Updated: 2/02/07

Estelle Owens peruses copies of the Hale County Historical Association journals in the Mabee Learning Resources Center on the Wayland Baptist University campus while gathering history on the university for the centennial book.

Wayland's centennial history a labor of love for professor

By Teresa Young

Wayland Baptist University

PLAINVIEW—Estelle Owens figures she looks a bit more tired than usual these days. After all, long hours, long nights and long stretches of highway can wear on a person. But she’s quick to admit every article she has read and every interview she has conducted for Wayland Baptist University’s centennial history has been a labor of love.

When approached a few years back to research and compile Wayland’s complete history for its centennial celebration, Owens jumped at the chance. She won’t deny the work has been tedious at times and the majority of her free time has been swallowed up with the process, but she’s also had the experience of a lifetime.

“I am so thrilled to get to be the one who gets to put the words on paper,” said Owens, a history professor and chair of the social sciences division at Wayland. “I know there are others who could do it well and love it, but not more than me.”

As a 1971 Wayland graduate, Owens has a special place in her heart for the university where she has worked since 1974. And while teaching students is a particular passion—students for decades have bragged on her exciting and enlivened lectures about historical events—rolling up her sleeves and digging through history also is a great love.

Officially, Owens began her work on the history book in the fall of 2005, culling the archives to locate what the university already had in place and what needed to be added. Granted an extended sabbatical for spring and summer 2006, Owens spent eight months in discovery mode, looking through old newspapers and periodicals, traveling for oral history interviews and making countless copies.

But Owens insists the work actually began decades ago in her early days on the faculty. In 1976, Gwin Morris, then chair of the social sciences division, had some extra travel money and sent Owens to California for a series of interviews with former President Bill Marshall.

“I spent a week there, and we did 12 to 14 interviews—one in his convertible,” Owens recalled. “We talked about his life, his travels, his time at Wayland and his two years in the jungles of Brazil.”

That first set of presidential history interviews morphed into a series, and Owens also interviewed former presidents Roy McClung, A. Hope Owen, David Jester and the wife of Glenn Barnett, who served as interim from 1987 to 1989. Not finding much about the first four presidents, Owens made them her first target, noting, “I’m really fascinated with the early years.”

She still lacks oral histories for Wallace Davis, Lanny Hall and current President Paul Armes.

Although not all of Wayland’s history involves the presidential suite, Owens noted that filling in the blanks of the presidents provides a backbone to the overall historical picture. Many of the key decisions in Wayland’s history came through its leadership, and diving into the lives of the presidents helps set the stage for why those decisions were made.

Through her voyage of discovery, Owens has come to appreciate the men who served in Wayland’s highest office a little more.

“With all these people, there has been a willingness to give way beyond the point where it hurts, and not just money either. Some of them had fragile health, but they just sucked it up and kept going,” she said. “Another impressive thing is how many ties there were between people, and some presidents shared ties to churches they had pastored.

“It’s such a tiny world when you get right down to it. There is such symmetry to our past.”

The majority of Owens’ fact-finding mission has involved poring over old issues of the Baptist Standard, the Trail Blazer university publication and the Plainview Daily Herald, among others. Much of that, she notes with bleary eyes, was done via microfilm. After 10-hour stretches of searching, Owens admits she left the Mabee Learning Resources Center a bit weary.

Luckily for future researchers, Owens made photocopies of everything she found so the tedious microfilm searches would not have to be repeated. She estimates she’s added at least 20,000 pages to the archives from her searches. Other items were gleaned from archive files of old catalogs, letters, speeches, diaries and journals, and other papers stored away in boxes in the basement of the Mabee Center.

Among her summer travels, Owens visited Waco, poring through archives at Baylor University, where many former presidents earned their education. She also visited the archives of both Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth. And she spent much time with the Southern Baptist Convention archives in Nashville and those of the Baptist General Convention of Texas in Dallas, along with other state Baptist papers and records.

“It takes being a bloodhound and a genealogist,” Owens said of the search. “It’s amazing when you have experience with genealogy what you can find through family research.”

Even though she still has stacks of papers to read and files to peruse, Owens said the journey has been enjoyable, as she’s learned so much about the university and its people. She’s even more convinced of God’s hand on the university as she reads of other schools that closed their doors over the decades.

“I’m awe inspired when I see what these folks were willing to do to get their education, and our students now are willing to do it as well,” she said. “It is so obvious when you get into it that this is providential. God wants us here, and he wants us out where we are.

“It’s incredible that a little school on the plains of Texas could have the kind of awesome impact on so many people. The Wayland imprint is there on lots of people.”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Storylist for week of 1/22/07

TAKE ME TO: Top Story |  Texas |  Opinion |  Baptists |  Faith & Culture |  Book Reviews |  Classifieds  |  Departments  |  Bible Study



• Christian faith unites opposing Super Bowl coaches

• IMB trustee investigation rejects allegations of board impropriety

• TBM chainsaw teams offer relief in northeastern Oklahoma

• Host families urgently needed to care for Indonesian burn victims

• Group soliciting signatures for letter to Executive Board

• WMU suffers from mission board funding cuts

• Baptists in Beirut endangered as violence escalates

• Accrediting agencies asked to probe seminary's dismissal of female prof

• Politics not behind plan to unite Baptists, Underwood insists

• Evangelicals join scientists in fight against global warming

• Holiday visit with Kenyan orphans changed students' perspective on world

• Diverse coalition forces amendment to lobbying-reform bill

• SBC officials accuse Carter of ‘voodoo ecumenism'

• Authorities investigating fires at North Carolina churches

• Belmont subpoenas church records in Tennessee Baptist lawsuit



• MAKING PEACE: Creating a congregational culture of peacemaking takes time

• Do conservative evangelicals regret justifying Iraq war?

• Global peace a growing priority for Christian groups

• Time to call a mediator when focus turns from problems to personalities


• Semester missionaries merge vocational, ministerial callings

• TBM chainsaw teams serve in Oklahoma

• BGCT intercultural mission trip slated for Vancouver

• On the Move

• Around the State

• Texas Tidbits


• Pastor sees end of one congregation as ‘New Beginning'

• Baptist Briefs


• Childless young adults want ministry, not sympathy

• People in house churches report greater satisfaction than conventional churchgoers

• Jubilee USA urges multilateral debt relief

• Born-again bikers running full-throttle for Jesus

• New IRS rules require receipts for church donations

• Church giving lacks external focus, study reveals

• Faith Digest


• Book Reviews


• Cartoon

• Around the State

• On the Move

• Classified Ads


• EDITORIAL: A time and place for healing wounds

• DOWN HOME: What's interesting to all those men?

• TOGETHER: If Baptists were ‘too much like Jesus'

• 2nd Opinion: Longevity: Key to student ministry

• RIGHT or WRONG? Geneva conventions

• Texas Baptist Forum

• Cybercolumn by Berry D. Simpson: Search for understanding



• BaptistWay Bible Series for January 21: In good times and bad, Jesus is there

• Bible Studies for Life Series for January 21: What is human life worth?

• Explore the Bible Series for January 21: Every person is intimately known by God

• BaptistWay Bible Series for January 28: God prunes with a wise, loving hand

• Bible Studies for Life Series for January 28: Faith can conquer chaos

• Explore the Bible Series for January 28: It is important to keep commitments


Previously Posted
• Missouri Baptist leaders approve team to investigate executive

• Kokomo church rises from ashes, celebrates centennial

• Seminary president urges neighboring pastor to resign

• Planned 2008 convocation grows from desire for ‘new Baptist voice'

• Ad hoc group monitors progress on church-starting changes

• Faith leaders tell Congress: Deliver on promises made to values voters

• BGCT president's wife donates building to Lubbock ministry

• Students learn to own their faith during college years

• Young adults will leave church if they're overlooked, study says

• Texas Baptist leaders applaud call for inclusive convocation

• Baptist leaders insist covenant offers chance to heal racial wounds

• Reyes sees move to Buckner as natural progression

• Hall: 'Still a lot for me to do' at Buckner

• Bloggers seek to launch movement


See complete list of articles from our 1/08/2007 issue here.

Updated: 2/02/07

Diverse coalition forces
amendment to lobbying-reform bill

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)—After an uproar from an odd coalition of conservative religious, libertarian and business groups, the Senate voted late to scuttle part of its sweeping lobbying-reform bill.

The Senate amended the Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act of 2007 on a near-party-line vote of 55-43.

The overall bill, as amended, passed 96-2. The House has passed similar ethics-reform legislation, but without the controversial grassroots-lobbying provision.

The amendment to the Senate bill removed a provision of the original bill that groups as diverse as the National Right to Life Committee, Family Research Council, National Association of Manufacturers and American Civil Liberties Union had protested.

They claimed the bill without amendment would have a chilling effect on First Amendment freedoms.

“Now the liberal leadership in the U.S. Senate seeks to silence groups like the Family Research Council from informing you on the issues,” wrote Tony Perkins, the group’s president, in an e-mail to supporters urging them to contact their senators in favor of amending the bill.

“Included…is a provision that seeks to establish, for the first time, federal regulation of grassroots activity that is intended to encourage members of the public to communicate with members of Congress about pending legislative matters—so-called ‘grassroots lobbying.’ This is a move to stop us from informing you about the issues you find important.”

An ACLU press release decrying the bill before it was amended said: “The intention of supporters of the bill is to limit the impact of what they call ‘big-dollar advertising.’ However, it would chill the constitutionally protected activity of many advocacy organizations.”

The excised provision would have required groups that engage in grassroots lobbying on issues currently before Congress to disclose their expenditures any time they communicate with their constituents about those issues.

The conservative, libertarian and business groups said that could require burdensome disclosure requirements from churches and other nonprofit groups.

But proponents of the bill noted nonprofit groups increasingly are being used for large-scale lobbying efforts—sometimes illicitly. For instance, the scandal surrounding former Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff included revelations that he channeled millions of dollars in fees from Indian-casino clients through nonprofit groups run by former Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed. The groups existed, ostensibly, to fight the expansion of gambling. But Indian tribes with rival gambling interests funded them through Abramoff and Reed to stop potential competition.

Christians shouldn’t fear increased transparency about their public-policy efforts, said Suzii Paynter, director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Christian Life Commission.

“It’s all just, in a sense, a continuation of a trend for disclosure in government,” she said.

Paynter conceded such disclosure may be “inconvenient” for churches and other nonprofit groups organized under Section 501(c)(3) of the federal tax code.

“But sometimes the things that are most ethical are inconvenient. It doesn’t change the rules for lobbying about 501(c)(3)s—they just have to disclose it in a different way, which I think is a good thing.”

But, she continued, lawmakers should be vigilant that such measures do not unconstitutionally target religious groups.

“There’s always a trade-off in situations like that. I think the question we have to ask is: Is there an undue burden on a nonprofit and a religious organization?”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Updated: 2/02/07

Some evangelicals join scientists
in battle against global warming

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)—A new alliance between prominent evangelical leaders and their secular scientific counterparts to fight global warming is drawing bipartisan support in Washington—but also has some evangelical detractors.

A coalition of 28 scientists, theologians, ethicists and pastors announced a new collaborative effort on human-caused climate change. The announcement marks an escalation in the budding evangelical environmental movement and signals a willingness for some scientists and conservative Christians to put aside their differences over how and when creation came about in order to prevent its premature end.

The group outlined its concerns in a document called “An Urgent Call to Action” and addressed to President Bush, political leaders and evangelical and scientific communities.

“We agree that our home, the earth, which comes to us as that inexpressibly beautiful and mysterious gift that sustains our very lives, is seriously imperiled by human behavior,” the statement read.

“The harm is seen throughout the natural world, including a cascading set of problems such as climate change, habitat destruction, pollution, and species extinction, as well as the spread of infectious diseases, and other accelerating threats to the health of people and the well-being of societies. Each particular problem could be enumerated, but here it is enough to say that we are gradually destroying the sustaining community of life on which all living things on Earth depend.”

The letter’s signers include Eric Chivian, Nobel laureate and director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School; David Gushee, a Christian ethics professor at Union University; Rich Cizik, vice president for governmental affairs at the National Association of Evangelicals; NASA climatologist James Hansen; and Joel Hunter, the pastor of a church near Orlando. Hunter recently declined to become the president of the Christian Coalition after disputes with the group’s board over broadening its focus to include environmentalism, among other things.

A rival group of evangelicals who dispute human-caused climate change pooh-poohed the announcement. A statement from the Interfaith Stewardship Alliance called the latest announcement “just another attempt to create the impression of growing consensus among evangelicals about global warming. There is no such growing consensus.”

Tony Perkins, president of the Washington-based conservative group Family Research Council, said in an e-mail to his supporters: “The media seeks to spin the story as a coalition of evangelicals, when in fact it’s fueled by only a few outspoken voices on global warming, some of whom have used their organizations as a platform for airing personal views. …Unfortunately, the liberal media are using some groups’ mixed message to focus away from the protection of life and marriage to global warming, a subject on which scientists—let alone evangelicals—have yet to form a consensus approach.”

But the document’s signers said climate change is real, harmful and can be avoided.

“If current deterioration of the environment by human activity continues unabated, best estimates are that half of Earth’s surviving species of plants and animals will be extinguished or critically endangered by the end of the century,” said Edward Wilson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, in a statement on the collaboration released by the National Association of Evangelicals. “The price for future generations will be paid in economic opportunity, environmental security and spiritual fulfillment. The saving of the living environment is therefore an issue appropriately addressed jointly by science and religion.”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Updated: 2/02/07

Accrediting agencies asked to probe
seminary’s dismissal of female prof

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

FORT WORTH (ABP)—A supporter of a professor who lost her job at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary—allegedly due to gender discrimination— has filed complaints with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and Association of Theological Schools, asking them to investigate “a serious breach” of accreditation guidelines.

Sheri Klouda pictured at Southwestern Seminary's convocation August 29, 2002, affirming her adherence to the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message. (The photo appeared on Wade Burleson's blog).

Benjamin Cole, pastor of Parkview Baptist Church in Arlington, filed the complaints. He joined Oklahoma pastor Wade Burleson and prominent blogger Marty Duren in calling attention to Sheri Klouda’s case. Burleson is the pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Enid, Okla. Duren leads New Bethany Baptist Church in Buford, Ga.

Cole’s letter of complaint outlined a timeline of events leading to Klouda’s dismissal, beginning with an April 2002 seminary trustee meeting in which trustees approved her as a tenure-track professor to teach biblical languages in the theology school.

In 2003, Paige Patterson, who recently had been hired as the school’s president, personally assured her the change of administration would not jeopardize her position teaching Hebrew, Klouda said.

Since that time, however, the seminary has toughened its interpretation of the Southern Baptist Convention’s 2000 Baptist Faith & Message doctrinal statement, which says that “while both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men….”

Patterson and Southwestern now interpret that to mean only men can instruct future pastors, a seminary official explained.

After learning in 2004 she would not get tenure at the school, Klouda’s contract was terminated in December of 2006. She since has received a teaching position at Taylor University in Upland, Ind.

“I was told this (dismissal) was a non-issue, and I couldn’t say anything about it, and if I did say something about it, it would cause problems for my job,” Klouda said. “Then it was, ‘Well, take all the time you need' to find other employment to ‘Well, we’re going to terminate your contract on such-and-such a date.’ It was disappointing to find out that the rules keep changing.”

Van McClain, chair of the school’s board of trustees, has refuted the claims of dismissal, explaining in a letter posted on Duren’s blog “she did not have tenure and, like hundreds of professors around the U.S. every year, was told that she would not be awarded tenure.”

Other school representatives did not return requests for comment.

Cole decided to take up the Klouda case because he thinks a “gross injustice” has been done to Klouda due to the “lax oversight of seminary trustees and the violations of seminary procedures and policies by the school’s administration.”

“Southern Baptists must hold to the highest standards of academic integrity if we are to retain our position as leaders in theological education and ministry training,” he said in an e-mail. “Actions taken by the president at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary have continued to jeopardize the seminary’s good reputation, and it does not appear that the trustees are willing to address the matter.”

Cole sent formal letters of complaint to the seminary’s two accrediting agencies Jan. 24 and 25.

As support for the complaints, Cole’s letters noted that the pronouns used in the seminary’s policy manual reflect “the gender diversity of faculty status and the equity of tenure review for both male and female professors at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.”

The manual also “makes no gender distinction between the various schools of music, evangelism, theology and educational ministries relevant to the selection of tenure-track faculty,” he added.

“Quite frankly, Southwestern trustees appear to regard the interests of the school’s president over the interests of the school’s reputation. I regret that an accreditation review could jeopardize the degrees of all Southwestern students, but it is the administration’s actions rather than my exposing those actions that has brought the school to potential academic shame.”

ATS officials were not available to say if Cole’s complaint would trigger an investigation by the agency. Earlier, a spokeswoman said ATS would respond if a complaint was filed by Klouda, another faculty member, a staff member or student. Cole, who previously worked for Patterson, said he is a part-time student at the seminary.

Nancy Merrill of ATS said, if a complaint was filed, the agency would allow the seminary to respond before determining if ATS’ membership criteria or accreditation standards, or the school’s own faculty policies, had been violated.

ATS standards require that faculty hiring at member schools be “attentive to the value of diversity in race, ethnicity and gender,” but they do not specifically prohibit hiring or firing based on gender. Procedures for faculty retention and dismissal must be stated and followed, the guidelines add, but ATS does not stipulate what those procedures should be.

Cole maintains Southwestern’s guidelines require men and women on faculty be treated equally. If ATS agrees, and Southwestern is determined to have violated those guidelines, punitive action is possible.

Klouda said she did not harbor resentment against the institution, but added: “I expected the best of Dr. Patterson and that he wouldn’t do something like this. I believed him when I talked to him when he said I didn’t have anything to worry about and that he was okay with what I was teaching. I was very disappointed later … when he contradicted what he had said.”

Klouda said she didn’t know whether she will file her own complaints to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or accrediting bodies.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Updated: 2/02/07

WMU suffers from mission board funding cuts

By Steve DeVane

North Carolina Biblical Recorder

RICHMOND, Va. (ABP)— Woman’s Missionary Union of the Southern Baptist Convention, which has seen its annual revenues drop precipitously in the last eight years, now stands to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars more from one of the two mission boards it helps support.

The SBC’s International Mission Board is phasing out unrestricted funding to WMU beginning this year. WMU records show the IMB sent between $200,000 and $325,000 a year in such funds over the last 20 years.

IMB spokesperson Wendy Norville said the mission board has given WMU $250,000 annually for the past three years. This year, that amount will decrease to $200,000. Next year, it will drop to $100,000 before being eliminated completely in 2009.

WMU raises more than half the IMB’s annual budget by promoting an annual missions offering. Considered an auxiliary of the SBC, WMU is governed independently of the SBC and receives no funding from the denomination’s budget for its educational and social service ministries.

The Alabama-based WMU’s budget comes from sales of missions-education materials to churches and other Baptist organizations, as well as individual and church donations, conference fees and other revenue sources.

The fundamentalists who wrested control of the SBC leadership in the 1980s have long had tensions with WMU’s more moderate leadership. Previous attempts to exert more SBC control over the auxiliary have failed. However, the WMU has suffered declines in its revenue and other forms of support in recent decades, as younger women in many churches increasingly eschew traditional WMU groups in favor of women’s ministries that focus more on individual development than missionary support.

Income from WMU’s periodical subscriptions has dropped from about $9.2 million in 1999-2000 to about $6.76 million in 2005-2006.

Norville said IMB will continue reimbursing WMU for promoting the annual Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions—named for a celebrated female Southern Baptist missionary to China. The IMB has sent national and state WMU organizations about $350,000 a year to cover the costs of producing and shipping offering materials, she said.

Julie Walters, a WMU spokesperson, said the reimbursements cover the costs of printing and mailing the materials but not the salaries of WMU employees who write and design them. WMU has not sought money to cover those costs, she said.

Stopping the payments is part of a move by the mission board to do away with such grants, Norville explained. Similar contributions to other groups also are being eliminated in favor of specific contractual arrangements, she added.

IMB will consider increasing funding to WMU if there are other expenses related to promotion of the offering, Norville said.

“We continue to value our partnership with WMU and intend to continue to work together to promote the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering,” she said.

WMU owns the trademark to the offering’s name, but all funds collected go to IMB. Since the agency first began collecting the offering in 1888, it has provided approximately $2.5 billion to Southern Baptist international missionaries.

WMU leaders said that despite WMU’s financial challenges, they are excited about the organization’s future and remain committed to engaging Christians in missions.

“It is through missions education that preschoolers, children, youth, and adults develop missions awareness that leads to a lifestyle of commitment and obedience to the Great Commission,” said WMU Executive Director-Treasurer Wanda Lee and WMU president Kaye Miller in a statement.

“We firmly believe that this is what God has called us to do since our inception in 1888—to challenge Christian believers to understand and be radically involved in the mission of God. While our purpose had not changed in 118 years, some of the delivery approaches and methods have to ensure relevance for today.”

WMU records show its expenses have exceeded revenues five out of the past 11 years. In three of those years, WMU had a deficit of more than $2.3 million. Including investment gains and losses, WMU’s expenses have exceeded revenues by about $5.08 million since 1995.

“We are doing everything we can proactively to turn that around,” the WMU’s Walters said.

WMU also has lost funding from the other SBC missionary agency it promotes, the North American Mission Board, in recent years.

Gifts to WMU from NAMB and its predecessor, the Home Mission Board, have dropped from more than $450,000 in the late 1980s and early 1990s, to $50,000 a year for the last three years. The two biggest one-year decreases were from more than $414,000 in 1995 to about $230,000 in 1996 and from more than $181,000 in 2001 to about $78,000 the next year.

Some of the contributions from NAMB were unrestricted gifts, while others were given to pay for specific projects, Walters said.

NAMB also reimburses WMU for expenses related to promotion of its offering, the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering.

Robert Marus of ABP contributed to this story

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Updated: 2/02/07

Group soliciting signatures
for letter to Executive Board

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

A blogger-led coalition of Texas Baptists who met recently in Mesquite to discuss concerns with the Baptist General Convention of Texas have posted an open letter to the BGCT Executive Board on the Internet, and they are soliciting signatures for it.

At their meeting, the group expressed frustration with a ruling by the chair at the 2006 BGCT annual meeting in Dallas.

One of the groups’ organizers, David Montoya of Calvary Baptist Church in Mineral Wells, made a motion at the annual meeting that the convention—rather than the BGCT Executive Board—request a criminal investigation of mismanaged BGCT church-starting funds in the Rio Grande Valley.

Michael Bell of Fort Worth ruled the motion out of order, saying the Executive Board has sole authority to act in the interim between annual meetings of the convention. Board action at a closed-door session immediately prior to the annual meeting “pre-empted any action” by the convention messengers, he said.

In a letter posted on Montoya’s blog site at spiritualsamurai.typepad.com, the group called the ruling “an unnecessary and dangerous step” that essentially “renders the messengers to the annual convention mute.”

The letter states, “As concerned Baptist Christians, the undersigned respectfully request the Executive Board incorporate language into our constitution and by-laws that will not only remedy the immediate damage done by this ruling but will also protect us from such a ruling from the presiding officer in the future.”

Four days after the letter was posted, 14 people had indicated online their desire to sign it as drafted, and a few other people posted comments.

BGCT Executive Director Charles Wade said the Executive Board already plans at its Feb. 26-27 meeting to deal with the issue and clarify decision-making authority. The convention in session holds final authority, and the board only has authority the convention delegates to it between annual meetings, he said.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Updated: 2/02/07

Host families urgently needed
to care for Indonesian burn victims

By Jenny Pope

Buckner International

HOUSTON—Two host families are needed to care for Indonesian burn victims Ralita, 18, and Asima, 13, when they receive medical treatments at the Shriner’s Hospital burn unit in Galveston, beginning in March.

The girls will undergo extensive reconstructive surgery and will need to travel to Galveston up to twice each week for physical therapy.

Two host families are needed to care for Indonesian burn victims Ralita, 18, and Asima, 13, as they receive medical treatments at the Shriner’s Hospital burn unit in Galveston, Texas beginning in March.

Buckner Children and Family Services will help financially and emotionally support the host families throughout the girls’ six-month and 12-month stays.

“We really need to find a family with a sense of calling that sees this as a ministry opportunity,” said Greg Eubanks, executive director of Buckner Children and Family Services in Southeast Texas.

“Buckner is committed to supporting these families, but we need to find families in the Houston/Galveston area who are committed to loving these girls.”

Because Ralita and Asima’s treatments are so significant, there needs to be at least one member of the family who is available throughout the day to provide for their needs, Eubanks said.

Ralita, who comes from an indigenous farming family in the mountains of Indonesia, received extensive burn damage on her torso after an earthquake caused an oil lamp to fall on her during her sleep. She was only 7 years old.

Ralita will receive at least three reconstructive surgeries, each requiring a seven-day hospital stay. She also will require weekly physical therapy.

Asima received burns on both legs and feet at the age of 6 months when she was placed near an open-flame cook stove which caught her clothes and blankets on fire.

Asima will receive reconstructive surgery on her right leg and foot, and she will be fitted for a prosthetic for her left leg and foot. She, too, will require weekly physical therapy, Eubanks said.

“In addition to finding families for these girls, we’re looking for people who want to support them in other ways, too,” Eubanks added.

“Maybe you aren’t the right family to host Ralita or Asima, but you would like to support them financially or provide respite for their host families on the weekends. We need all kinds of support.”

For more information, contact Buckner in Beaumont at (409) 866-0976 or email geubanks@buckner.org

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Updated: 2/02/07

The entire city of McAlester, Okla., was without power for more than a week, and 18,000 people sought the relief provided by Texas Baptist Men volunteers.

TBM chainsaw teams offer
relief in northeastern Oklahoma

By Barbara Bedrick

Texas Baptist Communications

PRYOR, Okla.—Amid an ice storm that crippled much of Oklahoma, prayers permeated the air as Texas Baptist Men volunteer chainsaw crews finished another project for victims.

Jack Macy called the volunteers “angels.” More than 100 families like Macy’s found solace from the ice storm in the disaster relief provided by TBM volunteers.

“They’re wonderful,” Macy said. “They worked so fast and so hard.”

Mike Bailey, a Texas Baptist Men volunteer from Collin Baptist Association, cuts ice-damaged limbs in Oklahoma.

Former Pryor Fire Chief David Harrison felt blessed the TBM crews helped his family.

“I think it’s great,” Harrison said. “This is the worst ice storm I’ve seen in 29 years here. We’ve been without electricity for five days.”

About100 TBM volunteers converged on McAlester and Pryor to help residents weather an ice storm that threatened homes and claimed at least 32 lives. Nearly 4,000 people were treated at hospitals for weather-related injuries.

Seventy-seven counties have been declared federal disaster areas. Oklahoma’s emergency operations center remained activated due to the extreme winter weather conditions. In McAlester, the entire community was without electric power. Many struggled to stay warm and nourished.

A team of TBM volunteers prepared at least 10,000 meals for storm victims in Grove, north of Pryor. Volunteers man the 18-wheeler state feeding unit loaded with enough food to make 50,000 meals.

Volunteer chainsaw crews faced treacherous footing in the ice and pelting sleet, but they trudged ahead.

Team leaders called it one of the most dangerous and most difficult missions yet for the TBM chainsaw crews. Chainsaw team volunteers put into practice techniques they had never used before as the limbs of many trees stretched precariously toward electrical lines.

Watch a short video on TBM’s ice storm cleanup.

“This is our first time to do ice work,” said Joe Detterman, a TBM volunteer from Collin Baptist Association. “My team does a lot of climbing. When you start climbing a tree with ice, it’s a lot more difficult. The wood is brittle and it breaks when you don’t expect it or when you don’t want it to.”

TBM team members spend hours in chainsaw disaster training and climbing techniques, wear protective chaps and gloves to prevent the blades from cutting them and don OSHA-recommended ear protection and hard hats, but even with all their preparation, they still were challenged by what they experienced in northeastern Oklahoma.

Grateful for the work by Texas Baptist Men chainsaw teams in McAlester, Frink Baptist Church member Helen Stovaugh, her husband and grandson were without power for more than a week.

“I am amazed at the size of the damage,” said Duane Bechtold, unit director of the TBM Collin Baptist Association unit. “It’s really unbelievable the amount of tree damage caused by an ice storm.”

The storm left 4,500 electric utility poles down and tens of thousands of residents in Pryor and McAlester without electricity for more than a week. More than 200 utility crews attempted to upright downed power lines toppled by the ice storm. Red Cross volunteers came from as far away as New York to set up shelters, serve meals and aid storm victims.

“It’s devastating,” said Red Cross volunteer Joy Merrick-Vogel. “It’s something I’ve never seen before. What nature can do is just phenomenal. It’s just miles and miles of ice.”

Helen Stovaugh, who attends Frink Baptist Church in McAlester, described how she and her husband could not stay at home because they had no heat. Fortunately, their son has a fireplace and a generator, so they moved in until power was restored.

“We’re much in prayer about the situation,” she said. “We’re concerned about our friends and neighbors and the whole city. … It’s quite an ordeal. We’re trusting in the Lord to get us through this.”

Residents who remained at home found comfort in the ministry of the TBM volunteers. “We do this for one purpose, and that’s to share the love of God,” Detterman stressed.

“When you show Jesus’ love in a real way, it means more to the homeowners.”

Every job by the chainsaw teams ends in prayer. After completing their tasks, the volunteers ask to pray with the homeowners.

Despite the freezing temperatures and slippery work, the volunteers found they received more than they gave.

“It’s all about Jesus,” said Mike Bailey, volunteer of the TBM Denison unit. “It’s not about getting out here and working. It’s about helping people. I’ve been with TBM for a couple of years, and it’s been a blessing ever since.”

 

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 2/02/07

IMB trustee investigation rejects
allegations of board impropriety

By Robert Marus

Associated Baptist Press

ONTARIO, Calif. (ABP)—The Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board, following an internal investigation, has rejected a trustee’s accusations of impropriety and unauthorized tightening of doctrinal parameters.

The board reportedly approved a report, based on its own executive committee’s investigations into the charges, Jan. 31. There was no recorded dissent or discussion regarding the report at the meeting, which took place in Ontario, Calif.

The committee said the board retains “the prerogative and responsibility of further defining the parameters of doctrinal beliefs and practices of its missionaries.” That came in response to a request to investigate why trustees had instituted two requirements for missionary candidates that go beyond the doctrinal parameters of the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message, the denomination’s official confession of faith.

The investigation came in response to a motion, made by trustee Wade Burleson, during the SBC’s 2006 annual meeting in June. Burleson asked for an investigation by the SBC Executive Committee into several areas of IMB business for which the board recently had come under criticism.

The Oklahoma pastor’s motion called for an investigation into five allegations:

1. The alleged “manipulation of the nominating process of the Southern Baptist Convention during the appointment of trustees for the IMB.”

2. “Attempts to influence and/or coerce the IMB trustees, staff, and administration to take a particular course of action by one or more Southern Baptist agency heads other than the president of the IMB.”

3. “The appropriate and/or inappropriate use of forums and executive sessions of the IMB as compared to conducting business in full view of the Southern Baptist Convention and the corresponding propriety and/or impropriety of the chairman of the IMB excluding any individual trustee, without Southern Baptist Convention approval, from participating in meetings where the full IMB is convened.”

4. “The legislation of new doctrinal requisites for eligibility to serve as employees or missionaries of the IMB beyond the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message.”

5. “The suppression of dissent by trustees in the minority through various means by those in the majority, and the propriety of any agency forbidding a trustee, by policy, from publicly criticizing a board approved action.”

When Burleson made his motion during the SBC meeting, then-SBC President Bobby Welch referred the motion to the IMB. That practice is typical when motions pertaining to a particular SBC agency are presented at convention meetings.

Burleson’s motion grew out of particularly contentious time for the IMB, when the board’s leadership attempted to rebuke him for his public criticism of previous board actions placing on missionaries theological restrictions that he—and other Southern Baptists—said go beyond SBC doctrinal consensus.

One policy bans the appointment of new missionaries who practice a “private prayer language.” Jerry Rankin, IMB president, has said he previously practiced the controversial prayer practice, related to glossolalia, or speaking in tongues.

The other policy placed new restrictions on what modes of baptism would count as acceptable for missionary candidates.

The IMB investigators said the board had the right to enact those new restrictions, even if they go beyond the parameters of the convention’s confessional document.

“While the Baptist Faith and Message represents a general confession of Southern Baptist beliefs related to biblical teachings on primary doctrinal and social issues, the IMB retains the prerogative and responsibility of further defining the parameters of doctrinal beliefs and practices of its missionaries who serve Southern Baptists with accountability to this board,” the report said.

Burleson, in a Feb 1 response posted on his blog, kerussocharis.blogspot.com, said that aspect of the report “causes me the most concern.” However, he declined to comment further on the subject until two separate, ad hoc IMB committees appointed to review the controversial policies report back to trustees at the board’s March meeting.

However, other Southern Baptists were highly critical of the report.

“The end of this is simply that the (board of trustees) of the IMB does not think the SBC as a whole should be telling them what to do and how to do it,” wrote Art Rogers, another Oklahoma pastor who operates the Twelve Witnesses blog at www.twelvewitnesses.com. “This should surprise no one. We already knew that the (board) felt that they had a better grasp on their agency than the general population of the SBC and especially better than the blogger-informed crowd that seemed to support this motion.”

He continued: “As far as my expectations go, this is pretty much what I was ready to receive. When you ask an agency to police itself against accusations that it is failing to police itself, then you can’t expect much else.”

Burleson also accused trustees of bending to undue influence from SBC leaders outside the board and alleged that members of the convention’s nominating committee had attempted to place people with hidden agendas as IMB trustees.

In response to those aspects of Burleson’s motion, the IMB committee said it had no authority to investigate actions by other SBC bodies—in this case, the convention’s nominating committee and other SBC bodies.

“It is assumed that any and all heads of SBC entities are concerned about the effectiveness of all entities in order for the SBC to fulfill its kingdom task in the world,” the IMB investigators said. “While the IMB may exercise authority over its own president and elected staff, we are not in a position to question or investigate the actions and motives of heads of other entities.”

Burleson, responding to that determination, said it was precisely the reason he asked the SBC for an external investigation of the IMB in the first place.

“This is why I asked for the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention to look into the matter,” he wrote. “The IMB is not in a position to question or investigate the motives of heads of other entities, but somebody sure should be in a position to demand that an agency head stop undermining the work, vision and agenda of a fellow agency head—and that somebody is the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention or the SBC herself.”

In response to the other two aspects of Burleson’s motion—the accusation that trustees had improperly conducted business in closed forums and suppressed dissent among trustees—the investigators said the board was conducting its business properly.

“The IMB does not allow formal business to be transacted in its closed trustee forums, but uses this time for prayer, personal testimonies and preliminary questions and discussions regarding issues of mutual concern between senior staff and trustees,” the investigators wrote.

Burleson said he agreed that the IMB’s business had been conducted in a more appropriate manner since the board’s leadership changed hands and new trustees joined the body in June.

“Thank God that (trustee) forums are now filled with praise reports, testimonials and prayer. This is the way it should be, but my personal experience, as well as that of others, is that this kind of forum has not always been the case,” he wrote.

“I have consistently and repeatedly advocated that the business of any agency of the Southern Baptist Convention be done in full view of the entire convention through plenary sessions. But for the safety of missionaries in security three zones or extraordinarily sensitive personnel matters, all the business of the IMB is appropriate for public viewing. I think every trustee now understands this point and is doing everything to insure that closed doors be spent in prayer and testimony and not politics.”

The investigators also said any IMB trustee has ample opportunity to express dissent throughout the board’s decision-making process.

“All board-approved actions result from a process of committee, and sometimes multiple committees, consideration before they are brought to a plenary session for adoption,” the report said.

“All trustees have opportunity in the committee process and plenary session to express and advocate minority opinions. As in any democratic body, once the majority has determined the action to be taken, the board feels that the action should receive the unified public support of all trustees for the sake of effectively moving forward to fulfill our mission task.”

Burleson said he agreed, but “with one caveat—if the policy violates Scripture, then no matter how strong anyone’s desire for unity is, it cannot become a stumbling block to seeking correction. Further, even if some refuse to see that their views are based on tradition and not Scripture, and if their interpretations are regarding doctrines that are beyond the Baptist Faith & Message 2000, then though it may be the trustees prerogative to demand doctrinal conformity on these tertiary doctrines, the more appropriate question may be, ‘Should they?’”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 2/02/07

Christian faith unites
opposing Super Bowl coaches

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

MIAMI (ABP)—While much has been made about NFL head coaches Tony Dungy’s and Lovie Smith’s skin color, they’ve got a stronger bond than being the first African-American head coaches to lead their teams to the Super Bowl.

The bond of their common Christian faith is becoming increasingly evident as media scrutiny intensifies surrounding the nation’s highest-profile sporting event.

“The Lord set this up in a way that no one would believe it,” Dungy told reporters after his Indianapolis Colts beat the New England Patriots to qualify for Super Bowl XLI. “The Lord tested us a lot this year, but he set this up to get all the glory.”

Smith has also long credited God with directing his life, even before his Chicago Bears enjoyed much success. Back in 2004, Smith said he had no complaints about his life, despite growing up in a small East Texas town with an alcoholic father.

“I don’t have a lot of complaints about what’s happened to me,” he told NFL.com. “I know I’ve been blessed. I’m a God-fearing man who knows that God has a plan for me. And every day getting a little closer to that ultimate plan.”

For Dungy, despite his athletic success as a player and a coach, the 51-year once considered leaving coaching to work in prison ministry. He is known—unlike most professional football coaches—for never swearing at players. He regularly attended Bible studies at Idlewild Baptist Church in Tampa, Fla., when he served as coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Jeffrey Singletary, a pastor at Idlewild, prays on the phone with Dungy before every game. While the congregation is not planning any corporate event for watching Sunday’s game, Singletary said various families will hold parties of their own.

Singletary, who occasionally served as chaplain for the Bucs under Dungy, described the coach as “very intellectual, quiet, and strong.”

Singletary will be in Miami to watch the Feb. 4 Super Bowl. The Friday before, he plans to meet with Dungy to pray and prepare for the game.

“After the game with the Patriots, Tony said that God did it in such a way that he could get the glory,” Singletary said. “That’s our prayer—that God would be glorified. That God would be honored. That he would do it in such a way that only (God) can get the glory.”

Singletary added that he and Dungy always pray for protection for the players and “at the end of the game, that everybody walks away healthy and safe.”

This game has been a long time coming for both teams. The Colts, then located in Baltimore, last won the Super Bowl in 1971. The Bears last won it in 1986. Prior to the current season, neither had played in a conference championship since then.

This year, the Bears finished the season with a 13-3 record. Smith led them to a 39-14 victory against the New Orleans Saints in the Jan. 21 NFC Championship game. That same day, the Colts defeated the Patriots 38-34 to become AFC champions. After trailing 21-3, the Colts won in the largest comeback in the history of NFL conference championships.

Since their move north, the Dungy family has attended Northside New Era Missionary Baptist Church in Indianapolis. While church leaders don’t have any particular events planned for the big day, member Michelle Kirk said large groups of church members have planned to get together to watch the game.

“It feels great. We’re all excited,” she said. “We haven’t done any special prayers for him in church, and we’re just going to have a normal service on that Sunday, but we’ve been praying a lot on our own.”

Born in Jackson, Mich., to parents who were educators, Dungy played football for the University of Minnesota, the Pittsburgh Steelers and San Francisco 49ers. He then coached as an assistant with the Steelers, Kansas City Chiefs and Minnesota Vikings. He became head coach at Tampa Bay in 1995 and the Colts’ head coach in 2002.

Despite his commitment to football, Dungy continues to maintain strong family ties. He and his wife, Lauren, have two daughters and three sons. One of those sons, 18-year-old James, struggled with depression and committed suicide in 2005. Northside New Era handled funeral donations for James Dungy on behalf of the Colts. The memorial service was held at Idlewild.

Dungy spoke about God’s love at an Athletes in Action meeting just weeks after his son’s death. He also worked as a speaker for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and supported charities like Brothers/Big Sisters, Boys and Girls Club, the Prison Crusade Ministry, foster parenting organizations and Family First.

Smith, 48, grew up attending Brown’s Chapel C.M.E. Church, a small Methodist congregation in Big Sandy. The tiny building Smith knew decades ago has since been replaced with a brick sanctuary—largely paid for by Smith’s donations.

On Feb. 4, the local Church of God is planning a free chili feed, complete with a big projector screen, to celebrate the game. They’ll have room for 1,000 people to watch —roughly the number of people who lived in Big Sandy during Smith’s childhood. It isn’t much bigger now.

Smith told the New York Times that much of his Christian upbringing came from his mother, who pushed the family to attend church and live with integrity.

“If I don’t make it, it’s going to be on me,” Smith said his mom taught him. “It’s not going to be about color or where I came from, how much money we had growing up. It’s about what I wanted to do. There are no limits to what I can do.”

Smith was the third of five children and was named after his great aunt Lavana. He attended the University of Tulsa where he was a two-time football All-American.

After college, Smith coached high school and then college football. He began his NFL career working as an assistant coach under Dungy and the Buccaneers. The Bears hired Smith as head coach in 2004.

Smith has said he focuses his coaching strategy on “being a teacher instead of screaming and yelling, all that stuff.” Dungy taught him coaches don’t have to belittle and intimidate players in order to win, he told the Associated Press.

“I could spend the rest of the day talking about Tony Dungy and what he means to me,” Smith said. “We have similar beliefs, and to see him through the storms and see he’s the same person is truly encouraging.”

As for some church members, the choice between two God-fearing coaches might be a tough one. Singletary said he’s sure some Idlewild members might secretly be rooting for the Bears. And Clarence Moore, senior pastor of Northside New Era, likened the decision to answering a question in elementary school.

“You want to raise your hand. Maybe somebody else has the answer, but you want to be the one,” he told the Indianapolis Star. “I think it is very appropriate. Let God decide who he wants to bless.”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 2/02/07

One year later, burned Alabama
churches rise from ashes

By Greg Garrison

Religion News Service

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.(RNS)—A year has passed since nine Alabama churches were set on fire by three Birmingham college students, but a lot of rebuilding remains to be done.

By late 2007, those nine churches expect to be restored or have larger, more modern facilities.

“It’s been a great struggle, and there is a lot still to do,” said Robert Murphy, pastor of Pleasant Sabine Baptist Church in Bibb County.

Of the three churches in Bibb County burned to the ground Feb. 3, 2006, Pleasant Sabine was the first to rebuild, but it has experienced unexpected delays recently on interior work. The congregation now hopes to move in by spring.

Two other churches, Rehobeth Baptist and Ashby Baptist, still are planning their structures. A few miles away from Pleasant Sabine, land has been cleared and a sign posted, “Future Home of Ashby Baptist Church,” but construction hasn’t begun there yet.

Two other churches in Bibb County—Old Union Baptist and Antioch Baptist—sustained minor damage and were able to resume worship in their facilities.

Four churches that were set ablaze four days later, on Feb. 7, 2006, in three neighboring counties have made progress. Morning Star Missionary Baptist in Boligee, Dancy Baptist in Aliceville and Galilee Baptist in Panola were destroyed. Spring Valley Baptist in Gainesville was damaged but has been repaired.

Galilee had a groundbreaking in November and has begun construction.

Dancy Baptist recently repaired its gutted interior. Morning Star recently broke ground and plans to move in by summer.

Morning Star Baptist had no insurance, no money and didn’t own the property the church had stood on for 94 years. But three anonymous donors are leading efforts to rebuild the church and have persuaded an architect, contractor and others to donate their time and materials. They are trying to raise an additional $200,000 to finish the church.

Indeed, much of the rebuilding for the churches has been paid for with donations.

“A lot of people have come together on this,” said Lane Estes, executive assistant to Birmingham-Southern College President David Pollick. “It was a heart-rending story.”

The arsonists—Matthew Cloyd, Russell Debusk and Ben Moseley—pleaded guilty and face seven to eight years in federal prison. The three met as students at Birmingham-Southern; Cloyd had transferred and was a student at nearby University of Alabama at Birmingham at the time of the fires.

It has been a harsh lesson for them and other students, Estes said.

“Students are probably more aware that their actions have consequences,” Estes said. “That’s a sobering aspect of the whole thing.”

The victimized churches have sympathy for the arsonists, said Murphy, of Pleasant Sabine Baptist.

“They made a big mistake in life,” Murphy said. “It’s hard for them to replace what they’ve lost and deal with what they’ve done for the rest of their lives. We wish that had never happened. Unfortunately, it did. They realize the mistake they made.”

Meanwhile, Birmingham-Southern has tried to set a redemptive example, Estes said.

“There are things we can do to show that this is an anomaly for our students,” he said.

“A lot of good has come out of the bad. The churches certainly have suffered greatly. Our attitude has been, ‘Let’s acknowledge it and see what we can do to help.’“

The school helped administer a coordinated fund to aid the churches. The six churches destroyed by fire received $53,000 each, a total of $318,000.

The remaining $50,000 of the $368,000 raised was divided among four churches that had comparatively minor damage.

“Alumni, friends of the college, students and faculty have stepped forward to help,” Estes said.

The churches appreciate that people have helped turn a challenge into hope, Murphy said.

“We’ve done well with what we had to deal with,” he said. “We thank God for that. We can’t change that. All we can do is deal with the present.”

Greg Garrison writes for The Birmingham News in Birmingham, Ala.

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