Posted: 4/28/06

IMB isolationism contrary
to missions trend, experts say

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

DALLAS—At a time when collaboration and cooperation characterize Christian missions, the Southern Baptist International Mission Board appears to be moving toward isolation and exclusion, some veteran missionaries and missiologists insist.

They point to IMB policies that prohibit private charismatic practices, narrow the parameters for acceptable baptism and require that church-starts meet a stringent definition of “Baptist” as indicators of a trend that runs contrary to the direction of most Christian missions enterprises.

“Yes, there is definitely a trend toward ecclesiastical exclusiveness, doctrinally and missiologically, in our SBC and IMB philosophies and strategies,” said Justice Anderson, who served as a missionary-professor 16 years at the International Baptist Seminary in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and 26 years as professor of missiology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth.

Not so, said IMB spokesperson Wendy Norvelle, who quoted a board-approved basic operating principle: “Our basic role is to lead and facilitate the international missionary involvement of Southern Baptists in partnership with overseas Baptists and other Christians who are fulfilling the Great Commission.”

Norvelle pointed to ongoing partnerships with Wycliffe, Youth With A Mission and Campus Crusade as examples of IMB cooperation with non-Baptist Christians.

“We’re clearly working with many different people and groups representing a wide variety of Great Commission Christians,” Norvelle said. “It could be argued that our missionaries have been given more freedom to partner than ever before.”

But other missions practitioners point to different examples. For instance, the recent Ethne ’06 initiative in southeast Asia brought together about 350 Christian mission leaders from 50 countries to brainstorm, pray and develop collaborative strategies for sharing the gospel with the world’s least-reached people groups. Kent Parks of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship worked as a facilitator for the event.

As the convening group and steering committee put the program together, many participants asked if the IMB would be involved, he recalled.

“Several invited the IMB people from their region to be involved. I made it a point to contact several IMB friends” known from his eight years with the Southern Baptist mission board, he said, emphasizing to them it was not “a CBF effort.”

No regional-level IMB representatives attended the event. The only IMB personnel who participated were two researchers involved in the discussion on collaboration in research, Parks noted.

Ironically, the IMB “New Directions” plan implemented by President Jerry Rankin—later renamed “Strategic Directions for the 21st Century”—emphasized strategic alliances with non-Baptist Great Commission Christians, though critics at the time noted it did not extend to alliances with the CBF.

The plan established a five-level system describing guidelines for strategic relationships. At the lowest level—gaining entry to the targeted population—a summary of the guidelines states: “Creativity and flexibility are essential in associating with cultural programs, educational institutions, business forums or whatever can open the door to deeper levels of relationships.”

Likewise, at the second level—prayer and ministry in response to needs—missionaries are encouraged to cooperate with other Christians.

At the third level—evangelism and Scripture distribution—the pool of potential partners “is greatly reduced to those whose commitment is to New Testament evangelism and who present personal repentance and faith in Jesus Christ as the only way of salvation.”

At the top two levels—church-planting and theological education—the scope of cooperation constricts significantly.

Church-planting must be done in accord with the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message and meet 10 guidelines that define a Baptist church for IMB purposes. Those guidelines include believers’ baptism by immersion, regular observance of the Lord’s Supper, autonomy and self-governance, submission to “the inerrant word of God as the ultimate authority,” commitment to the Great Commission and a male-only pastorate.

Regarding theological education, “doctrinal purity” is the stated goal in the IMB guidelines. “This is the level at which we are seeking to influence the ongoing shape of Baptist work and identity, even after the missionary is no longer present, through theological education and ministerial training,” a summary of the guidelines states. “Seldom, if ever, would we engage in strategic relationships, even with other Great Com-mission Christians, at this level, though we sometimes find ourselves with opportunities to relate to indigenous institutions in which others may already be working.”

The movement toward cooperation with non-Baptist Great Commission Christians began in the mid-1980s during Keith Parks’ tenure as president of the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board—predecessor to the IMB.

Trustees at the time “were increasingly uneasy about whether the doctrine of these groups was acceptable,” Parks recalled. “They never understood our conviction that the synergy created would bring more into the kingdom and produce more churches than going it alone.”

The IMB trustees’ concern about enforcing doctrinal purity led the board not only to restrict its collaboration with non-Baptist Christians but also with other Baptists, he added. “One of the great tragedies of this trend toward exclusiveness is the separation from local Baptists in countries where missionaries have been involved for years. It seems to me that there would be great merit in continuing the practice of seeking to influence and mobilize these millions of Baptists who have come from earlier Baptist witness,” he said.

“The impression I have gotten is the IMB assumes it can reach more people, alone, with the ‘right kind of gospel’ than could be reached through influencing millions of Baptists and mobilizing them.

“Once, Southern Baptists were a people cooperating in a missions commitment. Now, they are a people enforcing conformity around doctrine. … When ‘true doctrine’ enforced by a self-chosen few is the basis for cooperation, the circle will continue to grow smaller and smaller.”

Some veteran missionaries like Anderson see the change in direction at the IMB as the unraveling of a tapestry carefully woven by previous generations of missions workers.

“My generation of missionaries was urged to cooperate with other Great Commission entities and to integrate our work with national conventions and agencies. We worked hard to fuse our work into the national entities and to gradually turn over leadership to national leaders,” Anderson said. “This has all changed rather rapidly, historically speaking, but has been concomitant of the fundamentalist movement and an isolationist mentality of the SBC.”

Christianity is experiencing its greatest growth in Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America, and Southern Baptists need to find ways to cooperate with other Christians in those areas and influence that missionary movement in healthy ways—not grow more insulated and isolated, he insisted.

“A reactionary exclusiveness—doctrinally, strategically and ecclesiastically—cuts us off from the exciting future of evangelical missions and growth in these areas,” Anderson said.

Bill Tinsley, leader of WorldconneX, a missions network launched by the Baptist General Convention of Texas, agreed cooperation and collaboration represent the wave of the future in missions.

“The larger trend is definitely toward increased collaboration and cooperation among evangelicals, especially as the Christian center shifts to the Southern Hemisphere and non-Western Christians take responsibility for world missions,” Tinsley said.

“If we would join God in what he is doing in the 21st century, we must work more closely with other Christian groups. God is mobilizing the entire body of Christ to redeem and transform the world.”

Albert Reyes, president of Baptist University of the Americas in San Antonio, underscored the same point.

“We are moving to a place in missions where collaboration is currency,” Reyes said. “Kingdom-advancing missional strategists look for ways of collaborating for the greater good. Baptist Christians in any mission field demonstrate wisdom when they collaborate with other kingdom Christians to accomplish more together than they could by themselves.”

Rob Sellers, missions professor at Hardin-Simmons University’s Logsdon Seminary, echoed that sentiment, saying partnership and cooperation are crucial for 21st century missions.

“The kingdom of God is not an American colony or outpost. The church in Africa will not, and should not, look like its counterpart in Nashville or Rich-mond or Dallas,” Sellers said.

“The task of sharing Good News is larger than any one mission agency can accomplish by itself. Cooperation makes wonderful sense, and although there may be a risk that our partners see things differently than we, the benefits of cooperation justify our trying to make it work.”

Overwhelming need—particularly to share the gospel with unreached people groups—motivates the movement toward collaboration in missions, said Mike Stroope, missions professor at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary.

“The world of Christian missions is rushing toward collaboration and networking because of the overwhelming number of people who have yet to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ,” Stroope said.

“Most missionaries around the world see the absolute necessity of finding ways of combining resources and uniting forces in order that they might generate a greater and more effective witness and plant a great number of churches. Rather than busying themselves with drawing hard and fast denominational and organizational boundaries, they are looking for ways to get every believer into the harvest.

“There is too much to be done to compete or to exclude. The vision of millions of people without Jesus should compel Baptists to link arms with Great Commission brothers and sisters around the world so that they might do whatever it takes to make Jesus Christ known and to establish his church.”

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: 4/28/06

BJC chief refutes ‘top 10 lies’ about church & state

By Marv Knox

Editor

ABILENE—Americans are besieged by lies about the relationship of church and state, Brent Walker insisted during the Maston Christian Ethics Lectures at Hardin-Simmons University’s Logsdon School of Theology, April 10-11.

“The lies I want to talk about are particularly insidious, because … most of them have at least a grain of truth in them,” said Walker, c “That’s what makes them so hard to answer with a sound bite or a clever slogan.”

Two kinds of people perpetuate the lies, he said. “People who should know better” sometimes spread them intentionally, and “well-intentioned souls who simply have been misled” sometimes repeat them “with a pure heart and the best of motives.”

Walker cited the “Top 10 lies that we hear about church and state”:

• “Our nation’s founders were born-again, Bible-believing evangelical Chris-tians, or our founders were Enlighten-ment rationalists who worshipped the ‘goddess of reason,’ or our founders were deists who posited a watch-maker God and were suspicious of religious ‘enthusiasms.’”

Generalizing about the founding fathers is difficult and dangerous, Walker said.

“Some were orthodox Christians, some were rationalists, yes, some were deists, and even an atheist or two thrown in,” he said. “We must acknowledge that, although most of them came out of a Christian heritage and tradition, our founders were a mixed lot when it came to their religion. But we can say with confidence that they were committed to ensuring religious liberty rather than enshrining their own particular religious opinions.”

• “We don’t have a separation of church and state in America because those words are not in the Constitution.”

“True, the words are not there, but the principle surely is,” he said. Similarly, the words “federalism,” “separation of powers” and “right to a fair trial” are not in Constitution, but those ideas are represented there.

Some critics have played down Thomas Jefferson’s use of the phrase “wall of separation” to describe the appropriate relationship of church and state. But Walker pointed out that James Madison, “the father of our Constitution,” wrote, “The number, the industry and the morality of the priesthood and the devotion of the people have been manifestly increased by the total separation of church and state.”

• “The separation of church and state comes from mid-19th century anti-Catholic bigotry and 20th century secularism.”

“This is simply not the case,” Walker insisted. He acknowledged some separationists may have take up the cause “with less-than-honorable motives,” but the rationale of most separationists has “nothing to do with anti-Catholicism.”

“The concept of church-state separation preceded the 19th century,” he said, adding, “Many—including my Baptist ancestors—insisted upon separation to protect religion, all religions, from the coercive and corrosive influences of government.”

• “The United States is a Christian nation.”

“This is a whopper!” he contended. “The United States of America is not a Christian nation—in law or in fact.”

Although no one can deny the nature of Americans as a religious people, the Constitution is a secular document, he said. “We do not have a Christian theocracy,” Walker explained. “We have a constitutional democracy in which all religious beliefs are protected.

“And that’s good. The same Constitution that refuses to privilege any religion, including Christianity, protects the rights of Christians to proclaim the gospel to all who will listen. As a result, paradoxically enough, we are a nation of Christians because we are not a Christian nation.”

• “Church-state separation only keeps the government from setting up a single national church or showing preference among denominations or faith groups, but not from aiding all religions on a nonpreferential basis.”

Although an early draft of the First Amendment singled out the banning of a national religion, Congress repeatedly declined to narrow the scope of the amendment, he said.

“The founders adopted a much more expansive amendment to keep the new federal government from making laws even ‘respecting an establishment of religion,’” he added. “They did not merely want to keep the federal government from setting up an official national church or to ban denominational discrimination.”

• “The First Amendment only applies to the federal government, not to the states.”

While the Bill of Rights—of which the First Amendment is a part—originally applied only to the federal government, the 14th Amendment has been interpreted “to ‘incorporate’ most of the Bill of Rights and apply those provisions to the states,” Walker said.

• “The Ten Commandments form the basis of our legal system.”

Only three Commandments—prohibitions against killing, stealing and bearing false witness—“are the proper subjects of secular law,” he observed, noting the other seven are religious. “Remember, American law is based on the common law of England,” he added. “But these prohibitions were already a part of Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence before England was Christianized.”

Also, numerous documents that influenced the U.S. legal system “say very little about religion and nothing about the Ten Commandments,” he said.

• “God has been kicked out of the public schools.”

“What a thing to say—to presume that Almighty God can be kicked out of anywhere,” Walker retorted. “No, as James Dunn (former executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee) is wont to say, ‘God has a perfect attendance record.’

“It is only state-sponsored religion that has been banned from the public schools. Voluntary student religious expression is not only not prohibited, it is protected—as long as it does not disrupt the educational process and respects other students’ rights not to participate.” Numerous religious activities are permitted in public schools “from voluntary prayer, to teaching about religion, to studying religious holidays, to Bible clubs before and after school, to religious attire,” he reported.

• “God has been kicked out of the public square.”

“This is also a big lie,” Walker stressed. “The institutional separation of church and state does not mean a segregation of religion from politics or God from government or the right of people of faith to speak forcefully in the public square.”

In fact, “religious speech in public places is commonplace,” he said, citing a litany of places and occasions where religion is practiced or displayed in public.

“Candidates for (political) office can and do talk freely about their religious beliefs and allow them to influence their stance on public policy, as long as the policy outcomes or government regulations have some secular justification,” he said. “… No, we do not have a ‘naked public square,’ as some have suggested. I’d say it’s dressed to the nines.”

• “The Baptist Joint Committee cares more about ‘no establishment’ than it does ‘free exercise,’” the two religion clauses of the First Amendment.

“This is not true,” Walker said, buttressing his claim with several examples of how the Baptist Joint committee has supported the free exercise of religion.

“For 70 years, the Baptist Joint Committee has pursued what most think is a balanced, sensibly centrist position on church-state issues, affirming both clauses in the First Amendment as essential to guarantee our God-given religious freedom. …

“Full-blown, well-rounded religious liberty depends on the enforcement of both of these clauses, and that’s what we try to do every day.”

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: 4/28/06

Five commandments for
religious Americans in political life

ABILENE—Religious Americans should follow five commandments as they “enter the fray of political life,” Baptist Joint Committee Executive Director Brent Walker advised.

Walker presented his commandments as part of the Maston Christian Ethics Lectures at Hardin-Simmons University’s Logsdon School of Theology.

The commandments are:

• “Thou shalt acknowledge the limited scope of thy perspective, exercising much humility.”

“Any foray into politics with focused religious motivation should be tempered with a good dose of humility and self-criticism,” Walker advised.

“We need to understand that, however sure we think we are of our position, the other person at least has something to say and maybe in the final analysis is right.”

He quoted the late congresswoman Barbara Jordan: “You would do well to pursue your causes with vigor, while remembering that you are a servant of God, not a spokesperson for God … and remembering that God might well choose to bless an opposing point of view for reasons that have not been revealed to you.”

• “Thou shalt acknowledge thy brother and sister may disagree with thee and yet deserve thy respect.”

“Any attempt to elevate ‘my’ view on an issue to the status of ‘the Christian’ or ‘the godly’ position, to the exclusion of others, should be held in check,” Walker admonished. “Religious persons of good will can (and usually do) disagree over how their religious convictions play out in the public arena.”

He cited theologian Carl F.H. Henry: “There is no direct line from the Bible to the ballot box.” That has practical application for how Christians think about politics, Walker insisted.

“We need to stop trying to convince each other we’ve got God in our hip pockets,” he urged. “God is not a Republican or a Democrat, nor even an American for that matter. God’s precinct is the universe.”

• “Thou shalt speak and act in a way that does not undercut thy witness, resisting the temptation to stereotype.”

“This means at least that we don’t lie about our opponents, or distort their positions or resort to violence,” he said. “It means that we speak forcefully to be sure but also truthfully, directly and lovingly—always paying proper attention to nuance. … Bumper stickers, sound bites and clever sloganeering do little to advance the commonwealth.”

• “Thou shalt not fall into the civil religion trap.”

Walker defined civil religion as “the merger of a fuzzy Judeo/Christian consensus with uncritical, flag-waving Americanism.”

Citing former Sen. Mark Hatfield, he noted civil religion “distorts the relationship between the state and our faith. It tends to enshrine … national righteousness while failing to speak of repentance, salvation and God’s standard of justice.”

“Civil religion results when we fail properly to distinguish between God and government,” Walker said. “It happens when we go too long on the pastoral and too short on the prophetic. When we fail to keep that healthy distance from government, we can get captured by government and used for political purposes.”

• “Thou shalt not involve thy church in electoral politics.”

“While our duties as citizens of faith require individuals to become involved, churches and religious organizations must be more circumspect,” Walker cautioned. “First, it can jeopardize the nonprofit’s tax-exempt status. The tax code is clear that, while churches may take a position on public issues, they may not support or oppose candidates for public office. This includes outright endorsement, financial support, distributing campaign literature and joining political action committees.”

The Maston Lectures are named for T.B. Maston, a pioneer Christian ethicist who taught generations of ministers at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Logsdon’s Maston Chair of Christian Ethics sponsors the annual lectures.

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: 4/28/06

East Texas Baptist University student Matt Gillum of Aledo (left) works on a Habitat for Humanity project in Laredo during ETBU’s spring break. Other ETBU students served in Chicago and in Monterrey, Mexico. East Texas Baptist University student Hannah Parker of Atlanta, Texas, (right) gives up her spring break to help a Habitat for Humanity Project in Laredo.

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.

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: 4/28/06

Many ‘religious’ people seldom attend church

By David Barnes

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Americans are among the world’s most religious people, but a new study indicates more than one-third of all adults in the United States rarely attend any religious service.

The annual tracking survey conducted by the Barna Group found 34 percent of American adults—about 76 million people—have not attended any type of church service or activity in the past six months, excluding special events such as weddings and funerals.

The study said the majority of Americans referred to as “un-churched” had attended at least one religious service earlier in their lives.

Sixty-two percent of the unchurched described themselves as Christian, 4 percent said they are Jewish, 4 percent said they follow an Eastern religion and 24 percent said they are atheist.

By comparison, an October 2005 Gallup poll found that 66 percent of Canadians rarely attend religious services and 80 percent of Britons go unchurched.

The U.S. figures were based on a random sample of 1,003 adults collected by the Barna Group, a Christian community research firm based in Ventura, Calif.

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: 4/28/06

Moldovan orphans warmed
by individual, corporate generosity

By Craig Bird

Baptist Child & Family Services

SAN ANTONIO—An 82-year-old woman’s last mission project and employees of a large Christian music company teamed up to keep Moldovan orphans warm in the midst of the country’s worst winter in 70 years—proof that both the “widow’s mite” and big corporate donations can work together to do good.

Hazel Hilton, a longtime Texas Baptist, died in February, just one month after Baptist Child & Family Services mission volunteers distributed a box of her hand-knitted caps to 60 orphans in Moldova.

Meanwhile, Nashville-based EMI—working through Sweet Sleep, a Baptist Child & Family Services-related program headquartered in Tennessee—started out with the goal of raising enough money to buy 250 coats.

By the end of its fund-raising effort, 1,040 orphans had coats, hats and gloves.

Children from Moldovan orphanages benefit from the coats and hats provided by Christians in the United States.

And while children in Moldova—a small Eastern European country with a climate like Minnesota—would have welcomed the warm gifts anytime, this winter marked the coldest in 70 years.

In mid-January, temperatures plunged as low as 11 degrees below zero Fahren-heit.

At least 13 people froze to death in a five-day period, and several others died when makeshift fires got out of control and burned houses down, the Russian news agency ITAR-TASS reported.

An EMI employee traveled to Moldova last year with a Baptist Child & Family Services/Sweet Sleep team and returned so moved by the experience that others at EMI wanted to get involved.

“Once we heard about the need and the desperate situation these children face, there was a tremendous response among our staff, record labels, artists and songwriters,” said Holly Whaley, director of corporate communications for EMI.

In early December, EMI employees—after picking up hangers with a picture of a little boy or girl who needed winter wear—rode charter buses to a Nashville discount store to buy coats and other items. Then they wrapped and vacuum-packed all their purchases for delivery half a world away.

Hazel Hilton spent most of her 82 years leading friends and neighbors and new acquaintances to faith in Christ and going around the globe—including China and Russia—to share her faith, including lengthy tenures at First Baptist Church in Beaumont and Willow Meadows Baptist Church in Houston.

Physical problems halted her overseas travels several years ago and necessitated a move from Texas to Little Rock, Ark., to be near one of her children.

But her heart still belonged to missions and her mind to Texas, so she read, prayed and sought out things she still could do.

In November 2004, she read about Baptist Child & Family Services’ work in Moldova and asked her son-in-law, Arkansas Baptist newsmagazine editor Charlie Warren, to find out how she might help.

Teams from the Texas Baptist child care and family services agency go to Moldova twice a year, so it was last winter before the box she shipped to San Antonio made it to Eastern Europe

“We gave the hats to children in the two orphanages and at a small church in a small village,” said Tony Tomandl of Baptist Child & Family Services.

“It is not unusual for these kids to go without hats and gloves, so they met a great need. When I first saw the box, I thought, ‘That’s nice this lady made a few caps for kids.’ But when I started packing them in my luggage I was totally amazed. There were over 60 caps in many colors—what a tremendous labor of love.”

Information about mission trips to Moldova with Baptist Child & Family Services is available at www.bcfs.net or by calling (210) 832-5000 or (800) 830-2246.

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: 4/28/06

BGCT launches probe of
church-planting funds in the Valley

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

DALLAS—The Baptist General Con-vention of Texas has enlisted an independent accountant to investigate possible mishandling of church-starting funds in the lower Rio Grande Valley.

“Allegations came to our attention, and we began an internal probe,” said BGCT Executive Director Charles Wade. “That effort has indicated a need to bring in an outside financial expert to evaluate the situation.”

The convention enlisted Mike Steiger, a retired certified public accountant from Arlington, to examine how BGCT church-starting funds were used from 1996 to 2003 in Rio Grande Valley Baptist Association and what is now The Borderlands Baptist Association to start “cell-group” congregations, said Ron Gunter, BGCT associate executive director and chief operating officer.

“We want to determine how the money was used,” he said. “It’s important that we not pre-judge what took place, but it’s also important that we do a thorough audit.”

Gunter declined “at this time” to identify specific findings of the internal probe that prompted the state convention to secure the services of an independent accountant.

The audit likely will take three to four months, he said, adding he did not know yet how much money is in question of possibly having been mishandled.

Steiger began gathering information April 17, and the BGCT is cooperating fully in providing all requested data, Gunter said.

The accountant not only will look at the number of churches and money received, but also will look at how many church-starts still are in existence, he confirmed.

“We’ve not wanted to limit him in any way,” Gunter said.

The 1995 BGCT Annual listed 90 churches and 29 missions in Rio Grande Valley Baptist Association. In 1996—the first year included in the investigation—the association reported 92 churches and 38 missions.

In 2003—the final year being probed—the BGCT Annual listed 105 churches and 240 missions for the association.

Of those 240 missions, 151 listed as their sponsors six of the churches that formed The Borderlands Baptist Association the following year. The 2004 BGCT Annual listed 10 churches and 174 missions in The Borderlands Baptist Association.

Listing as a mission in the annual does not necessarily mean a congregation received BGCT funding.

David Montoya, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Mineral Wells and former pastor of First Baptist Church in Donna, has called for an investigation of church-planting funding in the lower Rio Grande Valley for several years.

Montoya said he was pleased the BGCT staff secured an independent accountant for an audit, but he wants the BGCT Executive Board to launch its own investigation.

The Palo Pinto Baptist Association executive committee adopted a resolution asking the BGCT Executive Board to investigate the matter, and Montoya said he expects other associations to take similar action.

BGCT emphasis on church-starting dates back at least to the Mission Texas emphasis of 1985 to 1990, and it has continued in recent years, with Texas Baptists starting 191 congregations in 2005 and setting a goal of 250 new congregations this year.

“Most of those grow into healthy, full-fledged churches,” Gunter said. “But when there is a question about how BGCT funds are being used, it’s important that we do everything possible to look into the situation.

“The BGCT has a long history of integrity in dealing with finances, and the effort to check into this situation more deeply is a reflection of that continued commitment. … We are evaluating all of our procedures in regard to starting churches, as well as examining other processes as a part of our reorganization. We want to continue to improve and always strive to do a better job.”

BGCT Communications Director Ferrell Foster contributed to this article.

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: 4/28/06

Lilley installed as Baylor president

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

WACO—Humility and civility offer common ground where faith and reason can exist in harmony—whether in a nation or on a Christian university campus, speakers stressed at the inauguration of John Lilley as Baylor University’s 13th president.

“It is sometimes said—and it is sometimes the case—that faith and reason are at war,” said keynote speaker Jon Meacham, managing editor of Newsweek magazine.

But in an age gripped by political and religious extremism, secularists and religionists alike should heed the Apostle Paul’s admonition to “put way childish things” such as the conflict between belief and doubt, religion and science, and faith and reason, said Meacham, author of American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers and the Making of a Nation.

John Lilley, Baylor University’s 13th president.

“We must begin to think of the life of the mind and the life of the soul not as enemies, but as two wings that enable all of us to rise above a fallen world,” said Meacham, an Episcopal layman.

Both science and faith are—in some sense—about making the invisible and mysterious understandable, and that shared goal of both secular rationalists and people of faith offers the potential for peace, he asserted.

“In our country and in our time, I believe it is on the common ground of curiosity and civility and charity and humility that peace between faith and reason is possible,” he said.

Voices of moderation must make themselves heard, or they will be drowned out by the clamor of extremists, Meacham warned.

“Extremes make the journey more perilous, and ours is, sadly, an age of extremism,” he said.

Moderates have a sacred duty to present the “sensible center” in public discourse, he asserted.

Religion can be a force for unity rather than division in the world, Meacham insisted.

“Reverence for one’s own tradition is not incompatible with respect for the traditions of anyone else,” he said.

Humility and a sense of history offer Americans a way to find peace in the midst of culture wars, Meacham said.

The “American gospel”—the good news about the United States—is that “religion shapes the nation without strangling it, and life is best lived when Athens and Jerusalem are not at war, but in alliance,” he said, adding religion and ethical secularism have been steadfast allies in many human advances.

America’s founders created a landmark of statecraft by creating a system that checked the rise of extremism and protected personal religious liberty, Meacham said.

“Dedicated Christians should be among the fiercest defenders of liberty of mind and heart,” he said.

Faithful Christians who present their views in the public square should make their arguments on the basis on reason and not revelation alone, he asserted. People of faith should humbly recognize their interpretation of God’s revelation is not infallible and they see “through a glass darkly,” as the Apostle Paul said.

“We live in twilight and in hope more than in clarity and certainty. This is why the gift of reason is so essential,” Meacham said. “Light can neither enter into nor emanate from a closed mind.”

Humility and civility should be hallmarks of a Christian university, Lilley said, in remarks following his installation as Baylor’s president.

The challenge for all generations of institutional leaders is to seek “what is right and just and fair,” he said, quoting from the Old Testament book of Proverbs.

“Humility is a virtue that needs the attention of all of us,” he said, adding Baylor’s administrative leaders benefit from the ideas of colleagues, students and friends of the university—particularly regarding how to implement the school’s often-controversial Baylor 2012 long-range vision.

“It is the experience of my life that humility is often in short supply at universities—this one included,” he said.

“I have asked all of us to lower our voices and raise our spirits, and a daily dose of humility can help us as we seek to discover what is right and just and fair.”

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: 4/28/06

Texas Senate honors Strickland

AUSTIN—The Texas Senate praised former Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission Director Phil Strickland April 27 for his years of advocacy in the Texas government.

Strickland, who served the Texas CLC nearly 40 years, died in February. He devoted much of his life to improving the quality of life to Texas children, lawmakers noted.

Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, introduced a resolution that communicated condolences to the Strickland family. It passed unanimously.

“Phil Strickland was one of the very few people I’ve ever met that was good to the bone,” she said in placing the resolution before the Senate.

The resolution remembered him as “a man of deep faith and compassion” who “spoke with courage and grace on behalf of the less fortunate in our society.”

Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, praised Strickland for his ability to encourage young people to get involved in politics. He seized every opportunity to teach younger generations, she noted.

“Phil modeled his whole life on working in a Christ-like manner,” she said.

The resolution passed shortly after Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Director Charles Wade opened the session in prayer. During his invocation, he remembered Strickland.

“He lent the weight of his powerful convictions and integrity to move debate and decision-making forward. He helped us all do right and give care for the least among us,” Wade 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: 4/28/06

Around the state

• Tickets are on sale for the third annual “Singin’ with the Saints” Southern gospel concert for senior adults. It will be held May 18 beginning at 9:45 a.m. in Howard Payne University’s Mims Auditorium. The featured performers will be the Dove Brothers Quartet from Bladenboro, N.C. Other groups will be 4 X Grace from Brownwood and the Brazos Boys Quartet from Abilene. Humorist Lou Brown also will entertain. Tickets are $15, and the price includes lunch. To order, call (800) 950-8465.

• Former members of the steering team for Texas Week at Falls Creek are invited to attend the June 2 evening worship service at the Oklahoma Baptist assembly. Recognition is slated for Texas Baptists who have planned the special emphasis since it was launched in 1963. The 2006 Texas Week, May 29-June 3, marks the end of the tradition, due to increased demand by Oklahoma churches for the use of the conference center. For details, contact Dale Berry at (940) 567-3741.

• Ray Martin has been named associate vice president for student life and dean of students at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. In addition to continuing his responsibilities as dean of students and providing leadership to campus activities, residence life and health services, he also will supervise the director of campus recreation, and the offices of community service and campus organizations.

• Baylor University has presented the Milton T. Gregory Distinguished Service Award to Carroll and Aline Webb of Waco. The award is presented annually to a development volunteer. Former Dallas residents, the couple moved to Waco to be more involved in activities at Baylor. He is director of the Baylor Bear Foundation, and they are members of the Development Council, the Endowed Scholarship Society, the Baylor Alumni Association and are charter members of Old Main Society. They were the originators of the Deloitte & Touche/Carroll L. Webb Ac-counting Scholarship. They are members of Columbus Avenue Church in Waco.

• The Hale School of Business at East Texas Baptist University honored seven students for their acheivements. Spotlighted were Ryan Fason, Luke Corley, Rebecca Rinehart, Tiffany Fitts, Jenny Wheeler, Shannon Corley and Luke Garrett.

• Four new faculty members have been named at Dallas Baptist University. They are Michelle Henry, assistant professor of English; Suzanne Kavli, associate professor of management information systems; Brian Thomas, assistant professor of biotechnology; and Barbara Wallace, professor of music.

Anniversaries

• Mike Davis, 10th, as associate pastor for connection ministries at First Church in Conroe, April 15.

• Hickory Grove Church in Kilgore, 95th, April 30. Kelly Brian is pastor.

• Second Church in Highlands, 60th, May 3-7. The church will hold revival services May 3-6 with Homer Allison Jr. preaching. Nick Anders will lead the music. On Sunday, former pastor Billy Gene Walker will preach. A catered luncheon will follow the service. Beau Rosser is pastor.

• Jerry Smith, 20th, as pastor of First Church in Clifton, May 10.

• Lexington Church in Corpus Christi, 50th, June 3-4. Saturday’s activities will begin with a dinner at 6 p.m., followed by a concert with performances from former members. The church history will be highlighted and former staff recognized. Sunday will continue the spotlight on former members. For more information or to register, call (361) 855-1554. Darrell Tomasek is pastor.

Deaths

• Claude Roy, 82, March 29 in Texarkana. He was pastor of churches in Texas, Oklahoma and Michigan more than 50 years. He served with the Southern Baptist Convention Home Mission Board 21 years. During his time in Michigan, he helped start 92 churches. He was preceded in death by his brothers, Harry and Alvin. He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Treva; daughter, Carolyn Clark; sons, Ron and Michael; sisters Dora Roberts and Martha Dobbins; brothers, Elmer and Joseph Leon; seven grandchildren and one great-grandson.

• Dan Terry, 75, April 6 in Clyde. Ordained at First Church in Goodlett in 1951, he was pastor at Bethel Church in Bugs Scuffle, City View Church in Wichita Falls and two churches in Oklahoma before retiring. He also was camp manager at Chaparral Assembly. He was a member of First Church in Clyde. He is survived by his wife, Etta; daughters, Vicki Roulan and Dana Fickling; brother, Wayland; and four grandsons.

First Church in Denton held “Operation Blessing” during spring break. More than 65 adult and student volunteers ministered to people in their own community. Free services included haircuts, a clothing room, manicures, dental exams, medical checks, hot meals and groceries for people in need. Jeff Williams is pastor.

• Vaughn Manning, 82, April 16 in Bryan. He was a former pastor and a leader in the implementation of the intentional interim ministry of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. He also served El Paso and Creath-Brazos associations as director of missions. He was a member of First Church in Bryan. He was preceded in death by his wife, Juanita. He is survived by his wife, Billie; daughters, Charlotte Stephenson and Trink Ruthven; son, Jim; sister, Dorothy Martin; stepsons, Ben and Scott Welch; 11 grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.

• Bill Wright, 78, April 17 in Beaumont. He was a volunteer with Texas Baptist Men, helping to build 49 churches. He was preceded in death by his son, James; daugh-ter, Cynthia Wright; and grandson, Jona-thon Wright. He is survived by his wife, Lucille; sons, John, Gary and Kenneth; daughters, Paula Wright, Sue Collier and Ruth Gilliland; step-children, Kay Beard, Susie Breen, Mike Nolan, Jeannee Campbell and Phyllis Smith; seven grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

Events

• First Church in Pasadena has named Roland Hill associate pastor emeritus. He served the church from 1967 until 1998 as minister of pastoral care.

• Open Range Cowboy Church in Whitney held its first service in its new building April 23. Terry Gayle is pastor.

• First Church in Dallas will be the site of a conference on homosexuality May 6. The focus of the “More than Words” conference is on walking, versus talking, people out of a homosexual lifestyle. Tim Wilkins is the featured speaker. Topics will include “What’s a Parent to Do,” “Untwisting Gay Theology,” “Loving and Reach-ing the Gay Community” and others. For more information, go to www.firstdallas.org. Wilkins also will preach at the church’s Sunday evening service the next day.

• The Cowboy Church of Ellis County will hold its First Sunday Singing May 7 at 5 p.m. Performing will be Tom Uhr and the Shady Grove Ramblers, and singer Cheryl Dunn, along with many other singers and instrumentalists. Snacks and desserts will be available during intermission. Gary Morgan is pastor.

• Speaker and author Tony Campolo will preach at Cliff Temple Church in Dallas May 14 at 10:45 a.m. Glen Schmucker is pastor.

Ordained

• Zane Porter and J.D. Templeton to the ministry at First Church in Cotton Center.

• Travis Jackson, Jonathan Perry, Matt Sanchez and Tony VanDerWilt to the ministry at First Church in Paris.

• Drew Dabbs to the ministry at Spring Creek Church in Meridian.

• Jay Huckabee, Jimmy Moore, Trey Casper, Dennis Hurley, and Roger Pharr as deacons at Colonial Hills Church in Tyler.

• Rich Reynolds as a deacon at West Sherman Church in Sherman.

• Tommy Tomerlin as a deacon at First Church in Carlsbad.

Revivals

• First Church, Three Rivers; May 7-10; evangelist, Walter Knight; pastor, Randy Samuels.

• First Church, Vernon; April 30-May 3; evangelist, Wayne Shuffield; music, Bill and Ivy Jean Sky-Eagle, pastor Derrell Monday.

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: 4/28/06

Baptists and Jews share love of liberty

By John Pierce

Baptists Today

MACON, Ga. (ABP)—Baptists and Jews, both having suffered historically as minority faiths, share a strong commitment to religious liberty, Rabbi David Saperstein said during an inaugural Mercer University lecture series.

Saperstein has directed the Washington-based Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism for 30 years. At the recent Shurden Lectures on Religious Liberty, Sapperstein said the “robust religious liberty, free of government interference, is the indispensable component” Jewish and Baptist communities share in common.

The lectureship was created through a gift to the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty from Walter Shurden, the founding executive director of Mercer’s Center for Baptist studies. The Georgia Baptist Convention founded Mercer in 1833, although the convention recently severed the affiliation.

Baptist Joint Committee Executive Director Brent Walker and Saperstein, both attorneys, work closely with lawmakers on religious freedom issues and jointly teach classes on First Amendment church-state law at Georgetown University.

The “genius of America,” Saperstein said, is that rights are granted to individuals rather than to groups, from which an individual can be excluded or excommunicated.

“It doesn’t matter if all 290 million Americans … believe your way of worshipping is wrong,” Saperstein said, adding that individuals retain freedom of religious expression.

Saperstein also said the framers of the U.S. Constitution “did something revolutionary” in clearly stating that citizenship does not depend on one’s religious convictions.

Those who claim America as “a Christian nation,” Saperstein said, must look to the early Puritan settlers who “really believed they were the new Israel” and “created a political structure based entirely on God’s law.”

Those who later framed the U.S. Constitution “captured the spirit” of religious liberty that has been upheld by the courts through the years, Saperstein added.

He noted now-retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor provided the deciding vote outlawing government-sponsored prayer in public schools.

“Sandra Day O’Connor is not there,” Saperstein said, expressing concern about whether new justices will continue to keep Americans free from “majoritarian” religious views and control.

Saperstein said Jews—“the quintessential victims of religious persecution”—have not won cases before the Supreme Court but have benefited from decisions on cases brought by Seventh-day Adventists and other religious minorities.

No country in the world, Saperstein said, has more people participating in religious communities than the United States. The claim that “separation of church and state is anti-religion or anti-God” is not true, he stressed.

The principles of complete religious liberty advocated by Baptist pioneers Isaac Backus and John Leland “have served us,” Saperstein said. “Jews I know who care about this study the Baptists.”

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: 4/28/06

Book Reviews

“All Churches Great and Small: 60 Ideas for Improving Your Church’s Ministry” by Kirk Farnsworth and Rosie Farnsworth (Judson Press)

Co-pastors Kirk and Rosie Farnsworth, of The Gathering Church in Kingston, Wash., present a thoughtful work on the advantages and strategies of a small church. They build upon a questionable—perhaps flawed—foundation. It is their unwavering opinion that small churches are better churches, assuming larger churches are marred by bureaucracy and the unbiblical standards of numbers, facilities and programs.

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

Moving beyond this disposition, the authors introduce 10 “life-transforming activities” that apply to small congregations—shepherding, gathering, covenanting, ministering, studying, worshipping, praying, giving, living in the Spirit, and witnessing. With each chapter, the authors offer multiple “ideas for improving your church’s ministry.” These 60 ideas are practical and helpful.

This book will be helpful for leadership teams in any church, with an abundance of thoughtful follow-up suggestions for implementation. Innovative and thought-provoking ideas abound. Its unfortunate bias against larger churches masks its application, which will be helpful to any church, small or large.

Mark Denison, pastor

First Baptist Church

Gainesville

I Saw the Lord by Anne Graham Lotz (Zondervan)

I Saw The Lord is a wake-up call for your heart.

For the Christ-follower who has wandered from your “first love,” this book will draw you back from the complacency, hum-drum routine of life into a fresh, new vision of God.

Just as Isaiah saw the Master sitting on a throne, high, exalted, Anne Graham Lotz challenges us to see God with a fresh, new vision, and to add the logs of daily disciplined prayer and Bible study (not just reading) to our personal revival fire.

The alarm clock has been ringing loudly, but we seem to be ignoring it.

The wake-up call sounded loudly on a day we remember as 9/11, but we hit the snooze button, rolled over and resumed sleep. Then came the wake-up sound of the tsunami, and we continued our lifestyle, sleeping as usual. Katrina and Rita sent the alarm ringing even louder! Are we awake yet?

I Saw The Lord draws you into a personal revival, “a quiet, miraculous, eye-opening revelation of God within your Spirit” that will ignite your soul with a fresh, new vision of God.

Nelda Taylor-Thiede, president

Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas

Gonzales

Letters from Dad by Greg Vaughn with Fred Holmes. (Integrity)

Greg Vaughn has started something.

The death of his own father sparked a strong conviction: He would make sure his children and other family members would have meaningful letters from him as a legacy of Christian faith, hope and love.

In the process of fulfilling his promise, he got a group of men involved in the same commitment.

The results were good. “Letters from Dad” developed into a full-fledged men’s ministry, and it’s spreading.

This book tells the story, with inspiration and practical instruction for giving your family a blessing to treasure and to pass on.

It is designed for fathers and for the context of a men’s ministry, but the principles can be adapted and applied across the whole church family.

Men who read the book and follow its advice will experience many of the same results.

It offers terrific potential for making significant family memories and for extending a healthy Christian witness at the same time.

Rick Willis, pastor

First Baptist Church

Lampasas

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.