Posted: 4/13/06

Evangelical groups voice
support for immigration reform

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

WASHINGTON—More than 50 evangelical leaders and a dozen organizations—including the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission—wrote President Bush and members of Congress in favor of an immigration bill that supports guest worker programs and citizenship for undocumented aliens already in the United States.

Albert Reyes, president of Baptist University of the Americas and past president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, signed a letter urging President Bush and lawmakers to develop an immigration policy that reunites separated families faster, creates more responsive legal avenues for workers and their families who wish to immigrate to the United States legally and enables undocumented workers to become citizens.

The letter also calls for “border protection policies that are consistent with humanitarian values and with the need to treat all individuals with respect, while allowing the authorities to carry out the critical task of enforcing our laws.”

Groups that signed the letter include the World Evangelical Alliance, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, Christian Reformed Church in North America, Jubilee Campaign USA, Sojourners and Latino Leadership Foundation.

The CLC-endorsed letter cites several biblical passages, including Deuteronomy 10:18-19 and Leviticus 19:33-34, which teach Christians to be compassionate toward “aliens.” The second passage reminds the Israelites they once were aliens in Egypt.

“We support comprehensive immigration reform, based on biblical mandates, our Christian faith and values, and our commitment to civil and human rights,” the letter reads. “We value immigrants as human beings, made in the image of God. We are aware of the obstacles that immigrants face, especially undocumented individuals, because they are vital members of our churches, our communities and our nation.”

Immigration issues have brought evangelicals together in unprecedented ways, Reyes said.

“In this one issue—perhaps the civil rights issue of the 21st century—we’re finding unity across cultural, denominational and ethnic lines,” he said.

Lawmakers have debated an immigration reform bill that addresses the presence of more than 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States. Bills have ranged from emphasizing border enforcement to stressing methods of allowing undocumented residents to become citizens.

The debate spurred a series of protests across the nation, with thousands of students walking out of high schools and hundreds of thousands filling downtown city streets.

The immigration issue especially is important in Texas, where more than 1 million undocumented people live, Reyes stressed.

Illegal immigrants live in Texas communities, attend Texas schools and minister in Texas Baptist churches, Reyes said. They are accepting the gospel and becoming Christians, sharing their faith and impacting lives in the name of Christ, he said.

The flood of immigrants into Texas is creating a large mission field for Texas Baptists to serve, he added. In 2003, the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas and Baptist General Convention of Texas each passed resolutions encouraging ministry to illegal immigrants.

“We are in the middle of the most dramatic era of global migration in the world’s history,” he said. “What does it mean for God to allow 12 million undocumented workers from our southern borders to come into our communities, churches and schools?”

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: 4/13/06

Jesus’ agenda demands
justice for immigrants, Reyes says

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

WASHINGTON—The current immigration reform debate should be informed for Christians primarily by one question: “Does Jesus still have a mission to the poor and the oppressed?” Albert Reyes, president of the Bap-tist University of the Ameri-cas and immediate past president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, believes.

Reyes, the grandson of an undocumented immigrant and migrant worker, believes ministry to the poor and oppressed was at the heart of what Christ stood for.

“The last time I checked my Bible, Jesus announced his agenda to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom for those in prison, to give sight to the blind and liberty to the oppressed,” he stated in a paper released in conjunction with a Capitol Hill news conference on immigration reform.

“In fact, my Bible also tells me that Jesus was an international refugee within the first year of his life. His father and mother took him from Bethlehem to Egypt to flee infanticide as well as political and religious oppression.”

In recent years, the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas and BGCT each have passed resolutions to encourage ministry to illegal immigrants.

A BGCT Hispanic Immigration Task Force is examining immigration issues and trying to raise awareness of the situation.

“The core issue at the center of the immigration reform debate is justice,” Reyes said.

“Where is our American sense of decency, the value of basic human rights, our love for children and families and fairness toward under-privileged newcomers?”

Reyes quoted statistics showing 417 notices of intent to fine were issued to businesses that employed undocumented workers in 1999.

That number fell to 100 in 2001, and was at three in 2004.

“Christians must ask the justice question: Is it right for the United States of America to continue to operate a dysfunctional border policy that criminalizes under-privileged and undocumented immigrants seeking to earn a living to provide basic subsistence to their family while allowing American businesses to employ these workers at lower wages?” he asked.

“We tend to enforce the law on those who may not break the law purposefully, and we have a track record of rewarding those who ignore the law to generate wider profit margins.”

The immigration issue requires Christians to study the topic logically and biblically, Reyes wrote. Then they can make an informed decision.

“We need to open our eyes to the reality of this situation, open our Bibles to read about Jesus’ agenda before we articulate our convictions and open our hearts to the Jesus that placed the poor, the prisoner, the blind and the oppressed at the center of his mission,” he concluded.

“To argue compliance with current U.S. immigration law while ignoring the agenda of Jesus is myopic, self-serving and legalistic. I love the United States of America and her laws. My question is to those with an eternal perspective: Isn’t it time our laws reflect the agenda of Jesus? Protect our borders? Absolutely! Mistreat the poor? Absolutely not!” 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: 4/13/06

Encampments shaped life of Sabine Creek manager

By George Henson

Staff Writer

ROYSE CITY—The depots on Eddie Walker’s spiritual journey have been Baptist encampments, and he’s thrilled to have added another potential stop for others.

As an 11-year-old at Jan-Kay Ranch near Paris, Walker made his profession of faith in Christ.

Then as a seventh grader at Mount Lebanon Baptist Encampment, he accepted God’s calling into ministry.

“All the really impactful spiritual decisions of my life were made at camp,” he said.

God continued to use camps, especially Mount Lebanon, to confirm God’s call on Walker’s life as for 15 years, he led worship and spoke at children’s and youth camps and Super Summer events. Seven years ago, he joined the staff of Lake Pointe Baptist Church in Rockwall.

But through it all, he wanted to launch a camp that would have a lifelong impact on people’s lives in the same way his life had been influenced.

“On my dream’s list 20 years ago in college was ‘Start a camp,’” he said.

Two years ago, that dream became reality as he and his wife, Sarah, bought a working cattle ranch a few miles southeast of Royse City. The ranch’s previous owner also had operated equestrian camps for children and youth, something the Walkers have continued.

Last year, Sabine Creek Ranch, one of the few independently owned camps affiliated with the Texas Baptist Camp Managers Association, hosted its first summer youth campers.

“I wanted to build a camp that would have all the things that I liked about camp and fix the things I didn’t like. With camps, the first question is always, ‘Is the food good?’ Well, here the food is great,” he said with a grin.

The ranch not only is used for summer camps and equestrian training, but also weekend retreats for youth and adults, school field trips and outdoor education experiences.

Cross Creek Cowboy Church, started two years ago in the Walkers’ living room with eight people, meets at the ranch. Now a Lake Pointe satellite where Walker is pastor, the church attracts about 100 worshippers each Sunday evening.

The Walkers had been buying parcels of land in various parts of East Texas for years as investments, but they sold them all and plowed the proceeds into Sabine Creek Ranch.

“As of two weeks ago, we sold our last earthly investment in order to make a heavenly impact,” he said.

He is quick to say the purchase of the 330-acre ranch and start of the camp could not have been done alone.

“I can’t begin to tell you the way the Lord has provided—the people who have literally invested their lives here. A camp is never the result of one couple. It takes a large contingent of faithful servants, and God has provided us with some of the very best,” he said.

Campers at Sabine Creek have a number of recreational possibilities, but the spiritual aspect is most important to Walker.

“Our campers ride horses, play paintball, enjoy the swimming pond and most important, meet Christ,” he said.

To get ready for the campers, the ranch required a lot of construction.

“Since we founded Sabine Creek Ranch, we’ve been building. Bunk beds, cabins, bunkhouses, bathhouses, ponds, docks, stages, arena lights, parking, water system, RV sites, kitchens, classrooms. It makes my head hurt to think about it,” Walker said.

But all of that is for one reason—so that God might use a camp experience to speak to others the way he spoke to Walker all those years ago.

“During summer camp, somewhere around 10 percent of the campers who come to Sabine Creek Ranch or one of our other Baptist camps will make a life- changing decision for Christ.

“Imagine if in a church body of 80 people, eight people accepted Christ this Sunday. Or if in a congregation of 8,000, if 800 people accepted Christ this week—and the next and the next. As one bus leaves, another bus is pulling in, full of students who will encounter God in this special place,” Walker said.

He knows, however, it is God—not the place—that makes the difference in people’s lives.

“God does that work. All we really do is set a stage. … It is amazing how a simple hayride and campfire under the stars can return our focus to the God who created those stars,” Walker said.

“I’m an investor, and this is a heavenly investment. I’ve a short amount of time on earth, and this is how I’m going to make an impact on the kingdom.” 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: 4/13/06

Builder finds his life’s purpose at Camp Buckner

By George Henson

Staff Writer

BURNET—Jerry Ratliff loves Camp Buckner—not just because he built it, works there or lives there, but because he believes it fulfills Christ’s purpose for his life.

Ratliff began his relationship with the camp—nestled in the rolling landscape of the Texas Hill Country—as the contractor who oversaw its construction in 1985. But he was totally unprepared when Gary Caves, the camp’s first director, offered him a job as the camp’s operations director.

“I told him, ‘No, I’m a builder,’” Ratliff recalled, thinking there was no way his family could survive having his income cut in half. But God began working on him, he said.

He had been a deacon at First Baptist Church in Marble Falls for a decade at the time, but working with the people from Buckner had left him questioning his own spiritual maturity.

“Surrounded by the Buckner people during construction, I felt weak in my walk. I started to think the other people that I was working with were having too big an impact on me,” he said.

Within a few days, he told his wife he wanted to take the job as director of operations.

“I told her: ‘We’re going to starve to death. It’s a leap of faith, but maybe this is God’s way to have us struggle a bit to show us what’s important,’” he said.

“I’ve always felt like it was God’s plan for us to be here or we wouldn’t be. On paper financially, we couldn’t do it, but God has let us prosper and do very well. We did it, and we’ve never looked back.”

In 1988, he built the house where his family lives on the Camp Buckner property.

“It’s a perfect place to raise a family. I didn’t realize that going in, but it’s been perfect,” Ratliff said.

It also makes him very accessible when plumbing or air conditioning goes out during the night.

“I built this place, so I know where all the pipes and wires are, so I’ve also been the maintenance man,” he said.

As the camp has continued to expand, Ratliff supervised construction of five cabins, a lodge, a motel-type facility, a conference hall, dining hall, horse barn and other buildings.

While it’s difficult for him to choose a favorite building, when pressed he said it would probably be Faith Conference Hall, “for its curb appeal.”

But more than the aesthetic beauty of the buildings, it’s their function that really pleases Ratliff.

“I get as excited as the counselors do when summer camp starts,” he said. “It’s the best of both worlds—I built it, and I get to see it at work. That’s really very rewarding for me.

“I enjoy going to work. I can’t think of a day I’ve dreaded going to work at Camp Buckner. I’ve had some bad days like anybody else, but I’ve never dreaded going to work.”

The camp’s environment—insulated from secular influences—also has helped him grow spiritually, he added.

“I’ve got a long way to go, but my walk with the Lord is stronger. Every day is a challenge with life, but working here has kept me on track,” Ratliff said.

He makes a special effort to hire Christian subcontractors to work at the camp and on the homes he has started to build as a sideline to supplement his income.

As much as he loves the camp he built, worked and lived at for the past 20 years, he knows some day it will end.

“This is a special place. I’m 54 years old, and I’m going to have to retire one day, but it’s going to be hard,” he said. “It’s my work, my handiwork, my home—it’s going to be a hard day.”

But he knows he’ll be able to do it, as one carpenter who faithfully served another. 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: 4/13/06

WMU sets $5.1 million offering goal

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

DALLAS—Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas’ board of directors approved a $5.1 million goal for the 2006 Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions.

The approved goal includes 22 new allocations and represents a $100,000 increase over the 2005 offering goal. The Mary Hill Davis Offering is promoted in September, but gifts are received throughout the year.

In 2005, gifts to the Mary Hill Davis Offering totaled $4,374,921—down about 9 percent from the previous year. Executive Director-Treasurer Carolyn Porterfield attributed the drop primarily to Texas Baptist giving to disaster relief—more than $1.48 million following a tsunami in South Asia and $4.37 million after hurricanes that hit the Gulf Coast.

Texas WMU increased the 2006 offering goal because of increasing missions needs in the state, Porterfield said. She believes giving to the Texas missions offering will rebound because Texas Baptists remain committed to mission work throughout the state. The Mary Hill Davis Offering touches the lives of millions and enables believers to share the gospel with non-Christians, she said.

“We really love the theme of ‘Every day, Everywhere,’ Porterfield said. “We are the Texas missionaries. Every Texas Baptist is a missionary. There are many items in this year’s offering that help Texas Baptists do missions through their churches.”

Offering funds meet people’s needs today, but also change the future, Porterfield said. People turn to Christ, changing their lives forever, she said.

“We’re investing, not just in today, but in our tomorrows,” she said. “And we’re investing in people’s eternities.”

The Mary Hill Davis Offering provides a large portion of support for many Texas Baptist ministries throughout the state and Mexico. The offering also provides the entire operating budget for WMU of Texas.

Among the 22 new allocations in the approved budget is Epicenter, a Baptist General Convention of Texas conference focused on mobilizing laypeople for missions, and money for LifeCall mission advocates across Texas.

The offering also includes significant allocations for BGCT River Ministry and ministries through Baptist associations.

The largest allocation—$1.1 million—helps in church-starting, a continued emphasis of the BGCT. The convention aims to facilitate 1,500 church starts by 2010.

In other business, the Texas WMU board of directors approved creation of the Amelia Bishop Missions Com-munications Endowment, which will fund Texas WMU efforts to provide materials to churches.

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: 4/13/06

Providential connections speed church-planting in Mexico

By Craig Bird

Baptist Child & Family Services

DURANGO, Mexico—Rob and Gloria Rolison believe God always goes before them on church-planting mission trips among unreached Indian tribes in the Mexico mountains. But occasionally, he is really way ahead of them—sometimes by almost 40 years.

Rolison heads Past the Edge Ministries—a program of Baptist Child & Family Ministries and its Children’s Emergency Relief Inter-national agency. When he started planning in mid-2005 to expand the outreach among the Tepehuanos to the town of Guajolota, he penciled in his usual pattern. That meant making an initial visit to meet the people—particularly the village elders, distributing food or clothing and then asking permission to return later for a Bible study.

Rob Rolison, director of the CERI-Past The Edge program for Baptist Child & Family Services, teaches an elementary student a complicated handshake during a visit to the school in Guajolota, Mexico.

But as the team for the January trip started to come together, a couple of non-Christians asked if they could come, too. Fidencio and Anastasia Perea had met in Guajolota in 1969 when he came to teach at the school she attended. They married in 1971 but had not been back in almost four decades.

Although they were not Christians, their adult daughter, Tania, was. She introduced her parents to the Rolisons, and the Pereas opened their Durango home for the first Bible study in what became Casa Blanca Baptist Church. Their swimming pool served as the church’s baptistry.

Rolison was excited about the Pereas spending a couple of days with the team—which included two Baptist pastors from Durango—so they could hear the gospel and see it at work.

Beyond that, the Pereas turned out to be instrumental in the group meeting a local leader who, in turn, was the key to the Rolisons organizing a Bible study less than 48 hours after arriving in the remote mountain town.

“We usually don’t start the Bible study until the second trip,” Rolison said. “But everything moved so much quicker than usual when (the Pereas) started making connections.”

Two young brothers who live in the mountains south of Durango, Mexico, got an unexpected visit from a BCFS mission team in January and were given belated Christmas stockings that included tracts and scripture portions.

After a bone-jarring four-hour drive through spectacular peaks and valleys over a “pathetic excuse for a road,” the mission team arrived in Guajolota just an hour before sunset.

An inquiry at the local hospital directed Rolison to a social worker’s home. She remembered a missionary pilot who had flown into the town some months before a very brief visit—and who had given Rolison her name.

She introduced the visitors to the doctors at the hospital, who offered the team the use of the office floor for sleeping spots, and then she pointed them toward “the best place to eat in Guajolota.”

The visitors enjoyed the food, but even better was what happened when the Pereas began playing who-do-you-know-that-we-know with the owner. It only took a few minutes before she realized Mrs. Perea was the daughter of a woman she had worked for in the 1960s.

“She turned out to be one of the most influential members of the community,” Rolison said. “The Pereas told her that we wanted to start a Bible study and that she should help us because we were wonderful and having a Bible study would be wonderful.”

The next day, the team visited the middle and elementary schools, distributing Christmas stockings that included a Gospel of Mark and stuffed animals. They told everyone they met they hoped their ministry could develop a long-term relationship with Guajolota to meet their physical and spiritual needs. In between, they even rescued a pickup that had bogged down to its rear axle.

A Tepehauano Indian girl, a middle school student at the school in Guajolota, Mexico, listens to a team of Mexican and American Christians who visited her school in January.

By late afternoon, not knowing what to expect, the visitors headed toward the Bible study site. A crowd of 30 to 35 Tepehuanos adults and a crowd of children awaited them. The restaurant owner—a non-Christian—had spread the word with a passion. Even the local curandero—a traditional healer believed to cure illness by combating the spiritual powers causing the problem—stood along the fence, listening intently as Rolison and one of the national pastors preached.

The doctors and staff of the hospital also welcomed the visitors and explained they had almost no medicine to treat illnesses.

“Three babies were born that first night we slept on the hospital office floors, and at least one person died,” Rolison said. “We saw so many needs—so many people spiritually hungry and economically pressed.”

But the sight that touched him most deeply came at the end of the second day, after Bible study. The team stood outside the hospital and visited with the medical staff as the skies darkened and the temperatures dropped. A family arrived, bringing a mother in obvious pain. While she was being admitted, her husband sat on a low front wall with two sons, loosely wrapped in a blankets.

Rolison introduced himself and noticed the smaller boy was shivering. The father said the 2-year-old had the flu.

Though the church at Chupaderos (just outside Durango, Mexico) is several years old the congregation celebrated its first Lord's Supper in mid-January. Lakeview Baptist Church in San Antonio donated the trays, glasses and glass holders to the Chupandero Baptist Church.

“When I touched his forehead, he was burning with fever,” Rolison explained. “Then I looked down and saw that he was barefooted. Seeing a small, sick boy with no shoes in the middle of a mountain winter just broke my heart.

“Right then and there, I made a commitment to God that I would return to Guajolota and other Tepehuanos settlements as often as he allows and bring as many teams—medical and otherwise—as will come with me.”

Children’s Emergency Relief International and Past the Edge ministries have scheduled monthly visits through December. Inclusive cost for the five- to six-day trips is around $400 from San Antonio. Dates and details are available from Rolison by e-mail at rrolison@bcfs.net or by calling Baptist Child & Family Services at (210) 832-5000.

“The government is stringing power lines into the area, so soon there will be electricity for light,” Rolison pointed out. “But I’m excited that God allowed (Past the Edge) to bring the light of the gospel here first.” 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: 4/13/06

Carter gathers diverse Baptist leaders

ATLANTA (ABP)—Leaders of Baptist conventions and organizations comprising more than 20 million adherents in North America explored “additional opportunities for fellowship and cooperation” in Atlanta April 10.

President Jimmy Carter, a lifelong Baptist lay leader and Sunday school teacher, sponsored the gathering at the Carter Center. Bill Underwood, president-elect of Mercer University in Macon, Ga., helped recruit the participants.

Carter noted the historic nature of the meeting, which attracted a diverse array of groups. He urged participants to transcend their differences—including race, culture, geography and convention affiliation—and seek common purpose.

“The most common opinion about Baptists is we cannot get along together,” he acknowledged.

But “there are some things on which we can have unanimity,” he added, mentioning the involvement of all participants in the Baptist World Alliance and the shared belief that people are “saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.”

Not participating were representatives of the Southern Baptist Convention, which withdrew from the BWA over issues of theology and control.

Carter urged participants to agree to cooperate and to let their shared commitments be known publicly. They engaged in a wide-ranging discussion, which lasted most of four hours and focused on key issues of the conventions and organizations represented in the meeting.

Ultimately, they approved a statement they called “A North American Baptist Covenant.”

In it, they affirmed their “desire to speak and work together to create an authentic and genuine prophetic Baptist voice in these complex times.” They also reaffirmed their commitment to “traditional Baptist values, including sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ and its implications for public and private morality.”

Participants specifically committed themselves to their “obligations as Christians to promote peace with justice, to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, care for the sick and marginalized, welcome the strangers among us, and promote religious liberty and respect for religious diversity.”

They agreed to hold a convocation, probably in 2007, “to celebrate these historic Baptist commitments and to explore other opportunities to work together as Christian partners.”

In addition to Carter and Underwood, participants were:

• Jimmy Allen, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention and a founder of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

• David Goatley, executive secretary-treasurer of the Lott Carey Baptist Foreign Mission Society.

• Kirby Godsey, president of Mercer University.

• Major Jemison, president of the Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc.

• Marv Knox, editor of the Baptist Standard, news journal of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

• Roy Medley, general secretary of the American Baptist Churches, USA.

• Gary Nelson, general secretary of Canadian Baptist Ministries.

• Tyrone Pitts, general secretary of the Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc.

• Jerry Sanders, president of the Lott Carey Baptist Foreign Mission Society.

• William J. Shaw, president of the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.

• Walter Shurden, director of the Center for Baptist Studies at Mercer University.

• Samuel C. Tolbert Jr., general secretary of the National Baptist Convention of America, Inc.

• John Upton, executive director of the Baptist General Association of Virginia.

• Daniel Vestal, coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

• Charles Wade, executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

• Bill Wilson, co-chair of the Mainstream Baptist Network. 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: 4/13/06

Around the State

• The College of Nursing at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor will conduct the spring community nursing symposium April 18 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The symposium is held each semester and is presented by the senior UMHB nursing students enrolled in the community health nursing course.

• Lake Lavon Baptist Encampment’s senior adult retreat will be held May 15-17. The camp theme will be “Fulfilling My Destiny.” Phil Briggs will the camp pastor, and Rosemary Hoover is the Bible teacher. For more information, call (972) 736-2273.

• The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor will hold its annual Senior Saints Summit May 15-19. The conference is for people 55 or older. Participants stay on campus for four days of singing, worship, fellowship and Bible study. Russell Dilday will be the preacher, Charlie Robinson the Bible teacher, Larry Putman the worship leader, Don Newberry the banquet entertainer and Dan Gibbs the banquet emcee. For more information, call (254) 295-4606.

First Church in Fresno recently held a note burning ceremony to commemorate the retirement of the church’s debt on 19 acres of land and its sanctuary. The church was started in 1997. Pictured are original members Dale Wellborn, John Borden, Carol Stoneham and Carol Borden. In the background is Interim Pastor Harold Sellers who helped start the church prior to his retirement as director of missions of Coastal Plains Area.

• Lon Chaffin, chairman of the department of music and associate professor of music at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, recently received the Distinguished Service Alumni Award by Wayland Baptist University’s Association of Former Students.

• Hardin-Simmons Univer-sity named three recipients of its Outstanding Young Alumni Award. Honored were Alex Vasquez, currently associate general counsel of Wal-Mart; Dean Nolen, a writer, actor and soon-to-be producer whose television credits in-clude Law and Order, Crossing Jordan, and Law and Order: Criminal Intent; and Mike Hammack, executive director for Texas Baptist Family Services of Houston.

• Thelma Lou Cooper, retired Baylor University assistant professor of piano, has been inducted into the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Walter Gilewicz Hall of Fame as its 29th distinguished musician.

• An anonymous gift was presented to Susan Edwards, director of Hope for Healing Ministries at Hendrick Medical Center in Abilene. The gift was a memorial contribution from a Texas Baptist family in the name of Brenda Phillips, who was murdered in a convenience store robbery in Abilene in 1990. The gift will be used to further help establish a Victim Memorial Center in Huntsville. Participating in the ceremony were Jim Young, missions specialist for the Baptist General Convention of Texas; Bruce Lampert, director of pastoral care at Hendrick Medical Center; Bobby Lawson, director of the Hendrick Trauma Center; and Raven Kazen, director of victim services for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

• Van Gray, associate vice president for strategic planning and improvement the last four years at Baylor University, is leaving his administrative post, effective May 31, to return to full-time teaching and research in the Hankamer School of Business, where he is professor of management. Gray joined the Baylor faculty in 1986 and received the school’s distinguished professor award in 1994.

Anniversaries

• R.C. Jeanes, 40th, as pastor of Cadiz Church in Beeville, April 1.

• Steve Ewton, 15th, as pastor of Cherry Mound Church in Denison, April 7.

• Tom Henderson, 15th, as pastor of Heights Church in Temple, April 21.

• First Church in Melvin, 100th, April 22-23. A time of fellowship will be held Saturday at 5 p.m. A catered lunch will follow the service on Sunday morning. Make reservations for the meal by calling (325) 286-4342. Bob Gauer is pastor.

• Avoca Church in Avoca, 100th, April 29-30. The celebration will be held from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. A sandwich meal will be furnished on Saturday, and a barbecue and fried chicken meal will be served for lunch Sunday. Programs both days will consist of singing, fellowship, and former pastors and music directors sharing memories. Les Mims is pastor.

• Mike Clements, fifth, as pastor of First Church in Floresville.

• Brett Younger, fifth, as pastor of Broadway Church in Fort Worth.

• Mario Rios, 30th, as pastor of Primera Iglesia in Flour Bluff.

• Harvey Abke, 15th, as pastor of Bamore Road Church in Rosenberg.

• Duane Mayberry, fifth, as pastor of First Church in East Bernard.

Deaths

• Blackie Pack, 71, March 7 in Stephenville. He was a Sunday school teacher and deacon at Riverside Church in Stephenville. He was preceded in death by six sisters and three brothers. He is survived by his wife, Jane; daughters, Charlotte Voth, Tawnya Doggett, Sherri Littlejohn and Kim Sykes; sister, Elsie Gregory; nine grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

• Jessie Sain, 72, March 26 in Tulia. Her husband, James, was a pastor in Texas, New Mexico and Colorado. She was a member of Calvary Church in Tulia at the time of her death. She is survived by her husband; daughters, Cindy Rea, Gayla Spencer and Shelia Bice; son, Rickey; brothers, Larry, Jack, Fred, Dickie and Gene Oliver; sisters, Charlene Eastman, Geraldine Witherspoon and Imagean Stripling; and four grandchildren.

• Fern Miles, 91, March 31 in San Angelo. In 1940, she was appointed as a missionary to China by the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. After just one year on the field, she was evacuated from because of World War II. She relocated to the Philippines but later was captured there by the Japanese military and held as a prisoner of war. She was freed by American forces in 1945. She returned to China in 1947, only to be forced out a year later by the communist revolution. She turned her efforts to Chinese refugees in the Philippines, starting three churches there. She spent her remaining career teaching at a Baptist seminary in Taiwan and retired in 1975. Single until 1976, she married Carson-Newman College professor Herbert Miles. Together, they wrote four books, including a chronicle of her time as a prisoner of war. Her husband preceded her in death in 1994. She is survived by three brothers and one sister.

Hardin-Simmons University’s Department of Communications showed it can stand toe-to-toe with any advertising firm in the region as it brought home seven top awards from the 2006 Addy Awards. The only organization that won more awards was a corporate design firm, but every project HSU entered brought home a prize. Pictured are Erin Leeper, interactive graphic designer, and Leland Harden, director of university communications.

• Rick Holland, 52, April 7 in Orange. He was pastor of Hartburg Church in Hartburg, and former pastor of First Church in Dodge. He was preceded in death by his father, Merrill. He is survived by his wife of 17 years, Donna Sue; daughter, Carissa Holland; mother, Helen; sister, Deborah Lloyd; brothers, Merrill Jr. and Michael.

• Kari Baker, 31, April 8 in Hewitt. Her husband, Matt, is pastor of Crossroads Church in Lorena. She was a graduate of Baylor University and also earned a graduate degree at Dallas Baptist University. She was an elementary school teacher and an adjunct instructor at Tarleton State University. She was preceded in death by her daughter, Kassidy. She is survived by her husband; daughters, Kensi and Grace; parents, Jim and Linda Dulin; brother, Adam Dulin; grandparents, James and Mary Sue Dodson; great-grandmother, Hester Hutchinson; and in-laws, Oscar and Barbara Baker.

Deaths

• The community and county of Liberty proclaimed April 9 “Jerry Johnson Day” in recognition of the pastor who served First Church in Liberty more than 24 years.

• The Singing Women of South Texas will perform at First Church in New Braunfels at 6 p.m. April 22.

Ordained

• Richard Diaz and Marty Summers as deacons at First Church in Cotulla.

Revivals

• First Church of Shady Acres, Brazoria; April 30-May 3; evangelist, Steve Brumbelow; pastor, David Pate.

• Pinecrest Church, Linden; April 30-May 3; evangelist, Gibby McMillian; pastor, Bryan Baggett.

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: 4/13/06

Book Reviews

American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century By Kevin Phillips (Viking Adult)

In Wealth and Democracy, maverick political and economic thinker Kevin Phillips urged readers to consider how “plutocracy”—from the Greek, meaning rule by the rich—is a fitting characterization of our nation’s governance. His point was that money has become the driving force of government in the United States.

Three years later, in his 12th book, Phillips examines another powerful political motivator—religion. This time, the richly experienced analyst approaches the subject with no irony. He bluntly calls this one American Theocracy and fills more than 400 pages with a blistering vision of the decline of the separation of church and state.

Theocracy means government by divine authority. Phillips argues that radical religious beliefs have penetrated the course of a nation whose founders intended its government to remain separate from whatever theology citizens embraced—or not.

The theocrats—whom he describes as fundamentalist Protestants, Mormons, some Catholics and the most conservative Jews—find common ground in acceptance of their respective scripture as never-erring documents.

Many of these Christians also believe, Phillips writes, that God has singled out and blessed an America situated on the brink of the end times.

The fallout of such views, so intensely asserted in so powerful a nation, can be profoundly undemocratic: An “enlightened” few dictate God’s authority on endless social, political, even scientific matters.

This worldview also dismisses the sovereignty of other nations and environmental concerns. No worries about global warming if the universe has only a few years left.

To make his case, Phillips piles on details, with 2,000 years of historical analysis, recent polling results, references to a range of other scholars and U.S. Census data sliced and diced 10 ways to Sunday.

“By this point,” he writes, “the reader may feel baptized by statistical and denominational total immersion.”

Perseverance pays off in reading this challenging tome. It shows how the rising influence of religious fundamentalism, much of it growing from the old Confederate states, affects three key American practices—its gluttonous oil abuse, its electoral politics and its overreliance on debt.

Does that seem a lot to cover? It surely is—maybe too much. As Phillips works his way through the rise and descent of Spain, Holland and Britain as world powers, he strains to connect his precedents across six centuries before he pauses to plunk down for a long trek through, say, the Mormon Church as a regional theocratic force.

Readers who stay the course will be rewarded with a new and compelling way to read between the lines of persistent conflicts in the daily news.

Phillips’ thesis illuminates the fights between biologists and intelligent-design advocates, pro- and anti-abortion forces, America and the Middle Eastern Islamic lands (under which so much oil lies) and environmentalists and corporate capitalists.

American Theocracy doesn’t equivocate. It is a burning indictment of our political times, perhaps sometimes unfairly so. Phillips, a former Republican and onetime principal political strategist for Richard Nixon, insists that the place where he cut his political teeth has become “the first American religious party.”

Readers who can weather a dense journey will find lightning flashes of insight in American Theocracy.

Frank Bentayou covers religion and ethics for The Plain Dealer of Cleveland. This book review was distributed by Religion News Service.

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

Posted: 4/13/06

Baptist Briefs

Corts named college council president. Former Baptist college president Paul Corts has been named the fifth president of the 30-year-old Council for Christian Colleges and Universities—an association of more than 170 Christian institutions worldwide. He will assume the office in June. Corts has served as assistant attorney general for administration for the U.S. Department of Justice since 2002. Previously, he worked nearly 12 years as president of Palm Beach Atlantic University, a Florida Baptist school. Before that, he was president of Wingate University in North Carolina and held administrative and teaching positions at Oklahoma Baptist University and Western Kentucky University. His brother, Tom, recently retired as president of Samford University, an Alabama Baptist school.

Ouachita names president. Rex Horne, pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church of Little Rock, Ark., for 16 years, has been named president-elect of Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Ark., effective May 1. Ouachita trustees unanimously elected Horne at a called meeting April 6. He was the unanimous choice of the 18-member presidential search committee. Horne served as a pastor in Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma before becoming pastor at Immanuel, where former President Bill Clinton was one of his church members. As the 15th president in Ouachita’s 120-year history, Horne follows Andy Westmoreland, who begins June 1 as president of Samford University of Birmingham, Ala. Horne completed his freshman year at Ouachita and completed his bachelor’s degree at Arkansas College—now Lyon College—in Batesville, Ark., where he served on staff at First Baptist Church of Batesville. He earned a master of divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth and a doctor of ministry degree from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Horne and his wife, Becky, have four grown children.

Salvador headlines CBF summit on HIV/AIDS. Salvador—a popular Latino Christian music group originally from Austin—will perform a free concert at 8 p.m., June 21, in the Sidney Marcus Auditorium of the Georgia World Congress Center as a part of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s HIV/AIDS Summit, “Breaking the Silence: Compassion for an HIV Positive World.”

Southwestern Seminary trustees elect new deans, VP. Trustees of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary elected Rudy Gonzalez dean of the school’s expanded San Antonio extension—the Marshall Center for Theological Studies on the campus of Park Hills Baptist Church—at their April 4 semi-annual meeting in Fort Worth. They also elected Deron Biles dean of extension education and associate professor of Old Testament in the School of Theology and Mike Hughes, a former car dealer from Abilene, vice president for institutional advancement. Trustees elected William Dembski—an outspoken proponent of intelligent design—as research professor of philosophy, Steven Ortiz associate professor of archaeology and biblical backgrounds, Jay Howell assistant professor of philosophy, Robert Vaughn associate professor of administration, David Mills assistant professor of evangelism and Doug Wood associate professor of education and worship at the Havard School for Theological Studies in Houston.

Tennessee Baptists may vacate Belmont board. The Tennessee Baptist Convention will hold a rare called special convention May 9 to deal with a growing rift with Baptist-affiliated Belmont University. Belmont wants to elect its own trustees, who have been appointed by the convention for more than 50 years. But convention leaders warned March 28 they may seek dismissal of the university’s current trustees—presumably to elect a slate that will keep the Nashville school under convention control. At issue is a 1951 agreement, signed by Belmont and the convention’s Executive Board, that says should Belmont “for any reason pass from Baptist control, or the control, ownership, supervision or right to elect the trustees of (the university) be lost to the Tennessee Baptist Convention,” then the state convention can recoup all property and be repaid all the funds given to the school—more than $50 million since 1951, Tennessee’s Baptist and Reflector newsjournal reported. Belmont contends the school will remain Baptist, since under the new plan only 40 percent of trustees can be non-Baptist. 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: 4/13/06

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

Posted: 4/13/06

Church group focuses on fighting poverty

By Kevin Eckstrom

Religion News Service

ATLANTA (RNS)—Leaders of 34 church bodies in the United States—including the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship—officially launched the broadest Christian-unity organization in American history and announced a fight against poverty as its first priority.

Christian Churches Together in the USA formally was inaugurated after a recent three-day meeting outside Atlanta. A public kickoff is scheduled at the group’s scheduled meeting next February.

The loose-knit group brings together five Christian “families” who have long been divided by historical and theological differences—Roman Catholics, mainline Protes-tants, evangelicals and Pentecostals, historically African-American churches and Orthodox churches.

Together, they represent more than 100 million American Chris-tians. The nation’s largest Protestant body, the Southern Baptist Convention, has said it will not participate.

The effort to form a more “credible Christian witness” was started about five years ago, and organizers have met annually to try to dismantle decades of political, doctrinal and historical animosity among American churches.

“We finally found the courage to confront our obvious and longstanding divisions and to build a new expression of unity … that will strengthen our mission in the world,” said Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, general secretary of the Reformed Church of America and an early architect of the new group.

Organizers had hoped to launch last year but put off any official action until the group could attract more interest and participation from historically black churches.

Two of the nation’s largest black denominations—the National Baptist Convention USA, Inc., and the National Baptist Convention of America—officially joined as members during the Atlanta meeting.

“The group felt that we’ve made enough progress that the vision of all five families could now be closer to being realized and was strong enough in each of the five that we were ready to organize,” Granberg-Michaelson said.

A search committee will begin looking for an executive director. The group will have only minimal staff and will function with a “virtual” headquarters, he added. A five-member committee of leaders from each faith group will lead the organization. CCT also includes organizations such as Bread for the World, an anti-hunger group, and Call to Renewal, a progressive anti-poverty group, and churches such as the Salvation Army.

Representatives from additional churches and organizations—including the Baptist General Con-vention of Texas’ Christian Life Commission—attended the Atlanta meeting as observers.

Organizers said it quickly be-came apparent that tackling poverty would be the group’s first priority.

“People were clear this is the first issue we’re addressing, but not the only one,” Granberg-Michaelson said. A three-member committee—Ron Sider of Evangelicals for Social Action; Roman Catholic Bishop Stephen Blaire and William Shaw of the National Baptist Convention USA—will look for ways “to answer the question of how we move forward, and what can we do to address” poverty, he said.

“We’ve got all the major groups and all the best thinking represented (in CCT), and this is a place where they can all be together,” he said. “We’re finding around an issue like poverty an awful amount of common ground.” 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.