2007 Archives
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‘I love to see people come together to worship’
Posted: 10/26/07
‘I love to see people come together to worship’
By Leann Callaway
Special to the Baptist Standard
GRAPEVINE—When Chris Clayton leads worship services at student events, he wants young people to do more than enjoy the experience. He wants them to learn about the meaning of worship and embrace worship as a lifestyle.
“My prayer is that people will be reminded that we serve and worship a holy God who is more than we can ever fathom,” Clayton said. “Sometimes I feel that we often tip our hat to God and go about our week without ever encountering him and recognizing him for the holy and righteous God that he is.
Chris Clayton 10/26/2007 - By John Rutledge
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2nd Opinion: A lifelong friend & the Messiah
Posted: 10/26/07
2nd Opinion:
A lifelong friend & the MessiahBy James Leo Garrett Jr.
He and I became friends in third grade in a public school more than 70 years ago. He was from a Jewish family of the Reform faith. I was from a Southern Baptist family. As a youth, I tried to live as a Christian before my friend but made no overt effort to lead my friend to Christ. Through elementary school, junior high and senior high, our friendship continued. In adulthood, despite living in separate locations, that friendship endured.
My friend turned from the career of his distinguished lawyer father to farming and ranching, becoming a major statewide leader in that field. He was not devoted to Reform Judaism and married a Gentile. He became more accurately a secular man with a high sense of integrity and honesty but believed that death brings the end of existence.
During my friend’s later years, as Parkinson’s disease began to inhibit his mobility, I visited him more frequently. I gave him selected Messianic passages from the Old Testament, but with little effect, for he was not familiar with the Hebrew Scriptures. But when I gave him Lee Strobel’s The Case for Easter, he eagerly read it.
A Christian nurse was employed to assist in my friend’s home. She later married a student in Baylor University’s Truett Seminary. This devoted couple ministered to my friend and his wife, both physically and spiritually. They prayed for and with my friend and shared the gospel of grace and the promise of eternal life. A lady who has a Christian ministry to Jewish people prayed daily for my friend. The pastor of my friend’s farm manager came regularly to pray and to give testimony.
10/26/2007 - By John Rutledge
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God-sized vision drives Corpus Christi church to plant churches
Posted: 10/26/07
God-sized vision drives Corpus
Christi church to plant churchesBy George Henson
Staff Writer
CORPUS CHRISTI—Pastor Bil Cornelius and members of Bay Area Fellowship have a dream—commit $ 1 million a year to plant 10 churches a year for 10 years.
“If I heard that from most people, I would think it was a nice plan, but with Bil Cornelius involved, it’s going to happen,” said Ed Jump, director of missions for Corpus Christi Baptist Association.
Pastor Bil Cornelius, and his wife, Jessica, started Bay Area Fellowship in the living room of their apartment with five people. Ten years later, the church attracts 4,600 people each weekend for worship, and the church has a dream of planting 10 churches a year for 10 years. 10/26/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Campaign for debt relief brings unlikely allies together
Posted: 10/26/07
Campaign for debt relief
brings unlikely allies togetherBy Mary Orndorff
Religion News Service
WASHINGTON (RNS)—An Alabama congressman is promoting another round of international debt relief because previous loan forgiveness has improved health care, education and security in developing countries.
Rep. Spencer Bachus is the lead Republican sponsor on the latest attempt to cancel more longstanding international debt, this time for up to 67 countries where even interest payments can be crushing. His motivation is a mix of religious conviction and concern for human rights and national security, and it dates to 2000 when the first of two debt relief measures was approved.
10/26/2007 - By John Rutledge
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DOWN HOME: Abundant blessings in a chicken joint
Posted: 10/26/07
DOWN HOME:
Abundant blessings in a chicken jointEvery now and then, life blossoms with an unexpected-yet-perfect moment. You don’t see it coming; you may not even notice when it arrives. But there it is, resplendent in beauty and simplicity and loveliness.
We experienced one of those moments the other night. It was so sacred and special, I’m still savoring it.
To tell you the truth, it was better than I had dreamed. Then again, I don’t recall dreaming about eating dinner with my family in a home-cooked fried-chicken joint.
But there we were—Joanna and I, with our daughters, Lindsay and Molly, along with Jo’s middle sister, Janis, her dad, Jim, and Molly’s friend Katherine.
10/26/2007 - By John Rutledge
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EDITORIAL: Good words for BGCT: ‘Oh, behave’
Posted: 10/26/07
EDITORIAL:
Good words for BGCT: ‘Oh, behave’Cinema’s silly superspy, Austin Powers, doesn’t have much to offer Texas Baptists. But one of his taglines suggests sound advice as we convene for our annual meeting this year: “Oh, behave!”
The behavior of Baptist General Convention of Texas messengers isn’t typically open to serious speculation. We tend to be a rather sober lot. Actions at our annual meetings lean toward the predictable and humdrum. We would do well to pray for humdrum this year.
Speculation regarding behavior revolves around rumored motions and possible responses to those motions as BGCT messengers gather in Amarillo Oct. 29-30.
According to Baptist polity—arguably among the most democratic forms of governance anywhere—any registered messenger has the right to present motions on matters of concern to the convention. Since we affirm the twin doctrines of soul competency and the priesthood of all believers, we affirm the value of individual inspiration. Throughout our long history, Texas Baptists have benefitted from ideas individuals and small groups have placed before the full convention. And since we are composed of a collection of individuals who function together in community, we vote on those motions and let the group decide which ones merit adoption.
10/26/2007 - By John Rutledge
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ETBU senior enjoys roaring-good life as mascot, student-athlete
Posted: 10/26/07
ETBU senior enjoys roaring-good
life as mascot, student-athleteBy David Weaver
East Texas Baptist University
MARSHALL—Spare time is a relative term for East Texas Baptist University senior Lia Frederick.
For the last two years, Frederick—a member of Calvary Baptist Church in West Orange who attends Central Baptist Church of Marshall during the school year—has participated in both the Lady Tiger cross-country and soccer teams. On the course, she has consistently been one of ETBU’s top two runners. And on the soccer field, she’s been a starter since about midway through the 2006 season.
Lia Frederick and her alter-ego Toby. 10/26/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Evangelicals debate how faith influences politics
Posted: 10/26/07
Evangelicals debate how faith influences politics
By Hannah Elliott
Associated Baptist Press
WASHINGTON (ABP)—Jim Wallis and Richard Land agree faith should influence public policy. They just can’t agree on how.
The two evangelical leaders— one progressive, one conservative—locked horns in a debate at the recent Values Voters Summit in Washington. The event, organized by the Family Research Council, attracted conservative Christian voters looking for encouragement, advice and leadership going into the 2008 presidential elections.
Jim Wallis Richard Land Watch excerpts from their discussion here. 10/26/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Faith Digest
Posted: 10/26/07
Faith Digest
NAE names president. The National Association of Evangelicals board unanimously elected Leith Anderson as the organization’s president.
Leith Anderson Anderson, pastor of Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie, Minn., was named interim president in November 2006 following the resignation of former Colorado megachurch pastor Ted Haggard, who was brought down in a sex and drug scandal. Anderson, 63, has been senior pastor of his church, affiliated with the Baptist General Conference, since 1977. The congregation has grown to 5,000 regular attenders during his tenure and is known for its outreach abroad, including to people suffering from HIV/AIDS in Africa.
Group warns Brits to leave clerical collars at home. A British church safety group is advising clergy—from the archbishop of Canterbury on down—to remove clerical collars when they are off duty to reduce the risk of being attacked. A new report issued by National Churchwatch says clergy are in danger from assailants who believe they have money or who bear some sort of “grudge against God.” National Churchwatch, an independent organization that provides clergy with personal safety advice, said priests are attacked more often than those of other professions because they are considered unlikely to fight back. In Britain, five vicars have been murdered in the past decade. In a survey of 90 ministers that Nick Tolson, who heads the safety group, said he conducted last year, nearly half reported they had been attacked in some form during the previous 12 months.
10/26/2007 - By John Rutledge
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TV news story helps make a family complete
Posted: 10/26/07
Collin, Lisa, Deidre and Geno Hill gather outside of their home in Winnsboro. The family first noticed Deidre on a local TV program highlighting adoptable foster children, and they immediately knew she was the one. TV news story helps make a family complete
By Rebekah Hardage
Communications Intern
WINNSBORO—Few parents can say the first time they saw their daughter was on TV, but the moment Geno and Lisa Hill saw Deidre’s smiling face on a local television news program, they knew she would be a part of their family.
KLTV News in Tyler features a foster child available for adoption on its monthly “Gift of Love” feature. As a result of seeing a story on Deidre, the Hills were introduced to their daughter one year ago this month.
10/26/2007 - By John Rutledge
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For Southeast Texas foster couple, 14 makes a family
Posted: 10/26/07
With 12 children of all ages and races living in their home, the Formans see it as God’s calling on their lives to foster. For Southeast Texas foster
couple, 14 makes a familyBy Jenny Pope
Buckner International
RANGE—At 7 a.m., the Forman residence looks like Grand Central Station. Teenagers of all ages and races—12 of them—race from room to room in search of backpacks, breakfast, clean laundry and medication. Kim Forman sits in a recliner in her living room and watches the chaos unfold.
“This is my chair,” she said while stroking the family’s two dogs on the back of their head. “I just stay out of the way until I’m needed.”
10/26/2007 - By John Rutledge
