, First Church in Jefferson and New Colony Church in Linden. While a full-time evangelist, he also served several churches as interim pastor. He was a trustee of East Texas Baptist University and served on the Executive Board of the Baptist General Conven-tion of Texas. He was preceded in death by his brother, Wesley; and sister, Elizabeth Ayers. He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Eleanor; sons, Tom and Tim; brother, Murray; sister, JoAnn Means; and four grandchildren.

• James Liebrum, 81, Aug. 15 in Dallas. Raised at Buckner Orphan’s Home, he became a deacon and Sunday school teacher at Casa View Church in Dallas. He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Ella Mae; daughters, Rhonda Watson and Carla Ruff; sons, Chris and Cary; eight grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

• Jesse Lunsford, 96, Aug. 28 in Austin. He was pastor of churches in Rogers, Rochester, Taylor and Houston. His last pastorate was First Church in Beeville. In 1951, his life took a new path as Laura Booth, a widow in his church, asked him to take her 637 acres to establish a home to take care of the needs of children. In 1952, Lunsford helped found South Texas Children’s Home. Lunsford was the home’s administrator until his retirement in 1973. He was preceded in death by his wife of 37 years, Ethel; his second wife, Lois, who preceded him in death by only 11 days; brother, Leon; daughter, Jessica; and granddaughter, Ami. He is survived by his sons, Bob, Jim and Bill; daughter, Lil Abshier; five grandchildren; and two great-granddaughters.

Revivals

• Belvue Church, Kermit; Sept. 10-13; evangelist, Jerry Oliver; music, Calvary Singers; pastor, Danny Fitzpatrick.

• Preston Highlands Church, Dallas; Sept. 17-20; evangelist, Herman Cramer; music, Paul and Christy Newberry; pastor, Jeremy Johnston.

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: 9/01/06

Book Reviews

The Passion: The True Story of an Event That Changed Human History by Geza Vermes (Penguin Books)

Geza Vermes, professor emeritus of Jewish studies at Oxford University, was reared as a Roman Catholic who, as an adult, discovered and embraced his Jewish heritage and faith. He is a prolific researcher and writer about Jesus studies, and the publication of his monograph Jesus the Jew was a watershed event in the renewal of our understanding of the Jewishness of Jesus’ environment.

In The Passion, Vermes takes a more popular approach to analyzing the last days of Jesus’ life. Starting with his understanding of the legendary aspects of Mel Gibson’s movie, The Passion, Vermes proposes to tell “the true story of an event that changed human history.”

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

To that end, Vermes compares and contrasts the gospel accounts with Jewish and secular documents that were written both at the same time and later than the gospels. Using study methods familiar to most seminary students, he concludes the gospels are not trustworthy historical documents because the gospel writers are primarily interested in telling the events from particular theological perspectives. These “biases” prevent us from getting at “the true story,” he argues. Rather, “the true story” can only be told by paying close attention to the scant information about those days that are recorded in the Jewish and secular documents of the time and recently thereafter.

It will not take the reader long to realize Vermes does not apply the same critical criteria to these documents as he does to the gospels. He is much more willing to take these documents at face value.

His conclusion regarding the true events of those last days will startle most (I would say all, but these days, who knows?) Christian readers. For Vermes, Jesus was a Galilean charismatic preacher/healer whose life ended in tragedy and death because he failed to realize God never intended to rescue him from the predicament of his trial and execution. Nevertheless, in Vermes’ thinking, Jesus has value even today because of his inspiring and persistent faith in the face of suffering.

This is, for Vermes, “the true story of an event that changed human history.”

These serious problems aside, the book does offer value for the Christian reader. First, Vermes represents a perspective on the life of Jesus that has wide currency in certain circles. It never hurts to know what others are thinking. Second, the book has a wealth of information about Jewish traditions that shed great light on the events surrounding Jesus’ death. His descriptions of the actions of Pilate, the Sanhedrin, Annas and Caiaphas are well worth reading.

In the end, though, the book falls under the weight of expectations. The events he describes are not events that would change human history. They wouldn’t even change one person’s life. In order for that to happen, it would take something like what the gospels describe—an event that changed human history.

Sam Underwood, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Farmers Branch

Paul Meets Muhammad: A Christian/ Muslim Debate on the Resurrection by Michael R. Licona (Baker Books)

What if, through the latest in artificial intelligence and hologram technology, the modern-day world could witness a debate between the Apostle Paul and the prophet of Islam, Muhammad? And what if the topic was the case for Jesus’ resurrection?

That’s the setup for an interesting and creative fictional debate written by Michael Licona, director of apologetics evangelism at the North American Mission Board and an experienced debater in his own right.

Using interactive dialogue throughout most of the volume, the book contrasts claims of the Qur’an with those of Paul’s epistles and adds some modern scholarship to develop an easy-to-read apologetic for the resurrection.

Licona is careful to be faithful to actual Islamic arguments against the resurrection, while he uses his own extensive research on the historical and biblical evidence for the risen Christ.

The setting may be fictional, but the arguments are real and helpful for anyone—Christian, Muslim, apologist or interested truth-seeker—who seriously wants to study the claims for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Some may even want to take Lee Strobel’s advice from the foreword of the book and give a copy to a Muslim friend to begin a healthy and respectful dialogue on this most central topic of Christianity.

Greg Bowman, minister to students

First Baptist Church

Duncanville 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: 9/01/06

Baptist Briefs

GuideStone offers help to plan staff compensation packages. GuideStone Financial Resources has launched an online presentation—along with a free workbook—to help church personnel and finance committees plan staff compensation packages. The presentation comes on the heels of the release of the 2006 SBC Compensation Study, which showed the average salary and housing allowance for full-time Southern Baptist pastors was $49,952, an increase of 7.4 percent since 2004. Income statistics for other positions, including bivocational pastors, support staff members and other positions also are reported in the bi-annual compensation study. The study and the planning financial support presentation and workbook can be accessed at the GuideStone website, www.GuideStone.org, or by calling GuideStone at (888) 984-8433.

NAMB honors BGCT for church planting. The Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board recognized the Baptist General Convention of Texas for posting 1,924 church starts from 1999 through 2005—the highest number of any Baptist state convention. NAMB’s church planting and evangelism personnel recognized 18 state conventions during a mission celebration at Ridgecrest Conference Center in North Carolina.

Virginia seminary offers online courses. The School of Christian Ministry at Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, Va., will offer two four-week online courses, Sept. 11 to Oct. 8. “Baptist Identity” provides an overview of Baptist heritage and how it influences current church ministry. Participants study Baptist origins, developments and theological emphases, and reflect on the Baptist identity in relation to church theology. “The Church: A System of Relationships” examines congregational life from the perspective of family systems theory. Registration cost for each course is $150, and partial scholarships are available. For more information, call (888) 339-2877 or e-mail lmcgehee@btsr.edu.

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

Posted: 9/01/06

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

Posted: 9/01/06

2nd Opinion:
Letters impact immigration reform

By Baldemar Borrego

Because the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas has called for Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform, I appeal for your support.

This month, Congress returns to work following August recess. A major item of business is the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill. Write to your senators and representative to let them know you support a fair and due process to allow millions of people to come out of the shadows. This is a historic opportunity, and the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas fully supports this bill.

The resolution adopted by the Hispanic Baptist Convention this summer during our annual meeting celebrated in Arlington called for:

• Providing the people of the United States protection from terrorist threats and illegal immigration.

• Supporting comprehensive immigration reform that provides work authorization, guest-worker programs, and lawful residence to responsible immigrants who do not have criminal records.

• Providing a way to adjust U.S. status without requiring immigrants to leave the country as stated by Section 245 (I) of the U.S. Immigration Code.

• Promoting family reunification for those who live in the United States for a year or more and keeping them from punishment by closing sections 212 (a)(9)(C) and 212 (a)(9)(b) of the Immigration Code.

A resolution adopted by the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas in 2003 states:

“Whereas, the allure of freedom and the possibility of prosperity are in the hearts of all people, and

“Whereas, people are constantly leaving their homelands at great personal cost to seek freedom and prosperity, and

“Whereas, Texas has become a leading receptor of undocumented immigrants with more than 1 million in the state, and

“Whereas, the Bible teaches and the ministry of Jesus instructs believers are to minister to the ‘alien’ and the ‘stranger’ in the land, and

“Whereas, it is not a violation of federal or state law to provide ministry to undocumented immigrants,

“Be it resolved that this Hispanic Baptist Convention speaks forcefully and clearly in opposition to the current system that hinders the search for freedom and prosperity and that the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas encourages the adoption of new legislation that would unshackle the immigrants,

“Be it further resolved that the convention encourages a proactive involvement of ministry activity among undocumented immigrants through prayer and action, and

“Be it further resolved that we call on our brothers and sisters in the Baptist General Convention of Texas to adopt a similar resolution at their convention meeting in Lubbock later this year (2003).”

Recently, ministers participated in a conference call with White House aide Carolyn Hunter to bring us up to date on immigration reform. Maite Arce, executive vice president of National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders in Washington and David Guel of the Baptist General Convention of Texas staff were the key instruments God used to conduct that conference call.

As Congress returns from its recess, we must send our letters to our congressmen in their district offices immediately. Thanks for your support in this matter.

Baldemar Borrego is president of the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas and pastor of Nueva Esperanza Baptist Church in Wichita Falls. 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: 9/01/06

DOWN HOME:
Just take a picture of living-room stuff

You probably realize husbands and wives speak a different language. Even when a couple’s words are all English or all Spanish or all Mandarin, they speak a different language.

I’ve known this for decades. But a recent development reminded me it’s a distinction that impacts a marriage significantly.

When Joanna said, “Let’s sell our house and buy a new one closer to where you work,” I thought my wife actually meant, “Let’s sell our house and buy a new one closer to where you work.”

What she really meant was, “Let’s sell our house and replace a bunch of the old furniture I don’t want and then buy a new one closer to where you work.”

In case you skipped the lesson where your teacher explained how words work, those two sentences are entirely different.

Jo clarified their meaning one night as I reflected on the physical challenges of moving a house full of furniture into another house. Along the way, I said something about moving the living-room couch, chairs and coffee table.

“Oh, those aren’t going to the new house,” she announced.

“Ah, I see,” I said. I didn’t. Dense husband that I am, I never contemplated that we might not move the couch and chairs from our living room to another living room.

It’s not like they’re worn out. They’re living room furniture, for goodness’ sakes. People don’t sit on living room furniture. They look at it as they walk through the living room to the den, where people sit in chairs and on couches that actually happen to be comfortable.

Unbeknownst to me, we bought the old living-room couch and chairs several fashion eons ago. This was back when peach and teal were the “in” furniture colors. Now, peach and teal are “out.” And so are the couch and chairs from our soon-to-be-departed living room.

When we move into the next house, I’m going to suggest we go down to the furniture store and take photos of the prettiest couch and chairs we can find. Then, we can blow up the pictures and hang them in the living room, where we can look at them any time we want—just like real living-room furniture.

But Jo says we’ll use the living room in our next house more. She’s usually right, so I’ll take her word for it.

Actually, getting rid of old stuff has been kind of fun. Everybody should “pretend” to move every five years or so, just so you don’t accumulate too much junk. We’ve been in our house almost 11 years, and I was amazed when we dug into the closets and garage, not to mention the attic, which I mentioned awhile back.

As I’ve loaded up furniture to give to family, hauled other things to the local charity and carried the unsalvageable stuff to the alley, I’ve had time to think about blessings. All this once was a treasure—and some of it still is to others. If I ever feel envious of someone else’s larger house or cooler car, I hope God reminds me I once gave away a couch because it was teal.

–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: 9/01/06

EDITORIAL:
Offering touches lives across Texas

The next time you pass an offering plate or pick up your checkbook, remember your fellow Texans. Think about your brothers and sisters in Christ who are being released from state penitentiaries, struggling to remain faithful as they step back onto the mean streets of their past. Focus on the seemingly endless stream of undocumented workers in Texas who desperately need a Savior. Try to imagine African-American cowboys, living a generations-old heritage but also finding new life in Jesus. And don’t forget young mothers seeking to break the bonds of abuse while pointing their children to a better, safer future.

These are but a few beneficiaries of the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions, which churches affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas gather in the fall. The goal this year is $5.1 million, and every dollar represents a story, a very real need:

• Sie Davis took his first breath in prison, because his mother gave birth to him while she was locked up. Years later, a bruising battle with drugs put him back in the same prison where he was born.

Eventually, the power of Christ helped Davis, a four-time convict, overcome the addictions that kept landing him in prison. Then he launched Church of the Called-Out Ones for ex-offenders, and he began teaching other people to start ex-offender churches. He also partnered with the BGCT to write a manual for operating ex-offender ministries.

The Mary Hill Davis Offering helps make his ministry possible. “A lot of people in prison, they reach for the Lord because they’re serious,” Davis explains. “We need to be there as a church to help them.”

• Undocumented workers’ physical, spiritual, educational and emotional needs are enormous. The solutions—like so many social and political challenges these days—are extremely complicated. And they’re often controversial.

But through the BGCT Immigration Taskforce, Texas Baptists are reaching out to them in Jesus’ name. In one initiative, the Mary Hill Davis Offering is underwriting an effort to train Texas Baptist church members to help undocumented workers change their citizenship status.

Backed by that same spirit of care, Texas Baptists allocate Mary Hill Davis Offering and Texas Baptist World Hunger Offering funds to provide a meal for about 150 people each month at the Oasis in Ojinaga, Chihuahua, in the Mexican desert. In addition to food, volunteers distribute tracts and Bibles, share their faith and pray with Mexican travelers. “It’s one facet of fulfilling the biblical mandate to share the gospel in all the world,” explained Ed Jennings, director of missions for Big Bend Baptist Association.

• Minnehulla Cowboy Fellowship in Goliad, believed to be the first church for African-American cowboys, busted out of the chute this summer—offering a rodeo followed by worship. It’s sponsored by Minnehulla Baptist Church, assisted by BGCT affinity-group leaders and supported in part by the Mary Hill Davis Offering.

The idea for the western heritage church sparked in the mind of Minnehulla Baptist’s pastor, Ronald Edwards. He hated watching church members and prospects feel torn between worshipping in church and participating in rodeos. So, the congregation tapped into the cowboy church movement, allowing locals to cowboy up and also worship God. “We thought if we could identify with our roots and teach their children where their ancestors came from and to tap into their culture and their taste, maybe we could reach them more effectively,” Edwards reasons.

• Tanji Lamar didn’t want to move into My Father’s House, Lubbock. “But it was the only door I could go through,” she recalls. “My husband had just left. I had no way to pay my bills.” Like hundreds of other young mothers who were abandoned and abused, she participated in Christian Women’s Job Corps, a ministry sponsored by Woman’s Missionary Union and supported by the Mary Hill Davis Offering that teaches job skills and life skills in a Christian context. And it changed Lamar forever. “This place has radically changed my life,” she says.

Woman’s Missionary Union calls the Mary Hill Davis Offering “the cutting edge of Texas Baptist missionary thrust.” This year, the offering is allocated to 86 ministry causes. If funded, every one of them will bear eternal benefits. And every one left unfunded will mean lives not touched by the gospel. The Mary Hill Davis Offering deserves our sacrificial support.

Marv Knox is editor of the Baptist Standard. John Hall of the BGCT Communications Team and Managing Editor Ken Camp contributed to this editorial. 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: 9/01/06

Environment reveals evangelical rift

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

DALLAS (ABP)—Al Gore’s controversial documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, has revealed a diversity of opinion among Christians when it comes to the environment.

On one end of the spectrum are evangelicals who accept the scientific evidence for global warming and hold a thoroughgoing com-mitment to more regulation and “green living.” At the other end are conservative Christians skeptical of the science and willing to trust free-market solutions and incremental change to protect the environment.

In a recent Entertainment Weekly article, Gore said climate change isn’t a political issue but a moral issue. Gore, who attends New Salem Missionary Baptist Church in Carthage, Tenn., has said he will donate the profits from the film—now the fourth-highest grossing documentary—to the Alliance for Climate Protection.

“This isn’t a political film,” Gore said in the article. “It’s about the survival of the planet. Nobody is going to care who won or lost any election when the earth is uninhabitable.”

John Houghton was one of the first evangelicals to take those threats seriously. A former professor of atmospheric physics at Oxford University, he was knighted in 1991 by Queen Elizabeth II.

Houghton, whose work helped shape the Christian environmental movement, provided a framework for many evangelicals who came after him. He focused mostly on awareness and credible science in verifying the effects of global warming. That approach paved the way for a progressive, long-term view of environmental consciousness.

Many of Houghton’s concerns are reflected in Gore’s film. In a 2005 presentation to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Houghton said a rise in sea level would cause disastrous problems for people living in low-lying areas like Bangladesh and southern China.

Furthermore, extremely high temperatures in central Europe during the summer of 2003 led to the deaths of more than 20,000 people—an event that could indicate the ramifications of future increasing temperatures.

And a warmer world would lead to increased evaporation of surface water and more precipitation in general, Houghton continued. A greater frequency and intensity of floods and droughts would prove especially traumatic for developing countries in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, where events like these already occur. Gore’s documentary mirrors these concerns.

Many Christians have embraced the film as a welcome, if sobering, call to environmental action. But the response has not been uniform. Although many evangelicals now take environmental threats seriously, their approaches differ widely.

Some accept the scientific evidence for global warming and embrace a thoroughgoing commitment to environmentalism. Others are less convinced by the science and more pragmatic about solutions.

“The economist in me has to look at the issues, but my take is that I doubt I would be as alarmed as Al Gore is,” said P.J. Hill, a professor of economics at Wheaton College, an evangelical school in Wheaton, Ill.

Hill agrees global warming is real. But unlike Gore, Hill says he’s not ready to claim “scientific consensus” on the causes and consequences.

Hill is a fellow at the Property and Environment Research Center, a Montana-based think-tank that uses market principles to address environmental problems. While materialism and consumption most often are blamed for degradation of the environment, Hill says such market forces also can be used to solve the problem. He wants to show people that attention to the environment will in fact benefit them and the economy in the long run.

Environmental protection should be “about doing careful work with the environment, with respect to the poor, the marginalized, and the people without a political vote,” said Hill, who co-wrote Eco-Sanity: A Common Sense Guide to Environmentalism and Who Owns the Environment?

Glen Stassen, a Baptist who teaches at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., falls on the progressive side of the spectrum. He believes government should create just policies that give incentives for “green” living. But he also contends inner change is the best remedy for consumerism and materialism.

Christians must, in their minds and hearts, follow the example of Jesus in order to produce change in the environment, said Stassen, noting that greed, consumerism and materialism lead to environmental destruction.

Stassen, co-author of Kingdom Ethics, says careful stewardship of God’s creation is not only a nice thing to do but is a biblical mandate. Once Christians realize they’re actually a part of creation themselves, they may decide to stop exhausting resources and start cultivating them, he said.

Hill, the economist, sees things quite differently. When it comes to economics and the environment, he said, stewardship means different things to different people. “It has trade-offs. One of the most important things people can do is encourage economic growth,” he said. Part of Hill’s work is done through the Interfaith Council for Environmental Stewardship, which emphasizes care for the poor through environmental conservation. Critics have said the group endorses “free-market environmentalism” and prioritizes the needs of humans over nature.

But Hill said the group started as a way for Christians to “seriously think about the environment and make sure the issues were well-grounded and that we were doing good work.” Christians have a responsibility to care for “God’s good creation” in a way that doesn’t penalize poverty-ridden countries, Hill said.

It’s presumptive for “rich Americans” to impose environmental standards on countries that can’t afford them, he insists. For instance, smoldering, abandoned coalmines in China cause massive air pollution. But local governments don’t have enough money to close the mines, Hill said. A solution, he added, could be that Americans help create economic systems that fund clean-up efforts.

Good work is the bottom line, Hill maintains, whether it means rejecting materialism, living in smaller homes, conserving water or simply driving fuel-efficient cars.

Other Christians aren’t so sure humans are culpable for global warming at all. Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), a Presbyterian and chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, famously contended that global warming is the “greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people.” Environmental “extremists” go too far and current environmental regulations “are not based on science,” he has said.

“As a result, they usually do harm and put undue restrictions upon the freedoms of many Americans,” Inhofe wrote on his website. “The political agenda of extremists must not dictate our efforts to provide common-sense protections that are based on science.”

As part of his work against “extreme” environmental action, Inhofe uses the Oregon Petition—an assertion that scientific consensus about global warming does not exist—as proof that “natural variability, not fossil-fuel emissions, is the overwhelming factor influencing climate change.”

The petition, issued by the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine, was signed by more than 17,000 scientists and was used to oppose the Kyoto Protocol, an international environmental agreement.

Despite the lack of total consensus on climate change—and on Gore’s film—evangelicals inspired by John Houghton continue to build what Houghton called “a sufficient sense of urgency and resolve” to produce solutions.

“People often say to me that I am wasting my time talking about global warming,” Houghton said in his report to the Senate. “I reply that I am optimistic. … I believe God is committed to his creation and that we have a God-given task of being good stewards of creation—a task that we do not have to accomplish on our own because God is there to help us with it.” 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.