Posted: 7/07/06

Quiet CBF general assembly focuses on the future

By Greg Warner

Associated Baptist Press

ATLANTA (ABP)—With a call to minister to a world in need, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship began its 16th year by appointing 19 mission workers, welcoming a new missions coordinator, adopting a $17 million budget and contributing $32,801 to a special human-rights offering.

The Fellowship’s June 22-23 annual meeting in Atlanta was quiet—even by Fellowship standards—with little official business and no controversy. Almost unnoticed was a constitutional amendment that restored a mention of Jesus and the Great Commission to CBF’s governing documents.

Last year, adoption of constitutional changes that omitted that language stirred heated debate at the general assembly and sparked months of criticism within CBF’s 1,850 affiliated churches and beyond.

The amendment—a constitutional preamble in which Fellowship members “gladly declare our allegiance to Jesus Christ as Lord and to his gospel”—was adopted June 22 without opposition by the 3,005 registered participants. It already had been approved by CBF’s Coordinating Council last October.

Also absent this year was any debate about the Fellowship’s past—as disenfranchised moderate Southern Baptists—which several participants said is a sign of CBF’s “maturity” as an organization.

Instead, the CBF annual meeting—and the related gatherings of dozens of “partner” organizations—focused on the future, as Fellowship-type Baptists seek a positive role to play in a less-denominational, more-ecumenical setting.

Keynote speaker Trevor Hudson, a Methodist pastor and social-justice advocate from South Africa, commended CBF for its maturity, its outward focus on holistic missions and its commitment to meet human needs.

“To me as an outsider, it seems that you’re on a journey toward greater missional faithfulness, to deep recognition in your life of the inner and outer journeys of faith,” he said.

Nonetheless, Hudson urged CBF members to step out of their cultural “bubble” and embrace the world around them.

“Please never turn your back on the world—never,” Hudson said.

“We are not separate from the pains of the world. The role of the church is for the pain and hurt and suffering of the world to be concentrated and held and maybe even healed. I hope that at this assembly we can open our hearts to the groans that are here … and hold the pain of the world and be Christ to one another.”

Fellowship participants responded to the world’s need by contributing $32,801 to a human-rights offering, sending out new missionaries and, in a pre-assembly workshop, training to minister to people with HIV-AIDS.

The special offering, received at both evening sessions, honors former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalyn. The money will be used for religious-liberty and human-rights ministries of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the Baptist World Alliance.

The 19 mission personnel commissioned during the closing session include six short-term missionaries (one-to-three years) and 13 self-supporting workers who will serve under the auspices of CBF’s AsYouGo affiliate program. None of the appointees are fully funded career missionaries.

Jack Snell, the Fellowship’s associate coordinator for field teams, noted the personnel will serve among the most neglected people.

“It was out of his compassion that Jesus went where people were hurting and helpless,” he said.

“What we are participating in involves all of us, not just for tonight but for the future. Each of us is being challenged to enter into the pain of the world. There is so much to be done, and we are doing so little. It breaks my heart. Our offerings are flat. We haven’t reached our offering for global missions goal in several years. In many cases, our passions are dulled and our compassion is defeated by fatigue.”

Shorter College Professor Rob Nash, who was elected global missions coordinator June 21 by the CBF’s Coordinating Council, was introduced to the assembly and led the commissioning prayer for the new personnel.

“We pray for their hearts, that you might fill them with an overwhelming love that emerges out of their own brokenness and humility,” he said. “We pray for their minds, that you might open them up to even deeper truths about you and about the world to which you’ve called them.”

Prior to the assembly, more than 400 people gathered for an HIV-AIDS summit to learn how to formulate personal, congregational and Fellowship-wide responses to the health crisis. An estimated 40 million people worldwide live with AIDS or HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

The Christian response to the AIDS crisis, now 25 years old, suffers from lack of awareness, stereotypes and stigmas, particularly in the United States, where the first cases of the disease were spread mainly by sex between gay men, said summit speaker David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World.

“God is not put off by the sexual character of this disease,” he said. ”There are more important things at stake than that.”

The Fellowship installed new officers, including incoming Moderator Emmanuel McCall, pastor of Baptist Fellowship Group in nearby East Point, Ga. He is the first African-American to serve as moderator. He succeeds Joy Yee, pastor of 19th Avenue Baptist Church, San Francisco, Calif., who presided this year as the first Asian-American and first female senior pastor to serve as moderator.

Fellowship members elected Harriet Harral, an organizational and leadership consultant from Fort Worth, as moderator-elect and Hal Bass, political science professor at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Ark., as recorder.

In her moderator’s address, Yee urged the Fellowship to continue and deepen its commitment to be “intercultural.” While a group can be “multicultural” by simply gathering people of various ethnicities, races, geographies, ages, genders and classes in the same place, Yee said, to be “intercultural” it must dynamically involve each group with all the others.

Earlier, the Coordinating Council adopted a mandate that commits the council to being intercultural and urges CBF to place a priority on creating an intercultural team of coordinators and staff.

The mandate also urges individuals, churches and CBF partners “to set aside the differences that keep people apart, to build intercultural relationships, to … learn from one another and to celebrate the fellowship that God creates through reconciliation.”

In his annual sermon to the assembly, CBF Coordinator Daniel Vestal described the Fellowship as “a renewal movement.”

“CBF as an organization requires us to create budgets, procedures and policies, adopt bylaws and elect leaders,” he said. “But we remain a movement of renewal—spiritual renewal, congregational renewal, missional renewal (and) denominational renewal.”

To remain a renewal movement, Vestal said, CBF must “confess and celebrate” its theological center, clarify and communicate its values, live in community and cooperation, and commit to CBF’s mission to “be the presence of Christ.”

The CBF’s center, Vestal said, is “nothing less than the reality, the presence, the power and the love of the triune God. God is creator, sustainer and sovereign. Jesus Christ is Son of God, Son of Man, Savior, Risen Lord. The Holy Spirit is God with us and God in us.”

As a “renewal movement,” he said, CBF is “a part, though a small part, of what God through Christ is doing in his church and in his world.”

“May we have an audacious faith and an authentic witness so that this renewal may continue.”

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: 7/07/06

Religious freedom threatened in U.S.

By Robert Marus

Associated Baptist Press

ATLANTA (ABP)—Baptist historian Walter Shurden told religious-freedom advocates the principle of religious liberty is threatened as never before in American history.

Shurden, director of the Center for Baptist Studies at Mercer University in Macon, Ga., addressed supporters of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty at a luncheon during the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship general assembly in Atlanta.

Shurden described a sermon by the late Samuel Proctor, a Baptist theologian and pastor. In it, Proctor listed cultural achievements of Germany between the Reformation and the rise of National Socialism in the 1930s.

“Germany was the theological home of Luther and Schleiermacher. Germany was the intellectual center of many of the great philosophers,” Shurden said, quoting Proctor. And then along came Adolph Hilter.

One reason Nazism was able to triumph in Germany was because the church largely acquiesced to it—and many, in fact, began to merge nationalistic and racist teachings with Christianity, forming a movement called the German Christians, he said.

“They were Germans who happened to be Christians, rather than Christians who happened to be Germans, and they proudly flung the swastika across Christ’s altar,” Shurden said.

However, he warned: “They were people like us. We need not demonize them; they were people like us.”

With the caveat that he does not believe any kind of Nazi-like totalitarian regime is imminent in the United States, Shurden nonetheless warned that Americans in general and Baptists in particular should not grow complacent about their freedom.

“I am suggesting … that there are American Christians for whom the adjective is more important than the noun,” he said.

“I am suggesting that some Christian churches in our country have become political temples and that some clergy have embraced willingly the title of ‘patriot pastors.’ I am suggesting that theocrats have an eye on the machinery of the national and state governments, and they make no apology for it.”

Shurden gave examples of reasons why “it can happen here,” as he put it: Because of “religious right-wing militancy,” “sincere religious ideologues” and “ignorance of our history.”

Ignorance of American and Baptist history threatens future generations’ respect for religious freedom, he said. Shurden referred to a Knight Founda-tion study, released in January, that surveyed a large number of U.S. high school students on their views of civil liberties.

“One in three high school students in this republic says that the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States goes too far in the rights that it guarantees you as a citizen,” he said. “Now that last sentence ought to be absolutely horrendous to your ears.”

Shurden said the survey also found that one-half of students thought newspapers should not be allowed to print whatever they want without first gaining governmental approval.

“This is America’s tomorrow speaking, and one-third of them want the freedoms of the First Amendment of the Constitution curbed, and one-half of them want the government to approve of stories in the newspaper you read.”

Shurden went on to say he has noticed a significant difference in his 50-plus years in ministry in the ways most Baptist congregations react to a sermon on religious freedom and separation of church and state. Fifty years ago, he said, the average Baptist congregation would yawn at such an old-hat topic.

Today, Shurden said, when a Baptist preacher talks about “authentic separation of church and state” from the pulpit, “people get uneasy” and an “electricity” spreads around the sanctuary.

But, Shurden continued, if a minister climbs in the pulpit and preaches “that the First Amendment has been misinterpreted and carried too far; and if you preach that all religious groups in this country have religious freedom, but that Christianity stands in a privileged religious position because of our history; and if you preach that the country is going to hell in a hand-basket because the judiciary will not acknowledge our Christian symbols; and if you preach that there is a carefully planned ‘war on Christians’ in our country; and if you preach that our country has always been a Christian country and is losing its moorings … if that’s what you preach … then sanctuary electricity becomes sanctuary applause,” he said.

“It can happen here, because Baptists, of all God’s people, have lost our way on separation of church and state,” he said. "And that, my friends, is why the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty is so essential to our life today."

After his speech, BJC Executive Director Brent Walker presented Shurden the organization's J.M. Dawson Religious Liberty Award.

The luncheon serves as the annual meeting of the Religious Liberty Council, the organization of individuals and churches that donate to the BJC. The group elected two new co-chairpersons: Hal Bass, a professor at Ouachita Baptist University and member of First Baptist Church in Arkadelphia, Ark.; and Cynthia Holmes, a St. Louis attorney and member of Overland Baptist Church in Overland, Mo. They replace outgoing co-chairpersons Susan Felton and Reggie McDonough.

Committee members also elected Henry Green, pastor of Heritage Baptist Church in Annapolis, Md., as the group's secretary.

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: 7/07/06

Houston Baptist University names interim president

HOUSTON—Houston Baptist Univer-sity trustees named Jack Carlson the school’s interim president, effective Aug. 1.

Carlson, recently retired vice president from SYSCO Corporation and deacon at Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston, has served as an HBU trustee more than 11 years and currently is chair of the board’s finance committee.

Diane Williams, chair of the HBU presidential search committee, announced Carlson’s appointment at a June 28 university forum.

HBU President Doug Hodo, who previously had announced his retirement effective June 30, will remain on the job until July 31.

“The members of the board of trustees feel we are indeed fortunate that Jack Carlson has agreed to serve at this very pivotal time,” Williams said. “His leadership skills, proven business acumen, commitment to HBU and strong Christian faith make him the perfect fit for this role. We are also thankful that Dr. Hodo has agreed to continue in the position through July to allow for a timely transition”

The board also appointed an executive management committee to help Carlson with the day-to-day responsibilities of the university, Williams said. Committee members are Don Looser, vice president for academic affairs; Richard Parker, vice president for financial affairs; and Sharon Saunders, vice president for marketing.

“I am truly honored and humbled with the confidence placed in me by the board of trustees,” Carlson said. “I have great respect for Houston Baptist University, its legacy and the impact it continues to have on the lives of its students, alumni and the greater Houston community.

“HBU has benefited from the exceptional leadership of Dr. Hodo, along with a dedicated faculty and staff. The focus on academic excellence in a Christian environment has been a mainstay of this institution. I look forward to working with the executive management committee and the entire university family during this interim period.”

Carlson worked 36 years with SYSCO Corporation, taking on corporate management responsibilities in real estate, construction, engineering, warehousing and transportation.

He was an officer in the corporation 29 years, most recently as vice president of real estate and construction.

During his tenure on the HBU board of trustees, he has served as chair of the building committee for three major campus construction projects—the Hinton Center, the Eula Mae Baugh Student Center and the expansion of the Rebecca Bates Philips Residence College for Women.

A native of Pampa, Carlson graduated from Texas Tech University with a degree in mechanical engineering.

Carlson and his wife, Karen, have two children and five grandchildren.

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: 7/07/06

Layman’s passion for Brazil
fuels missions partnership

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

LUBBOCK—Jim Dulin fell in love with Brazil about 25 years ago, and he never got over it.

His passion for the Brazilian people and heartfelt desire to share the gospel with them has sparked a missions partnership linking churches in Lubbock Area Baptist Association and Caprock Plains Baptist Area to Baptists in Brazil.

Dulin first journeyed to Brazil as part of an evangelistic team when he was a member of First Baptist Church in Tulia. At the time, the Baptist General Convention of Texas and the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board were enlisting volunteers for the Mission to Brazil campaign. Dulin responded—somewhat reluctantly at first—to an invitation offered by his pastor, Charles Davenport.

“Back then, I didn’t know ‘come here’ from ‘sic ’em’ about witnessing to somebody,” he acknowledged. “But first thing you know, I found myself on my knees at the altar praying about it.”

Dulin felt God leading him to Brazil. That initial involvement with a missions partnership led to others, including trips to Australia and Germany.

“I just have a heart for sharing the gospel. The Bible says to go to all the earth and to all the people of the world and tell them,” said Dulin, a retired state trooper who now serves as a justice of the peace in Lubbock County.

But while Dulin knows God loves the world, he feels a special attachment to Brazil. “The Lord just laid it on my heart,” he said.

About three years ago, Dulin first proposed a missions partnership between West Texas Baptist churches and Brazilian Baptists.

With the support of his pastor, David Wilson, at Southcrest Baptist Church in Lubbock, and his former pastor Davenport—now a BGCT congregational strategist for the Panhandle and South Plains—he approached directors of missions Larry Jones in Lubbock Area Baptist Association and Gene Meacham in Caprock Plains Baptist Area.

His vision captured their imaginations, and their associational and area boards approved the partnership.

The partnership involves three mission trips within the next seven months. In Caprock Plains, proceeds from the as-sociational/area missions offering—named in memory of Gordon Benson, former pastor of First Baptist Church in Halfway—will be used to meet the travel expenses of area pastors who participate in the mission trips to Brazil, Meacham noted.

In September, Texas volunteers will help distribute Bibles and lead home Bible studies in Salvador, on Brazil’s eastern coast.

Brazilian Baptists and Bruce and Brigette McBee, Southern Baptist International Mission Board representatives in Salvador, hope the home-based cell groups will serve as the genesis for 100 church starts. Baptists in Brazil have scheduled up to four home Bible studies each day during the time the Texas Baptists are on the field, along with evening worship services in churches and an evangelistic rally in a park.

Organizers have told volunteers to expect up to a dozen unchurched people to attend each home gathering.

“There is a real house-church movement taking place in Brazil,” Jones said.

“The pastoral leaders there see the value in it, and they are preparing for us. In fact, they have more openings than we possibly can fill.”

In November, Texas Baptist team members will speak in Salvador’s public schools, and they will work on minor home repairs and light construction in poor neighborhoods.

“The group will work in homes around the schools, hoping to do some remodeling and as much repair work as they can do,” Meacham explained. “It will be a matter of compassionate helping and, we hope, also a chance to share a witness for Christ.”

Another building team will travel to Brazil in February to construct a worship center at a Baptist encampment about 30 miles north of Salvador.

“At this point, it has no worship center—and neither does the nearby town,” Dulin said. “We hope to build a structure in four and a half days that not only will serve the encampment, but also the community.”

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: 7/07/06

African-American cowboy
church defies stereotypes

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

GOLIAD—As the summer sun sets each Friday in South Texas, bright lights come on and crowds gather to cheer every throw of a rope and buck of a bull at a local rodeo. And contrary to stereotype, many in the arena—participants and onlookers—are African-American.

Many have attended rodeos for years, honing their skills or learning the finer points of the sport. People bond through the events, building a community.

Pastor Ronald Edwards enjoys the occasional rodeo. It’s an opportunity for family and friends to come together to have fun.

He just never liked that it caused his church members to miss worship.

Minnehulla Baptist Church hopes to build a rodeo arena near its current facilities.

Edwards, pastor of Minnehulla Baptist Church, watched Sunday after Sunday as members of his congregation participated in rodeo arena events rather than attend worship services. Mothers in the church were saddened their children couldn’t rodeo and go to church. And Edwards knows there are many others who must make the same choice as people in his congregation.

So, the Minnehulla Cowboy Fellowship was born as a place where cowboys and people interested in cowboy culture could be involved in church. Western Heritage people in the Goliad area no longer have to choose between rodeo and worship.

The congregation, believed to be the first church for African-American cowboys, kicked off with a rodeo of its own this summer, followed by a worship service. The church is supported partially by funds from the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions and has been assisted by Baptist General Convention of Texas affinity group leaders.

While most of the 150 people who attended the event focused on the action in the arena, Minnehulla Baptist Church members scattered around the grounds were locked in on the people outside the metal ring—getting to know individuals and striking up conversations about spiritual matters.

After all, church doesn’t take place on the back of a whirling bull; it happens outside the ring, said Florence LeBlanc-Stovall, Minnehulla Baptist Church’s minister of education. “It’s outside, intermingling.”

Church members spoke to men about the importance of being family leaders. They talked to others about the dangers of alcohol. When two young boys got in a fight, church members separated them and took the opportunity to teach them Christian principles. Each encounter was a “divine appointment,” Edwards said.

“You’ve got to recognize God places people in your life for a purpose, and if he placed someone in your life and allowed you to connect with them, he really wants you to witness to them, to encourage them, to share the gospel with them,” he said.

Two people prayed to accept Christ as Lord during the rodeo, and about 100 people attended the Sunday worship service, which was required to participate in the calf-roping competition scheduled later that day. The church also gathered contact information for numerous people, which can be used for evangelistic follow-up.

Edwards believes those actions are an indication the rodeo and a church for African-American cowboys can change lives.

Minnehulla Baptist Church prays the ministry to cowboys grows and plans to build a rodeo arena near its current facilities to allow Minnehula Cowboy Fellowship to hold arena events on its property.

“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 said.

View a video clip from Minnehulla Cowboy Fellowship at http://www.bgct.org /documents/ video/goliadcowboychurch.wmv.

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: 7/07/06

BGCT treasurer: No ‘financial crisis’

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

Contrary to Internet-circulated rumors of across-the-board Baptist Building cutbacks and “financial crisis” in the Baptist General Convention of Texas, year-to-date Texas Baptist Cooperative Program giving is up over 2005 levels and appears on track to meet the 2006 budget, said Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer David Nabors.

Texas Cooperative Program gifts through the end of May totaled more than $17.8 million—6 percent greater than the first five months of 2005 and 97.5 percent of the year-to-date budget, he reported. Final figures for June receipts were not available, but Nabors said early indicators looked encouraging.

“We are in good shape, and I feel positive about the future,” he said.

Nabors characterized reports of across-the-board 60 percent cuts in program budget requests as “inaccurate” but declined to discuss specific issues about a budget still in development.

“We’re in the middle of the budget process, and it’s totally inappropriate to talk about the budget at this point,” he said.

However, he confirmed the proposed 2007 budget probably will reflect an increase over the 2006 budget.

In a June 27 entry on his Internet blog, Pastor David Montoya of Calvary Baptist Church in Mineral Wells wrote: “I have been told by my source in the Baptist Building that we are in a financial crisis. I have been told that the budget requests turned in by the staff of the BGCT were all cut to 60 percent.”

Two days later, he posted e-mails on his daily blog refuting the charge. The following day, he apologized for his initial posting.

“I was misinformed. Therefore, I must apologize to those who read my thoughts on this blog,” he wrote. “I made a mistake. I was wrong.”

Apparently, confusion centers on a change in the way the BGCT Executive Board staff prepared 2007 budget requests—what Nabors called a “modified zero-based budgeting” approach.

Program staff submitted ministry budgets in which they were expected to “justify from zero every dollar spent” rather than basing budgets on dollars spent the previous year, he explained.

Nabors characterized it as “modified” rather than total zero-based budgeting process because it did not include administrative areas such as utilities, general accounting, technology systems and salaries.

“It’s a bottom-up rather than a top-down approach, so that means we get more requests,” he said.

Budget requests submitted by staff for missions and ministry expenditures—particularly during a time of reorganization—included new initiatives, which mean reducing or eliminating some established programs.

While Nabors declined to discuss specific percentages, some Baptist Building program staff confirmed they received 100 percent of their requests. Others, who requested significantly more, may have been cut to 60 percent.

“You don’t start analyzing the budget in the middle of the process,” Nabors 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: 7/07/06

VP Vernon to be nominated for BGCT president

By Marv Knox

Editor

LEVELLAND—Veteran denominational leader Steve Vernon will be nominated for president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas this fall. If elected, missions will be the theme of his tenure.

Vernon, pastor of First Baptist Church in Levelland, is the BGCT’s first vice president and was second vice president in 2001-02.

Ken Hall, president of Buckner Baptist Benevolences and a former BGCT president, announced he will nominate Vernon for the presidency when the convention meets in Dallas Nov. 13-14.

“Steve represents the best of what it means to be a Texas Baptist pastor,” Hall said, citing a range of qualities that reflect well not only on Vernon, but also on Texas Baptists and on pastoral ministry.

“Steve’s lifestyle reflects his commitment to service,” Hall reported.

“He loves his church first, but he also loves the Baptist General Convention of Texas. He’s very missions-minded, and his church has a strong history of missions involvement.”

Vernon has been a role model of denominational cooperation, Hall added, noting, “He believes in funding our ministries, and First Baptist in Levelland is a strong Cooperative Program church.”

The Levelland church contributes 10 percent of undesignated receipts to the Cooperative Program, the convention’s unified budget. According to the most recent BGCT Annual, that amount was $85,740. The church’s combined missions contributions were $250,841—24.5 percent of total receipts.

“Steve loves his alma mater, Baylor University, and Christian education as a whole,” Hall continued. “He stands strongly for religious liberty and the autonomy of the local church.

“I view Steve as a peacemaker, but one who advocates strongly for what’s right and what’s best about being a Baptist. His lifestyle reflects his commitment to service. He’s attractive to people of all cultures, ages and geographic perspectives.

“Steve has put his life where his voice has been. He’s one of those preachers who does it right. He pastors his church and is a community leader—a ‘bishop’ to his town. He’s somebody who makes you proud to be a Baptist.”

The time is right to elect a BGCT president from a small town and from West Texas, Hall stressed. If elected, Vernon would be the first president from West Texas since Jerold McBride of San Angelo presided in 1994-95 and the first president from a town whose population is less than 25,000 since Carlos McLeod of Plainview presided in 1980-81.

Vernon noted many Texas Baptists are qualified to serve as BGCT president, but he said he would put his experience—particularly the insights he has gained this year as first vice president—to use in strengthening the convention.

“It helps to have been vice president and then move on to be president, since we’re moving with one-year (presidential) terms now,” Vernon said. Since the BGCT elected Hall as its president in 2003, convention presidents have served only one year, as opposed to the traditional two consecutive years. Subsequently, each first vice president has followed as president.

Looking into 2007, Vernon said he would make missions the theme of his presidency.

“Missions is the whole key—to focus Texas on the world,” he explained. “Across Texas, we have an amazing missions force already. A lot of churches are doing individual missions work already. The convention needs to be part of that, enhance that, involve other churches. I think that’s where we need to be focusing.”

If elected, Vernon’s goal would be to “refocus on the whole missions enterprise.”

The BGCT has a strong history of missions involvement, Vernon acknowledged. He cited such programs and organizations as Texas Partnerships, WorldconneX, River Ministry, Buckner Baptist Benevolences, Texas Baptist Men and Woman’s Missionary Union, as well as church-based missions programs across the state.

“My goal is to refocus on the whole missions enterprise,” he said. “I want to focus the convention to be more and more committed to missions, to be a missional convention.”

Vernon expressed excitement about a pre-convention meeting—to be held at First Baptist Church in Arlington immediately before the BGCT annual meeting—that will bring pastors and church missions leaders from all over Texas together to talk about doing even more for missions.

Incidentally, an emphasis on Texas Baptist involvement in foreign missions will strengthen missions and ministry here in the state, he insisted.

“Once they get going, they thrive—and they see home differently,” he explained of the change that comes over local-church volunteers who serve in projects on mission fields. “It’s almost the Great Commission in reverse. We go away to the ‘uttermost parts of the earth,’ and then we see ‘Jerusalem’ and ‘Judea’ in a different light.”

So, Vernon wants to help Texas Baptists commit themselves more energetically to missions, “everything from local to global,” he said.

“It’s not just evangelism, which is important,” he added. “But there are so many needs, and we as Texas Baptists have the resources to meet them. We’ve got to be part of those people’s lives.”

This focus on missions is a natural progression down the path the convention has been on for the past three years, Vernon said. During that time, the convention rearranged its governance structure and reorganized its Executive Board.

“We’re reorganized. We’re ready to go somewhere, and somewhere is missions,” he declared. “We’ve got to get back to what we’ve always been about. We must focus with more intention than before. The focus is going to be on getting the kingdom of God out there in the world.

“That’s not to say we weren’t out there or that we haven’t been focused on missions. But with the new organization, we can focus more intently.”

Despite all the uncertainty of reorganization, Vernon sees a bright future for the BGCT. “Texas Baptists need to know their best days are ahead of them,” he stressed. “I’ve been across the state this year and in meetings with almost every ethnic and cultural group we serve, and, boy, it’s exciting.

“There are such wonderful Christian people in this state. We have such a positive message to share. It’s an exciting thing to be part of.”

Vernon is the immediate past president of the Panhandle-Plains Pastors’ and Laymen’s Conference. He has been chairman of the BGCT Christian Life Commission and a trustee of Wayland Baptist University.

He also has served on the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s national and state coordinating councils. He has participated in multiple mission trips and has served in various Baptist associational leadership positions.

Vernon has been pastor in Levelland since 1991. Previously, he was pastor of churches in Panhandle, Kress and Ames, Okla. According to latest reports, First Baptist in Levelland has 1,710 resident members and averages 382 participants in Bible study. It baptized 12 people in 2004.

Vernon is a graduate of Baylor University and earned master of divinity (1976) and doctor of theology (1987) degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He and his wife, Donna, have three children.

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: 7/07/06

Hispanic convention elects new officers

ARLINGTON—The Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas elected a new slate of officers during its annual meeting.

Baldemar Borrego, pastor of Nueva Esperanza Baptist Church in Wichita Falls, was elected president of the convention after a run-off with Javier Elizondo, vice president of academic affairs for Baptist University of the Americas.

In nominating Borrego, Alex Camacho called him “a good pastor and a good friend” and a solid leader. Borrego has demonstrated courage in addressing controversial immigration issues, Camacho added.

Borrego, a former first vice president of the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas, member of the Convención’s strategic planning committee and president of the Hispanic Ministers Conference, has been in ministry 30 years. He has been the host of a radio program, “Jesus is the Answer,” and is a member of the American Association of Christian Counselors.

Camacho, pastor of Iglesia Cristiana in McKinney, was elected as first vice president, narrowly defeating Robert Arrubla, pastor of Iglesia Bautista El Buen Pastor in Fort Worth, in a run-off.

Ruben Chairez, pastor of Primera Iglesia Bautista in Del Rio, was elected second vice president, and Carlos Alegria, pastor of Iglesia Bautista Betel in Baytown, was elected third vice president of the convention. Darlene Gamiochipi was elected as secretary of the convention by acclamation.

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: 7/07/06

Partners sign church-starting agreement

ARLINGTON—Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas, Baptist General Convention of Texas, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and Baptist University of the Americas leaders signed a partnership agreement to start Hispanic churches across the United States.

The partnership is a renewal of an original partnership formally signed during the 2003 CBF General Assembly, which included the Fellowship, BGCT and His-panic Baptist Convention of Texas. The renewal formally includes Baptist University of the Americas.

According to the partnership renewal—signed at the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas annual meeting—the BGCT provides church-starting training and Baptist University of the Americas trains ministers to work in Hispanic contexts.

CBF recruits congregations that want to start Hispanic churches. And the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas and Baptist University of the Americas help identify individuals who may make good church starters. All entities help promote the partnership.

The Hispanic population is growing nationwide, and the need for more churches is clear, outgoing Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas President Alcides Guajardo said. Demographers expect Hispanics to make up 50 percent of the Texas population by 2015. Only 2 percent of the current Hispanic population in Texas is Baptist.

Baptist University of the Americas is the premier equipping institution for recruiting, educating and training the large numbers of cross-cultural ministry leaders needed by tomorrow’s Hispanic churches, BGCT Executive Director Charles Wade said.

All four organizations play a crucial role in this partnership, Baptist Uni-versity of the Americas President Albert Reyes added. “We know that the BGCT plans to start 100 more Hispanic churches each year in Texas, and we are aware of the need to plant 500 churches throughout the USA,” he said.

“BUA receives weekly calls from all across the country for church starters. Over the last 60 years, we have provided ministry leaders and church planters to 75 percent of Hispanic pulpits in Texas. We will continue in that role with this agreement.”

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: 7/07/06

President challenges Hispanic Baptists

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

ARLINGTON—God has given Hispanic Texas Baptists grace, and they need to share it with the rest of the world, President Alcides Guajardo told the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas.

By working together with a Christ-like spirit of service, Hispanic Texas Baptists can minister to the entire world, Guajardo said in his address to the convention at its annual meeting.

Through benevolent ministries such as feeding malnourished children, outreach programs for immigrants and cooperative efforts involving the larger Texas Baptist family, Guajardo believes, Hispanic Baptists can have a significant impact on the world.

“You have been given grace,” he said. “Give grace back.”

Making an impact on the world begins by focusing on evangelizing Hispanics in Texas, Guajardo said. Only 2 percent of Hispanics in Texas are involved in Baptist churches. The fastest-growing population segment in Texas needs more churches and ministers to share the gospel with it.

Changing the spiritual habits of Hispanics could change the world, Guajardo said. Hispanics could be the key to spreading the gospel throughout the Muslim world, since they have much in common culturally with Muslims, according to missiologists.

“We need to focus on Hispanics, and we will win many more,” he said.

To have significant impact, Guajardo said, Hispanic churches need to be more active. He encouraged them to give to the Baptist General Conven-tion of Texas Cooperative Program and participate in the convention. He also urged them to reach out to those around them.

“If we focus on the evangelization of Hispanics, the future of our convention is bright,” he 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: 7/07/06

Around the State

• Paisano Baptist Encamp-ment will hold its 86th consecutive general encampment beginning the evening of July 23 and running through noon July 28. Morning worship services will be held at 11 a.m., and evening worship will be at 8 p.m. Supper is served at 6 p.m. with choir rehearsal at 7 p.m. Childcare is provided during services. Camp pastors are Steve Wells and Milton Cunningham. Larry McGraw will be the Bible study leader. Between services, several activities are available. For more information, go to www.paisanoencampment.org.

• Four Howard Payne Uni-versity students have been chosen to receive the Hatton W. Sumners Foundation scholarship in the Douglas MacArthur Academy of Freedom honors program. Selected were Rachel Chapman of Grapevine, Jessie Goodwin of The Woodlands, Kelly Grewe of San Antonio and Johnnie Wiedman of Belton. The scholarship provides $9,000 a year for two years.

• Dallas Baptist University has received two gifts totaling $550,000 from the estate of Wynonia Pallmeyer. The gift will establish two scholarship funds for students facing financial hardship.

• Houston Baptist University has named its Student Foundation members for the upcoming academic year. The students serve as representatives in various activities and university promotional functions. New members include Ashley Hatchett, Alyssa Johns, Andrea Legare, Elsa Marquez, Sadiya Jamal, Edward Batinga, Diego Bello, Ashley Nunes, Derrick Owens, Cheri Wood, and Humair Khan. Returning members are Margaret Bowen, Edgar Gonzalez, Sidra Qasim, Karen Singh, Mon’Sher Spenser and Jessica Watson.

A $26.1 million expansion of Tallowood Church in Houston’s campus pushed forward the extraction of a lead box time capsule slated for removal in 2012. Pastor Duane Brooks read an inventory of the capsule that had been placed in the original chapel’s cornerstone. The capsule contained the list of people present when the cornerstone was laid on Nov. 13, 1960, copies of that week’s Baptist Standard, Training Union and Sunday school materials, and a Bible that included Pastor Russell Dilday’s five-digit telephone number. Several charter members were present for the ceremony.

• Heather Gates, a student at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, has been awarded Chick-fil-A’s top scholarship in recognition of her academics, employment, community service and leadership. Gates is one of 25 national scholarship recipients, which earned an additional $1,000 scholarship to the one they previously had been awarded. Gates, from Rockwall, is studying accounting.

• Wayne Roy has announced his “phased retirement” from Hardin-Simmons University. Roy, senior vice president of institutional advancement, will become special assistant to the president for development following his Dec. 31 transition date. Roy said he wanted to put this plan into effect rather than an abrupt retirement so that the school’s development momentum would not be hampered. Roy came to HSU in 1998 from the Abilene Reporter-News, where he was vice president of advertising and marketing.

• Five Baptist Health System chaplains have completed requirements for certification by the Association of Professional Chaplains. Receiving certificates were David Kirk, John Stoker, Mark Spain, Michael Robinson and Jeanene Atkinson.

Anniversaries

• Ronnie Tucker, 20th, as pastor of Friendship Church in Amarillo, July 8.

• Calvary Church in Tulia, 50th, July 16. Events are planned throughout the afternoon. Jeffrey Lee is pastor.

• College Heights Church in Wharton, 40th, July 16. Former Pastor Jim Daniel will preach in the afternoon program. Don Hurley is pastor.

• Buel Church in Cleburne, 60th, July 26. A celebration service is planned for July 30. A meal and singing service will follow morning worship. David Carfrey is pastor.

• Huey Harpe, 25th, as organist/music associate at First Church in Tyler, Aug. 20. An anthem commissioned from Mary McDonald will be performed in the special service planned for that morning. A reception is set for 4 p.m.

Retiring

• Randy Ford, as pastor of First Church in La Grange, June 25. He served the church more than eight years and was in the ministry 35 years. Other churches he served as pastor were Pleasant Grove Church near Lexington, Trinity Chapel in Youngstown, Ohio, and Sunset Church in Jacksonville. He can be reached for supply preaching at 625 South 5th Street, Midlothian 76065.

• Dan McClinton, as minister of music/associate pastor of The Oaks Church in Grand Prairie, July 31. He has served the church 27 years and has been in ministry 41 years. An alumni choir and orchestra rehearsal will be held July 29 at 4 p.m., followed by a reception from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Other Texas churches he served include Hotwells and Northside churches in San Antonio, Baptist Temple in Big Spring and Windsor Park Church in Austin.

• Pete Freeman, as pastor of First Church in The Woodlands, Aug. 13. He has been pastor of the church 12 years, and in ministry almost 42 years. He previously served as pastor First Church in Kilgore, Baker Road Church in Baytown, Baptist Temple in Houston, First Church in Mount Vernon, Pine Spring Church in Tyler and Redland Church in Lufkin. A reception is planned after a 6 p.m. concert by the Celebration Choir.

Deaths

• Joseph McLeod, 84, May 28 in Fort Worth. He was ordained in 1963 and served several congregations as pastor. He also taught American history for three decades at Howard Payne and Dallas Baptist universities. He was a long-time member of First Church in Burleson. He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Carol; daughters, Barbara Ford, Becky Bownds, Debra Muenich and Marilyn DeVere; sons, Gerald and James; 11 grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; and three sisters.

• Clifford Jones, 81, June 24 in Bedford. He was the founding pastor of Skyline Church in Lubbock. Since 1969, he has been a member of Davis Boulevard Church in North Richland Hills, serving 35 years as a deacon and Sunday school teacher. He was preceded in death by two daughters, Mary Jones and Carol DeArmond. He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Juanita; son, Clifford Jones II; daughters, Rebecca Perry, Sandy Miller and Renee Miller; sisters, Norma Lee Reynolds and Ola Mae Nicholas; brother, Amos; 12 grandchildren; and 14 great-grandchildren.

• Charlie Barrow, 84, June 25 in San Antonio. A former Texas Supreme Court justice, he became law school dean at Baylor University in 1984. He retired in 1991. He was preceded in death by his son, Charles Jr. He is survived by his wife, Sugie; sons, John, David and James; sister, Bea Little; and numerous grandchildren.

• Lila McGaw, 90, June 28 in Rusk. She graduated from Wayland Baptist University in 1934 and Howard Payne University in 1936. While at Howard Payne, she won the Texas Baptist Oratorical Contest. After graduation, she married O.E. McGaw, who was pastor of churches in Shallowater, Kingsville, Cayuga, Talkington and Texas City. He then was associate director of Texas Baptist Haven in Houston. She was preceded in death by her husband a decade ago. She is survived by her daughter, Martha McGaw, and her brother, Donnal Timmons.

Events

• The Blackwood Gospel Quartet from Knoxville, Tenn., will perform at First Church in Devers July 14 at 7 p.m. Harry McDaniel is pastor.

• City Light Ministries, a ministry of First Church in Abilene that provides assistance and humane support to needy families, the homeless and children in Abilene, received the Community Service Award from the Abilene Southwest Rotary Club.

Ordained

• Ken Freeman and John Roberts as deacons at First Church in Granbury.

Revivals

• Honey Creek Church, Wolfe City; July 16-20; evangelist, Paul Cherry; music, The Cherrys; pastor, Ken Horton.

• Mount Zion Church, Cumby; July 23-26; evangelist, Paul Cherry; music, The Cherrys; pastor, Roy Lee Dittmore.

• North Church, Greenville; July 23-27; evangelist, Herman Cramer; music, Paul and Christy Newberry; pastor, Leslie Mills.

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: 7/07/06

Baylor choir sings in Australia

By Julie Carlson

Baylor University

The Baylor Religious Hour Choir recently spent nine days in Australia, performing and providing service throughout the Sydney area.

“We worked with a local church and some of its sister churches,” said Maxey Parrish, faculty sponsor for the choir. “It was a small, suburban church that has been in existence a couple of years, but is starting to grow and trying to expand its outreach.”

The students sang in churches and also worked in a coffee shop the host church operates as an outreach ministry. They performed public concerts, often several in one day.

Allison Deily of Houston gets acquainted with a koala during a Baylor Religious Hour Choir trip to Sydney, Australia.

“An interesting thing is that the public schools allow for an hour of religious education per week,” Parrish said. “This is unusual by U.S. standards, and the religious education can be any religion. So, we were allowed to perform in the schools.

“And the school kids really looked at us like a novelty, because while the Australians aren’t hostile to religion like you would encounter in Western Europe, the Christian church is not a dominant force in their lives. But they were very warm and receptive. We were treated very well.”

Recent Baylor graduate Allison Deily of Houston had been a member of the choir since her freshman year and had taken two previous mission trips—one to Alberta, Canada, and one to New York City.

“I have traveled extensively in Europe, but I found Sydney to be a unique cross between British and Asian cultures. It was really interesting,” she said.

Deily found working with the Australian churches a particularly rewarding experience.

“The pastors were so encouraged by our presence there,” she said. “Most churches in Sydney have congregations of about 30 to 100 people, so our choir was as big as the church we were helping.”

The Baylor Religious Hour Choir has been a university organization since 1948 and serves primarily as a ministry to Baylor’s campus and churches in Texas. The choir also travels nationally and internationally for annual mission trips. Previous years’ mission trips have included destinations such as Taiwan, Mexico and France.

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.