Posted: 8/18/06

Lebanon Baptists say goodbye
to refugees, but ministry continues

By Robert Marus

Associated Baptist Press

BEIRUT, Lebanon (ABP)—Hundreds of Lebanese Muslims who had taken refuge in Lebanese Baptist institutions said good-bye to their hosts Aug. 17. Meanwhile, Lebanese Christian leaders continued to care for refugees still in Beirut.

As a cease-fire took hold in the month-long conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, hundreds of refugees who had fled the fighting for the relative safety of Christian parts of Beirut began to leave the Beirut Baptist School.

In an Aug. 17 update with the title “Uneasy Peace,” leaders of the umbrella organization that runs the school and nearby Arab Baptist Theological Seminary said the departure was bittersweet.

“Our more than 750 visitors for the past month or so have left. The farewell between the children, youth, women on the one hand and our team members on the other was at times quite emotional,” the update from the Lebanese Society for Educational and Social Development said.

It noted that the handful of other refugee families staying at the seminary “who come from the southern villages are still cautious, preferring to remain at ABTS for a few more days.”

In addition, Lebanese and other Baptist personnel in Beirut continued to go to refugee centers near the schools, leading activity programs to occupy displaced women and children.

At the conflict’s height, Lebanese Baptist officials estimated 800 refugees were staying at the two schools, located in the Christian parts of Beirut. Many of the displaced families are Shiite Muslims who came from hard-hit Hezbollah strongholds in southern and eastern Lebanon and Beirut’s Shia-dominated southern suburbs.

International Baptist relief workers, including a medical team from Hungarian Baptist Aid and church groups from the United States, have provided other services to the refugees.

The release also noted that, because of the halt in fighting and departure of the refugees, both institutions would begin their 2006-2007 academic years Sept. 25.

Recent news reports detailed Lebanese returning to villages and cities that had been all but destroyed in the 33-day conflict.

“There are those who go back not knowing what awaits them. Will they find their homes in place or will they struggle to identify through the rubble what was once their home and shelter?” an Aug. 14 Lebanese Baptist update said. “And for those, much uncertainty is in store for them. Where will they go next? And until when?”

Israeli air strikes and ground troops have wreaked havoc on the nation’s infrastructure, which was just beginning to return to the state it was in prior to Lebanon’s 15-year civil war—a conflict that ended in 1990.

But news reports Aug. 16 indicated that the United Nations-brokered cease-fire still was exceedingly fragile. Several Hezbollah leaders said they would not disarm, as required by the UN resolution that brought about the cease-fire.

Meanwhile, the New York Times reported Aug. 16 that Israeli military officials have said they will not retreat from areas of southern Lebanon they have occupied until the promised joint force of Lebanese and international troops arrives to keep the peace.

Gen. Dan Halutz told an Israeli parliamentary committee that his troops will remain in place “until the multinational force arrives, even if that takes months,” according to the Times.

Despite the fragile nature of the cease-fire and the horror of the conflict—in which hundreds of civilians were killed—Lebanese Baptist leaders reported positive news.

The practice of Baptists providing activities for Muslim women and children may not end with the conflict, the leaders wrote.

“Our teams are receiving repeated requests that we hold similar programs in the areas of origin of our displaced friends,” they said. “God willing, these are the beginning of new and fruitful interactive relationships between Christians and Moslems. May God be glorified in the process!”

The update also requested prayer for Baptists who were returning to their homes and churches in Deir Mimas and Marjeyoun, two hard-hit villages near the Israeli border.

An earlier dispatch told of a Lebanese Baptist youth worker, Joseph Azzi, who was speaking to a group of refugees about why Christians help their neighbors, using Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan from Matthew 5.

A Muslim man in the group, according to the report, had lost a 17-year-old son just days earlier in an Israeli air raid that destroyed an apartment block in South Lebanon. Another air raid interrupted the funeral procession, injuring one of his other sons.

“And here, Rev. Joseph recited to them Matthew 5:44-45, ‘But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven,’“ the Lebanese dispatch said.

“At this point the father of the deceased said: ‘We have many Christian friends, but we never knew that you have these teachings.’ Please pray for this and many other hurting families that we are visiting daily.”

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: 8/18/06

Aggie BSM group conducts
missions research in Turkey

By Laura Frase

Communications Intern

COLLEGE STATION—When eight students from the Texas A&M University Baptist Student Ministry traveled to Istanbul, Turkey, to conduct missionary research, they discovered their age was as much an asset as their training.

The team performed ethnographic studies—cultural surveys—in which they interviewed individuals under the age of 30, including university students.

Students are the ideal group to send to Turkey because the median age is 30, said BSM Director Joel Bratcher.

“The best people to reach college students are college students,” Associate Director Beverly Parrish added. “There is a universal bond between them.”

The team split into pairs to research Turkey’s culture. One student interviewed each person—asking questions about family, education, religion, politics—while the other transcribed the conversation verbatim.

The transcripts allowed missionaries to see the Turks’ cultural views in their own words, Parrish said.

“At first, the interview process was awkward, and I was definitely stretching out of my comfort zone,” said Ryan Hartsfield, a Texas A&M senior. “But over time, it not only became easier, I really wanted to talk to them. … Most people were proud of their Turkish identity.”

After several interviews, the students found it was easy to relate to the people under 30.

Danielle McGee, a Texas A&M senior, found friendship with a Turkish citizen about her same age. While at a coffee shop the first day, McGee met the manager who later introduced her to his girlfriend, Betul, or as McGee called her, Betty.

“Over and over again, we would meet at Starbucks and talk about the differences in our cultures,” McGee said. “Being the same age, being a peer, was a huge factor in her being authentic. Not only did I share the gospel, but I shared my life with her.”

When asked about his favorite part of the trip, Hartsfield quickly replied: “It wasn’t a part. It was a person.”

Shahin was an Iranian-born university student who was visiting Istanbul for a medical procedure. They had a brief meeting, but Shahin showed interest in Hartsfield’s teachings, so they arranged to meet later that week, he said.

Shahin followed in the Bahai faith, which meant he believed both Jesus and Muhammad were manifestations of God, he explained. During their next meeting, they talked about Jesus and Muhammad.

“We came to the conclusion together that salvation could only come through Jesus Christ, and not Muhammad,” Hartsfield said. “It was very interesting to come to that conclusion together.”

Hartsfield and Shahin remain in contact with each other.

While the team formed relationships with people from another culture, they also aided missionaries through their work.

From the day they arrived in Turkey until they left, the team compiled more than 170 pages about the culture, McGee said.

Parrish believes the students were successful because their age helped them connect with Turkish young people.

“It provides a much quicker bridge. It builds relationships much quicker,” she said. McGee knew the main purpose was to help missionaries understand the culture better, but during the interviews, she realized “part of the purpose was caring for them and seeing what they had to say.”

She explained the older generations of Turkey are more “one-colored in their views,” and the younger generations wouldn’t open up to the older generations.

“They really opened up to people their own age,” she said.

McGee also emphasized the importance of listening to what they had to say because “the future of Turkey is held within the hands of the under-30 crowd.”

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: 8/18/06

Around the State

• Rutledge McClaren, director of institutional planning, assessment and research at East Texas Baptist University, will retire Sept. 1. He has served more than 45 years in higher education—41 of those years at ETBU, serving as either a mathematics professor or an administrator.

• Six Baylor University faculty will step into roles as chairs of academic departments for the new school year. New chairs and the departments they will serve include Jaime Diaz-Granados, psychology; David Garrett, communication sciences and disorders; Danny Leonard, aerospace studies; William Bellinger, religion; Timothy Kayworth, information systems; and Allen Seward, finance, insurance and real estate.

Corinth Church in Cisco presented Pastor Benny Hagan with an etched mirror to commemorate his 22 years as the congregation’s pastor. He has been a Baptist pastor for 52 years and has served several Texas churches. Corinth also was Hagan’s first pastorate in 1954.

• Dallas Baptist University awarded undergraduate and graduate degrees to 230 students Aug. 4. Eighty-three graduate students and 147 undergraduates took part in the ceremonies. Joseph Kim of South Korea was the commencement speaker and the recipient of an honorary doctorate of divinity.

• The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor graduated its 150th class Aug. 5. Seventy-one students received degrees during the ceremony—65 bacalaureate degrees and six master’s degrees. Amy Ivy received the award for the highest overall grade-poijnt average. Adrienne Henderson received the Loyalty Cup, given to the student selected as the most representative of the ideals, traditions and spirit of the university.

• The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship recently endorsed 18 chaplains, including five from Texas. Craig Klempnauer serves Southern Care Hospice in Waco; David Chan at Methodist Hospital in Houston; Judith Grace at Hillcrest Health System in Waco; Stephen Saunders at Scott & White Hospital in Temple; and Lynda Schupp at Lake Forest Good Samaritan Village in Denton.

Anniversaries

• B.B. Willis, 50th, in the ministry, July 8. He is pastor of St. James Church in Wharton.

• Michael Redus, fifth, as pastor of Springdale Church in Paris, Aug. 1.

• Bill Gillum, 10th, as minister of music at Indiana Avenue Church in Lubbock, Aug. 4.

• Ira Pinkston, 10th, as minister of music at First Church in Waxahachie, Aug. 5.

• Connie Cox, 10th, as director of outreach at First Church in Denton, Aug. 5.

• J.K. Weger, 10th, as minister of music and worship at First Church in Paris, Aug. 10.

• Jerry Henry, fifth, as pastor of Sadler Church in Sadler, Aug. 12.

• Danny Durham, fifth, as director of missions for Blanco Association, Aug. 15.

• Pat Travis, fifth, as pastor of Bagwell Church in Bagwell, Aug. 19.

• Keith McGee, 10th, as minister of music and worship at First Church in Denton, Aug. 26. A reception will be held in his honor at 4 p.m., followed by a program commemorating his service.

• First Church in Earth, 80th, Aug. 27. Former pastors Bobby Broyles and David Hartman are expected to attend, as are former music ministers Chris Moore and Karl Vaughan. A fried-chicken dinner will follow the morning service. Open house of the church, parsonage, Mission Earth and the family life center also will be held.

• First Church in Dennis, 75th, Aug. 27. Former pastors Carl Elder, Houston Hook, Jerry PIllow and W. Raurk are expected to attend. The day also will be marked by dedication of the church’s sanctuary. A meal will follow the morning service. After the meal, a second worship service will be held. Danny Shearman is pastor.

• South Oaks Church in Arlington, 25th, Sept. 3. Founding Pastor Bruce Edwards will preach in the morning service. A catered meal will follow. Cost for the meal will be $5 per person or $20 per family. A reservation for the meal is requested by Aug. 27 by calling the church at (817) 478-8284. Dan Curry is pastor.

• Freeway Manor Church in Houston, 50th, Sept. 10. A catered lunch will follow the morning service. In His Love Ministries will present a short concert following the meal. Former staff and members not contacted as yet by the church are asked to call (713) 944-0000. Roger VanHoy is pastor.

• First Church in Weatherford, 150th, Sept. 22-24. Events will kick off on Friday with a reception from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday’s festivities will include fun and games as well as barbecue at the Texas Star Ranch. Sunday’s 11 a.m. worship hour will be held at Weatherford High School’s Durant Auditorium. To make reservations or for more information, call (817) 594-5457. Steve Buckland is pastor.

• Webb Church in Arlington, 100th, Sept. 23. A catered luncheon will be held. To make reservation or for other information, call (817) 419-9227. Karl Fickling is interim pastor.

• First Church in Medina, 125th, Oct. 1. A morning devotional will kick off the festivities at 9:30 a.m., followed by Sunday school and worship. A lunch, song service and treasure hunt will follow, as well as the opening of the church’s time capsule. Photos depicting events in the church’s history, along with a timeline, will be on display. For more information, call (830) 589-2395. Allie Balko is pastor.

Retiring

• Dajuana Neal, as minister of music/senior adults at First Church in Whitesboro. July 16. She served the church 36 years.

Deaths

• Don Jopling, 74, June 24 in Burleson. He was a vocational evangelist. He is survived by his wife, Lynda; sons, Mark, Steve, Frederick and Andrew; a daughter, Ariella Marget; Four grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.

• Howard Linton, 85, Aug. 7 in San Antonio. He was pastor of churches in Maryville, Ohio, and Dayton. He later worked as chaplain at Hermann Hospital in Houston. He began the chaplaincy program at Baptist Memorial Hospital System—the second in Texas— in 1960. He trained hospital chaplains of many denominations throughout the United States. He also was interim pastor of many Baptist churches in San Antonio. He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Wanda; son, Jim; daughter, Jeanne Reimers; three grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

• Ann Miller, 80, Aug. 12 in Waco. A 1949 Baylor University graduate, she began her career as an English professor at Baylor in 1961. She was designated a Master Teacher of literature in 1982, one of the first two Baylor professors to attain the distinction. She was named outstanding professor by Mortar Board 12 times, and by the student body, Student Congress and alumni groups repeatedly. In 2003, Baylor honored her with an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree. She was preceded in death by her husband, Robert, who served as chairman of Baylor’s political science department. She is survived by her son, Robert Jr.; daughter, Laurie Anne Smith; brother, James Vardaman; four grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

Events

• A celebration commemorating the 50th anniversary of the ordination of Bill Gilmore, as well as the 50th anniversary of his marriage to his wife, Lee Ann, was Aug. 19 at Emerald Bay on Lake Palestine. His years of ministry include pastorates in Clarksville, Sulphur Springs and Hawkins. In 1962, they were appointed by the SBC Foreign Mission Board to serve in Brazil, where they worked eight years in field evangelism and 12 years as director of the Radio/Television Board of the Brazilian Baptist Convention. After their ministry in Brazil, they returned to Texas, where he was associate pastor/business manager of Fielder Road Church in Arlington, founding pastor of Woodland Heights Church in Bedford and then pastor of Immanuel Church in Fort Worth. They reside in Arlington.

• First Church in Van Vleck will honor church secretary Jackie Corenfeld Aug. 27 with a lunch following the worship service. She is retiring after more than 17 years of service. The church will present her with a memory book with contributions from the membership. Anyone wishing to contribute to the book can send their addition to lamplighter@fbc-vanvleck.org. Al Lowe is pastor.

• Sonic Flood will perform at Columbus Avenue Church in Waco Aug. 29 at 7 p.m. The concert is held in conjuction with McClennan Com-munity College and Texas State Technical College Baptist Student Ministries.

• Park Memorial Church in Houston will hold special services to commemorate 74 years of service to the community Sept. 10. A lunch will follow the morning service. Singing and story-telling aealso part of the afternoon’s program. People planning to attend are asked to call the church at (713) 923-2853. Ricky Fletcher is pastor.

Ordained

• James Anaya to the ministry at Travis Church in Corpus Christi.

• Chris Barbee, Heath Bush, Damon Crabtree, David Rice and Phillip Spenrath as deacons at First Church in El Campo.

• Weston Voigt and Gordon Hart as deacons at McMahan Church in McMahan.

• Jeff Madison as a deacon at First Church in Rockdale.

Revival

• First Church, Edna; Aug. 27-30; evangelist, Joe Loughlin; music, Charles and Bonnie Covin; pastor, Danny Reeves.

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: 8/18/06

Book Reviews

The Shark God: Encounters with Ghosts and Ancestors in the South Pacific by Charles Montgomery (HarperCollins)

Charles Montgomery, an award-winning Canadian travel writer, offers in his first book a challenging journey of both body and soul. At 10, he discovers the memoirs of his great-grandfather Henry Montgomery, an Anglican missionary to the islands of Melanesia almost a century earlier. At 30, he decides to recreate the journey through the South Pacific in order to determine the impact of Christianity on the pagan beliefs of the people.

Ultimately, the book is a journey seeking truth. Montgomery is a skeptic, both of religious faith and tribal myth.

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

Yet he desperately desires to believe in something. The book provides relevant insight into the cynical struggle shared by many people. The conclusion he reaches may surprise you.

The writing is a rich description of people, places and events. Montgomery is a gifted writer whose words provide a vivid description that will make readers feel as if they were along on the journey.

Van Christian, pastor

First Baptist Church

Comanche

Pastoral Search: The Alban Guide to Managing the Pastoral Search Process by John Vonhof (Alban Institute)

From the first lines—telling “believe-it-or-not” stories of pastor-search committee miscues—John Vonhof hits the mark with Pastoral Search: The Alban Guide to Managing the Pastoral Search Process. At 100 pages, this is a quick read, but it is packed with sound instructions on how to find a pastor.

The book presents a chronological flow that begins with organizing the pastor-search committee and ends with managing the new pastor’s arrival. Vonhof splices helpful illustrations throughout the chapters, while flow-charts diagram each step along the way. A 20-page appendix of sample letters, surveys, employment papers, etc. is worth the price of the book.

While written for any church, the book is easily adaptable to Baptist life.

Every pastor-search committee chair would do well to seek out special training for their committee, to take advantage of the resources available at www.bgct. org/texasbaptists/Page.aspx?&pid=255& srcid=178, and to have this book at their side during the search process.

Karl Fickling, intentional interim

ministry coordinator

Baptist General Convention of Texas

Dallas

Coffee Cup Bible Studies by Sandra Glahn (AMG Publishers)

Sandra Glahn’s Coffee Cup Bible Studies can transform the way women fit Bible study into our Soccer Mom, Executive-on-the-Go, Wife-Mom-Granny, Volunteer-of-the-Year lifestyles.

Glahn, an assistant professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, helps busy women feel as if they are sitting down with an old friend to study the Bible’s stories and lessons. She draws us into history and expands our view as she weaves Scripture, stories and heroes into her tapestry. She particularly is good at expounding on the Greek and Hebrew words that bring color and cultural relevance to her lessons.

In “Espresso with Esther,” Glahn gives a concise and beautifully clear lesson on how to study Scripture, giving context, history and culture their proper place. Her easy conversational manner teaches us how to discuss and examine Scripture without being intimidated.

In the first lesson, she puts us in Esther’s place: “Like Esther, we are imperfect, full of failures and flaws. Yet God still uses us, not because we’re good, but because he is.”

I couldn’t wait to get started with “Mocha on the Mount.” I’ve been to the place called the Mount of Beatitudes, and I felt as if I were back there again as the Scripture unfolds. Especially moving in “Mocha” is her discussion of “meekness” and wealth. She reviews for us our blessings of freedom and material possessions and transitions to how easy it is to become spiritually impoverished.

Others in the series include “Solomon Latte” and “Java with the Judges.”

Each study is easily portable and fits into briefcase, glove compartment or gym bag. It is exciting to round out the day with these warm, inviting lessons.

Beverly Lucas, director

Dallas Baptist University-Colleyville 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: 8/18/06

Baptist Briefs

Foundation grant benefits CBF medical missions. Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Global Missions received a $66,000 grant from the W.C. English Foundation to support the ministry of a CBF medical missions worker in the Middle East. The grant will benefit a CBF worker who serves as medical consultant for a micro-enterprise that hires people with physical disabilities. She offers medical screening, first aid and health education to the employees.

No medical insurance rate increases for 2007. Participants in GuideStone Financial Resources’ personal medical plans will receive no rate increase for 2007—the third year in a row with no rate hike, GuideStone President O.S. Hawkins reported to the agency’s trustees. Other than regular age increases, no personal medical plan participants will receive rate increases, and 40 percent will see their rates decrease, he announced. All state Baptist conventions that have their medical coverage with GuideStone will receive no rate increase in 2007, and 46 percent of the conventions will receive a rate decrease. For all other group plans, 88 percent will receive no increase, and 53 percent will receive a rate decrease.

NAMB leader resigns pastorate to press hot-button issues. Terry Fox, former chairman of the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board and chair of the NAMB presidential search committee, resigned as pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Wichita, Kan., after 10 years, saying he wants to spend more time traveling the country to encourage conservative Christian involvement in addressing issues such as same-sex marriage, evolution and abortion. He was instrumental in pressuring the Kansas legislature to place a constitutional marriage amendment on the ballot, and he has been involved in an ongoing battle in the state over teaching evolution in public school science curriculum. 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: 8/18/06

BUA students help alumni
in churches across the South

Students from Baptist University of the Americas spent most of their summer traveling through the South—not South America, but seven states south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

BUA students worked on mission projects, conducted Va-cation Bible Schools and parti-cipated in community outreach efforts with Hispanic churches led by alumni of the Texas Baptist school.

“The pastors were so happy to see us,” said Cesar Casasola, a student from Guatemala. “I was surprised to find so many Guatemalans who had come to work on the poultry farms in Alabama.”

The growing Hispanic churches in these communities are a vital source of social support, as well as spiritual nurture, he noted. The students learned how growing opportunities for Hispanic workers in these communities also bring occasional cross-cultural tensions that the churches help members learn to manage.

“Guatemalans tend to be humble people, so it’s easy for them to get taken advantage of. We saw how the churches really encourage the people and help them adjust to American life,” Casasola said.

Casasola’s favorite stop was Lynchburg, Va., where students worked with La Iglesia de Las Americas, a multicultural church that includes Latin Americans, Africans and Asians among its membership.

Under the direction of Pastor Carlos Payán, the team conducted neighborhood evangelism projects alongside other area ministry students and church members.

“The culture of the church was just so rich and open to including everyone,” Cassola said. “It’s the kind of church I would like to serve someday.”

The students also witnessed involvement of Anglo churches in Hispanic ministries when they worked with BUA alumnus Jesus Amaya in Owensboro, Ky.

As Hispanic ministries pastor at Bellevue Baptist Church, Amaya leads worship services and oversees a program of English and life-skills classes.

Student Ester Vallejos of Argentina particularly was impressed with how the Anglo and Hispanic church members work together.

“The Hispanic and Anglo members go out in teams to invite people from the community to come attend English classes,” she said.

“Several of the Anglo members speak Spanish, and then they also teach the classes together. The Anglo youth also build relationships with Hispanic youth in the community through basketball games.”

The community outreach of the student team also helped spread the word about a Hispanic festival the church was to host where more than 1,000 Hispanics were expected for a soccer tournament, food, music and games.

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: 8/18/06

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: 8/18/06

Artist offers new twist on ancient Christian symbols

By George Henson

Staff Writer

LEWISVILLE—A new twist on a couple of Christian symbols may be just the conversation-starter needed to turn an accidental meeting into a divine appointment, a trio of Texas brothers believe.

Seen from one perspective, a cross is visible. From another, twisted metal bears no identifiable shape. A little more twist, and the fish symbol of Christianity appears.

Scott Cavness said the desire to present the gospel to the world in a fresh way first led him to ask his brother Jac, an artist, to investigate the possibilities.

Jac Cavness has long held a fascination with turning three-dimensional objects into two-dimensional images. While many people tried to draw boxes on paper to appear to be cubes, no one was trying to do the opposite.

He developed the idea of contorting lines in such a way that they would depict one shape from one dimension and something totally different from another. He calls his artwork perspective sculpture.

That transition from one shape to no shape and then to a second shape gave rise to the company name Eyevolver Sculpture Designs. Jac Cavness also designs larger metal sculptures, one of which sits outside the San Angelo Museum of Art.

A large model of the cross/fish also has been made, but as yet it sits in Scott Cavness’ backyard instead of in front of church, where Cavness hopes it soon will be. He wants it mounted on a pivoting base so the perspective will change each time a person passes.

“We want it to reach out and grab people as they drive by as a way for a church to say, ‘We’re trying to reach out to the world in a contemporary way,’” he explained.

The business team involves Jac as designer, Scott as CEO and president, and brother Tom as project manager.

Scott Cavness said that what his brother, Jac, has done artistically with the cross and fish is unique.

“People have put them together in many beautiful ways, but never like this,” he said.

The pieces, which now come in table models for home décor as well as necklaces, earrings and crystalline keychains, are far more than pretty objects, he insisted. The designs can been seen at www.eyevolver.com.

“This, in a small way, maybe illustrates how the secular world sees God,” Scott Cavness said. “In the secular world, if you look at God from a weird angle, it doesn’t make sense. But as you move to a perspective where you can see God for who he really is, it all starts to make sense.”

He hopes the artwork helps open conversations that may in time lead to conversions.

“The church is trying new and contemporary ways to reach the world for Christ, and this is an attempt to be a small part of that,” Cavness said. “Like God’s design for salvation is simple, this is simple, once you see it from the right perspective.”

Since Cavness believes the process is new, intellectual property rights have been applied for with the U.S. Patent Office. Scott Cavness is sure the concept really originated in the mind of God, however.

Referring to the earrings and necklace that hang from a free-spinning pivot, he said: ‘It’s my prayer that we’ll give people a new way to say, ‘I’m reaching out to make a stand for Christ.’ Because what I’ve seen in wearing the necklace is that people are drawn to it like nothing else I’ve seen. So many people have seen a cross hang from someone’s neck that now they see a cross and just go on. Maybe this will help them see the cross and pause long enough to ponder its significance.

“Not all sermons are spoken, and I hope we’ll be successful in using this to reach people for Christ.” 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: 8/18/06

2nd Opinion:
Stem-cell stand: Right but doomed

By David Gushee

President Bush’s veto this summer of any change in his stem-cell research policy was derided by many as a sop to his conservative base. But the price the president and his party are sure to pay for this decision leads me to the conclusion that, whatever the politics of the move, the president actually has been persuaded by the moral argument against embryonic stem-cell harvesting.

Rather than simply dismiss this moral argument as “Luddite,” as Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., did, it would certainly demonstrate more respect for the deeply held beliefs of millions of Americans if the argument were taken seriously. It runs as follows:

However small or undeveloped an embryo might be, it is still human. It is what every one of us was at the earliest stage of life, because life develops along an unbroken continuum, from fertilization until natural death.

Embryonic stem-cell research requires the destruction of the embryos in question. They are exploited, or experimented on, or harvested—choose whatever term you like—by some members of the human community for the benefit of others. They die that others might (someday, maybe) find healing for their maladies.

Few of us would consent to such an arrangement if it involved us. Personally, I would not consent to having my body’s resources exploited and my life ended in order to provide benefits to other people’s bodies and lives. At least, I would want to have the opportunity to make such a decision for myself. Embryos, of course, are not able to speak up for themselves and make such a choice.

The only way we can manage to describe this as something other than exploitation-unto-death is if we decide that embryos are not members of the human community and therefore lack any “standing” that must be considered in our moral decision-making about what we do with them.

Much has been made of the fact that some embryos used for such research are the frozen leftovers of in vitro fertilization and thus would be destroyed anyway, so why not get some good use out of them.

One response would be to draw this analogy: People on death row are going to die anyway, so why not experiment on them, even if those experiments involve killing them? After all, we might as well get some good use out of them. The same thing could be said for, say, millions of people with terminal illnesses, or in nursing homes in their very last days.

The counter to this analogy would be that death-row inmates or people in nursing homes are human beings, and embryos are not. But that is precisely what the argument is about—the moral status of the unborn, even the embryonic unborn. The claim in dispute cannot be used as a premise in the argument.

Now, let us step back from moral argument to a broader view for just a moment. Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., a supporter of the president’s view, acknowledged advocates of this stance were “losing the argument with the American people.” It is probable, in fact, that Bush is the last president, Republican or Democrat, who will block federal funding for embryonic stem-cell harvesting. So, by 2009, our government likely will be fully invested in this research.

This is not really surprising. What is truly surprising is that in a country that legalized abortion on demand more than 30 years ago, embryo research could have been slowed down even for this long. In the average elective abortion, a fetus (not an embryo) is destroyed, with no correlated medical or research benefit for anyone. Our nation sees over 1 million of these events each year, and most hardly bat an eye anymore. So it is in fact quite surprising that on the stem-cell issue, where an embryo (not a fetus) is destroyed, here with a (possible) medical benefit for others someday, there would be significant resistance in the name of the embryo’s moral standing.

Opposition to embryonic stem-cell harvesting is rooted in an expansive understanding of precisely who belongs to the human community, in a country that since 1973 has been busily contracting the boundaries of that community in the name of freedom and utility.

The policies of President Bush have been marked by an inconsistent application of the principle of the sanctity of every human life, from womb to tomb, friend or foe (minimum wage, health policy, enemy detainees, etc.). This badly hurts his credibility when he talks about life’s sanctity.

But I do think he is right on the embryonic stem-cell issue, however quixotic his stand may seem.

David Gushee is the Graves Professor of Moral Philosophy at Union University in Jackson, Tenn. His column is distributed by Religion News Service.

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: 8/18/06

Go Now Missions workers help Cornerstone Baptist Church in Dallas conduct its children’s camp.

Russia-bound students discover missions in Dallas

By Laura Frase

Communications Intern

A bump in the road left three Russia-bound student missionaries in the midst of prostitution and drugs in South Dallas.

A student team originally planned to minister in Russian orphanages through Go Now Missions—the Baptist General Convention of Texas student missions program—but political turbulence postponed their trip. Three students chose to spend part of the summer at Cornerstone Baptist Church in South Dallas before traveling to Russia.

University of Texas-Pan American student Denise Villarreal already had dedicated her summer to God’s work and wasn’t going to sit idly by.

“I didn’t want to spend half of the summer doing nothing for God,” she said.

Holly Miller, a student at Texas A&M University-Commerce, agreed.

“I told God I would give up my whole summer and do his work,” she said.

Villarreal and Miller worked with the church’s children’s camp, while the third student in the trio, Texas State University student Jeremy Banik, led the youth on a camping trip.

The students saw some fruits of their labor. During children’s camp, a little boy hit a girl. The volunteers told him it was wrong, but the boy didn’t understand why, because he has seen his father hit his mother. The students talked to the boy about how to treat other people, Miller said. The next day, the group played tickle tag, and Miller tickled the boy. After she tagged him, he crossed his arms and became upset, she explained. He told her that he wasn’t going to fight her because it was wrong to hit girls.

“It was so cool to see how God made such a visible change,” Miller 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: 8/18/06

Divorce affects faith development

By Deborah Potter

Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (RNS)—When Jen Thompson looks at family pictures, the memories still are painful. Her parents divorced when she was 14, and along with the sense of loss came a crisis of faith.

“My father was emotionally just barren—just not available,” she said. “So I came across as thinking that my father was just impossible to please. And that definitely carried over into my relationship with God—that I felt God was just very judgmental.

“God was just waiting for me to slip up and make a mistake, and that I was, in God’s eyes, unforgivable and unlovable.”

It’s a surprisingly common experience.

A recent national survey of adults who were young when their parents divorced found the separation had a major impact on their spiritual lives. They were, for example, much less likely to go to church or to call themselves religious than adults whose parents stayed married.

“One extraordinary finding in our study was that of those grown children of divorce who were active in a church at the time of their parents’ divorce, two-thirds say that no one in the clergy or congregation reached out to them at that time,” said Elizabeth Marquardt, the author of Between Two Worlds, a study of children and divorce.

Her study found adults often feel the church abandoned them as children when their parents were divorcing and that their pastors were no better than anyone else in helping them cope with the experience.

“At the time of divorce,” Marquardt said, “people are reluctant to reach out to the children because they don’t know what to say; they don’t want to offend the parents. They’re afraid they might upset the child, so they don’t reach out.”

Jeff Williams, a leader of the Association of Marriage and Family Ministries, was 10 when his parents divorced. No one seemed to notice the cataclysm taking place in his life, he said.

“We went to church, and the older ladies were complaining about the temperature of the sanctuary, and the ushers, the people who served, went on with their rituals, and nothing seemed to change there, while my life had radically changed.

“And I know now they didn’t know what to say. But it’s like you have had a leg blown off or you’ve had a wound and it’s terrible and nobody sees it.”

Linda Ranson Jacobs, executive director of Divorce Care for Kids, or DC4K, said her group’s program, which has been adopted by 2,000 congregations, argues that divorce affects every area of a child’s life—emotional, spiritual and intellectual.

“We wanted to put together a program to teach churches what the children are experiencing, the grief that they’re going through, the stress that they’re under, and bring them into the church family,” Jacobs said.

“You know, what better place for a child who’s lost their earthly family to be than in a church family,” she said.

Training videos by DC4K feature children wrestling with common divorce-related problems, such as being torn between the parents’ two homes and their two churches.

“I think the biggest accomplishment is just keeping God in front of those children, changing how they look at a father image or a parent image,” Jacobs said.

Twenty years after her parents’ marriage dissolved, Thompson—now recently divorced herself—said she still is working on her image of God. “I have had to ask God to make himself real to me and (I) say: ‘I need you to clear this up for me. I’m having trouble seeing you as a loving Father.’

“And sometimes I call him Daddy. Sometimes, when I’m praying … about things that are going on in my own life, sometimes instead of saying ‘God,’ or ‘Lord,’ I just say “Daddy, I’m having a hard time,’” she said. “I’m trying to personify him as that loving Father.”

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: 8/18/06

DOWN HOME:
Balls of fire & divining God’s will

Some people try to discern God’s will through every detail of life. But I’m glad the Lord’s plan is broader. Otherwise, I might have left the ministry exactly 25 years ago.

Joanna and I thoroughly enjoyed our lives in Georgia in 1981. But we realized I needed to get a seminary education.

The natural response would have been to return to Texas, to Southwestern Seminary in Jo’s hometown, Fort Worth.

But a job opened up at Southern Seminary in Louisville, Ky., and we moved about as fast as you can say “rental truck.”

I recall my confidence when the truck we rented turned out to be only a few months old, with air conditioning. “This’ll be easy,” I thought. Hmmm.

We planned to drive from Atlanta to Nashville on Day 1, then trek on up to Louisville on Day 2. Jo led in our car, and I followed in the truck.

Just outside Murfreesboro, Tenn., I heard a huge “BAM!” and lost power. When I pulled onto the shoulder and looked under the truck, I saw the muffler glowing red.

Four hours later, a mechanic gashed some holes in the muffler with an air hammer, since the truck company was too cheap to give us (a) a new muffler or (b) a new truck, and since we were too young and inexperienced to throw a walleyed fit.

The truck roared like a Huey helicopter. Minutes later, I was broken down on the outskirts of Nashville. Overnight, a mechanic decided the gas pump was bad. He “repaired” it with wire and duct tape, since the truck company was too cheap to … . Oh, you know.

We believed Day 2 would be better. But we knew what to do when the truck lost power north of Bowling Green, Ky. Jo went for help, while I sat in a lawn chair on the side of I-65, protecting all our earthly goods and seeing who would wave to a guy in a lawn chair behind a rental truck.

Another mechanic tinkered with the fuel pump, and we headed north. We reached Louisville in time to break down in the middle of the city’s busiest traffic interchange in the middle of rush hour. A nice police officer helped me get started. Again.

A bit later, a carload of kids motioned for me to roll down my window. “Great balls of fire are shooting out the back of your truck,” they shouted. I smiled and drove on.

At the next light, a young woman ran up to my window. “Great balls of fire are shooting out the back of your truck,” she yelled.

Since I didn’t want to incinerate all our earthly goods, much less blow myself to Kingdom Come, a wrecker dragged the truck to our duplex.

If Jo and I had been looking for God’s validation in our move, I never would have set foot in a seminary classroom. And if we had divined God’s will through great balls of fire, we would have missed out on one of the great blessings of our lives.

If you’re trying to follow God’s leadership but feel like you’re broken down on the side of the road or besieged by great balls of fire, keep the faith and keep on truckin’.

God is with you on the journey.

— 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.