2007 Archives
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Texas Baptist Forum
Posted: 11/02/07
Texas Baptist Forum
Synergy of the Spirit
As Baptists, we have long believed and relied on the fact that the Lord speaks through the votes of his people.
• Jump to online-only letters below Letters are welcomed. Send them to marvknox@baptiststandard.com; 250 words maximum. 
“My son should have been buried with dignity, not with a bunch of clowns outside.”
Albert Snyder
Father of Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who sued Wesboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., after the church protested his son’s 2006 funeral. The church pickets soldiers’ funerals, claiming God is killing troops as punishment for homosexuality in America. (AP/RNS)“Faced with a world lacerated by conflicts, where violence is still justified in the name of God, it is important to reassert that religions must never become vehicles of hate. On the contrary, religions can and should offer precious resources for constructing a pacific humanity.”
Pope Benedict XVI
Speaking at a peace conference (RNS)“He never made me feel that my faith and my intellect were at war with one another. He always made me believe that God gave you a brain, and he expects you to use it.”
Condoleezza Rice
U.S. secretary of state, discussing her faith and her father, a late Presbyterian minister (Larry King Live/RNS)In Amarillo during the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting, I believe God spoke to us in two profound ways. The Lord affirmed Joy Fenner and the significant role of women in ministry. He knows if we are going to claim our future, women must continue to play a vital role in helping us to wrap our arms around Texas and the world.
I also believe the Lord called on us to lay aside political maneuverings and to pull together as one people on one mission to reach Texas and the world for the sake of his kingdom.
11/02/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Memphis church gives new meaning to ‘I Surrender All’
Posted: 11/02/07
Memphis church gives new
meaning to ‘I Surrender All’By Lucky Severson
Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (RNS)—Nineteen-year-old Edacious recently came to New Salem Missionary Baptist Church, to surrender—and not just to Jesus.
There was a warrant for her arrest on marijuana charges, and she had come to church to turn herself in. Hundreds of others with outstanding warrants also showed up.
Frank Ray, pastor of New Salem Missionary Baptist church in Memphis, recently allowed court officials to use his church as a place where fugitives could turn themselves in to law enforcement. Ray said many fugitives feel the church is safer than the sheriff’s office. 11/02/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Kinder, gentler Moses pictured in new Ten Commandments movie
Posted: 11/02/07
Kinder, gentler Moses pictured
in new Ten Commandments movieBy David Briggs
Religion News Service
HOLLYWOOD (RNS)—The image of Charlton Heston as Moses has been carved into the minds of generations.
Few who have seen the Cecil B. DeMille blockbuster can forget Heston’s majestic, commanding presence as he comes down from Mount Sinai and thunders to a wayward people, “Those who will not live by the law shall die by the law.”
11/02/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Americans don’t want religious pitches from presidential candidates, poll says
Posted: 11/02/07
Americans don’t want religious pitches
from presidential candidates, poll saysBy Heather Donckels
Religion News Service
WASHINGTON (RNS)—Even though thousands of evangelicals flocked to Washington for the recent Values Voter Summit, more than two-thirds of Americans think presidential candidates should not use their religious beliefs to sway voters, a new poll shows.
The poll, conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research for the Interfaith Alliance in October, asked 1,000 adults to agree or disagree with the following statement: “Presidential candidates should not use their religion or faith to influence voters to support them.”
11/02/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Texas Tidbits
Posted: 11/02/07
Texas Tidbits
Recordings of Warren message available. Audio and video recordings of Rick Warren’s message during the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting are available on CD for $5 and DVD for $20. To order, write in the order on the order form on page 42 of the annual meeting program or on the last page of the Oct. 30 Bulletin. The requests also can be made by visiting www.bgct.org/annualmeeting and downloading an order form.
BGCT annual meeting raises $12,000 for offerings. Messengers and visitors to the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting in Amarillo contributed $6,000 to the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions and $6,000 for the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger. The funds were collected during a session of the annual meeting.
11/02/2007 - By John Rutledge
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TOGETHER: God answered prayers in Amarillo
Posted: 11/02/07
TOGETHER:
God answered prayers in AmarilloOccasionally, you will hear people say: “People can’t be moved by preaching anymore. Drama, music and video are the way to go.” While I acknowledge the power and value of music, drama and visual images and the blessing and benefit they bring to worship and presentations, I have never believed preaching has lost its power to move people.
Sure there are times when a spoken message can cause my eyes to glaze over and my mind to check out. But when it is done right, when the Scripture draws a passionate, intelligent, spiritually sensitive and honest presentation out of the preacher, it captivates hearers and changes lives. Of course, when you add great music to open the hearts, and stand a family with a beautiful baby before the congregation and show visual images of people in whom God is working, you add to the power of a message.
Executive Director
BGCT Executive Board
Michael Evans preached at the African American Fellowship’s preconvention meeting on Sunday evening and had us on our feet in happy testimony to the truth and joy of his message. Carlos Navarro challenged the Hispanic rally to get outside the walls of their churches and do evangelism where people are hurting. Steve Vernon, David Coffey, Rick Warren and Howard Batson all moved BGCT messengers and visitors forward spiritually, calling for a greater commitment to missions (Vernon), to our world (Coffey) and Warren’s liberating news that God’s purpose is to reconcile the world to himself. The joy the Father feels when he adopts his children was caught in the tears of the mother and father who stood beside Howard Batson with their smiling baby boy.
Excerpts from the messages will be reported elsewhere in this paper, and you can get the full texts, audio or video, by completing the order form at www.bgct.org/annualmeeting.
11/02/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Women challenged to ‘live the joy of missions’
Posted: 11/02/07
During a national WMU missions conference, Jana McKnight (right) of Little Rock, Ark., portrays “Miss Bertha” and Vickey Lloyd of Fayetteville, Ark., plays the part of “Miss Bernice.” The duo used comedy to underscore the messages of conference speakers. (Photo/WMU) Women challenged to ‘live the joy of missions’
By Julie Walters
Woman’s Missionary Union
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.—Women experience the joy God wants for them when they learn to love him with all their being, speakers told participants at the Live the Joy of Missions Conference, sponsored by national Woman’s Missionary Union.
More than 825 women from 35 states and Puerto Rico attended the national event at Immanuel Baptist Church in Little Rock, Ark.
Lorraine Powers, president of Missouri WMU, gets hugs from elementary school students after reading to them as one of the ministry options offered in Little Rock during a national WMU missions conference. (Photo/Charity Gardner) 11/02/2007 - By John Rutledge
