Posted: 10/26/07

Texas Baptist Forum

Secret searches

I agree with Professor Roger Olson that Baptist pastor-search practices are wrong (Oct. 1). But the real vice is the pretended secrecy of the process. An abrupt pastoral departure can result in disillusionment, anger and grief in the church. It is also rough on the departing pastor; some compare it to the feeling of cheating on your spouse.

• Jump to online-only letters below

Letters are welcomed. Send them to marvknox@baptiststandard.com; 250 words maximum.

“When I was an atheist, I thought Christianity was a dying religion. That’s nonsense; it’s like an explosion going off all the time.” Anne Rice Author of Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, who previously wrote best-selling stories about witches and vampires (Charisma/RNS) “I’m very proud when I look and see guys praying in the end zone or praying after (a game). I see these guys as my sons. I gave birth to them. I see that as my purpose for playing in the NFL.” Herb Lusk Former NFL running back, now pastor of Greater Exodus Baptist Church in Philadelphia, on being the first player to pray in the end zone after scoring a touchdown (Washington Post/RNS) “The No. 1 lesson which makes the American people different from the politics of the news media of Washington is that this is a country that is sick and tired of (partisanship) and wants red-white-and-blue solutions.” Newt Gingrich Former U.S. speaker of the House, speaking to a “values voters” rally (ABP)

Search committees are sworn to secrecy to “protect the continued ministry” of candidates. Nevertheless, the committees on which I have served were startled to learn how quickly word would spread, first among other ministers and then other congregations. Only the target church, which needs most to know, is kept in the dark.

What is more important than God’s call to members and ministers of a church? We are missing a huge opportunity to support our ministers when we keep the process “secret.” It is vanity to think we can protect the continued ministry of a pastor. That is up to God to do.

I believe the process should become fully open. Churches should be reminded regularly that ministers must be open to God’s call. Search committees should urge candidates to divulge contacts to the candidate’s church. Churches should require their ministers to disclose serious contacts, at least to key people and preferably to the entire church.

This is an idealistic but biblical position. It should be seriously discussed and implemented in our churches—which is where idealism should thrive.

Stan Joynton

San Angelo

More than personality

I must disagree with the letter from J.V. Thomas and his assessment of the conflict between the Baptist General Convention of Texas and Southern Baptist Convention (Oct. 15). Thomas seems to think the whole conflict was a simple personality conflict over unimportant issues. He stated, “During this time, a major shift took place in the SBC, which preceded an equally dramatic shift in the BGCT. … From the beginning, the problems were more about conflicting personalities than fundamental issues.” He could not be more wrong. 

The new SBC leadership changed fundamental Baptist doctrines on many Baptist beliefs—priesthood of the believer, separation of church and state, and making the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message a document of doctrinal correctness by which Baptist believers are to be determined. 

People were fired not over a personality dispute, but because they failed to meet the requirement of unquestioning adherence to the so-called “conservative resurgence” and the new SBC leaders. Missionaries, SBC agency executives and seminary professors were not dismissed over a personality difference. Even ordinary employees in low-level positions were fired because they belonged to the “wrong church.”

I agree: The BGCT/SBC conflict has become a nonissue, but only because the BGCT decided  to resist falling into “lockstep” with the new SBC philosophy and changed doctrines. I also agree: It is definitely time to move on and resume fulfilling the Great Commission. 

But let’s not ever fall into the trap of downplaying this very hurtful period in Baptist life as a mere personality conflict over unimportant issues.

Bob Campbell

Missouri City

BGCT horizon

The editorial on looking to the horizon for BGCT perspective (Oct. 22) is as encouraging as anything I’ve heard in recent days from anyone either directly connected with the BGCT staff or calling himself a Texas Baptist.

Clearly, there are concerns, but primarily there is strength in the BGCT. For each real or imagined problem, there are a thousand good things God has done in or through us.   It isn’t merely a slogan; it’s the truth when we say that we’re better together. The collective IQ—and spirituality, and wisdom, and ability—is greater between us than that possessed by any one of us alone.

Heaven meets earth at the horizon. May that be what takes place among us as Texas Baptists during the remainder of this year, while many attend the annual meeting, and as a new year begins in a few weeks.  Heaven meeting earth; we need it today.

David Troublefield

Wichita Falls

Christian walk

A Christian walk is not just from your car to inside a church building. A Christian walk is taking every step in life following the path Jesus set before us.

When we meet the hungry, do we feed them? When we meet the naked, do we clothe them? When we meet the lonely, do we comfort them? Do we express faith in the way we meet every situation in life?

Can those little ones who are watching us see us trusting in the Creator? We certainly hope so, because they will most likely follow the path we set before them.

Where are you leading your children and grandchildren? Is it the path to eternal life?

Daniel Younger

Itasca

Bring back Pinson

When I was employed by the BGCT from 1980 to 2001, I had a boss who would say, “It takes Southern Baptists five years to fire someone, but no one knows when they started.” He also would comment about Southern Baptists burying our wounded.

We Baptists are no better than secular companies that use money as an excuse to dismiss good people, and we should be ashamed. If we need more money for the budget, we need to look south. There might be $3 million given away we can get back.

Many of the dismissed employees told me they read about their terminations in the Standard before being told by their supervisors.  

But didn’t I read that the “committee" or “man in charge” discussed it first with the committee and then notified supervisors and then dismissed staff? Who should I believe in all of this matter, and why should I care? The reason I care even though I have been retired six years is these people are my friends. We worked hard together to carry out strategies and God’s plans to reach Texas as we were led to believe. I know who I will believe, and you in the church should ask questions too.

I have an idea, but doubt it will happen. We need to ask the Executive Board to clean out the fourth floor and bring back Bill Pinson. He kept us alive and kicking during the late 1980s and 1990s and lost no money whatsoever.

Robert Parrish

Carrollton

Questionable nomination

I understand Roger Paynter is submitting a nomination for first vice president of the BGCT. Is he not the husband of a BGCT agency head? That may be allowable, but is it appropriate?

In my opinion, this represents a conflict of interest. I do not know the man who is being nominated. I’m sure he is a fine gentleman. However, the very fact that he is being nominated by Dr. Paynter causes me concern.

C.J. Malott

Midland

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

Posted: 10/26/07

BGCT launches distinctive
online missions connector

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

The Baptist General Convention of Texas plans to launch a one-of-a-kind website Oct. 29 designed to connect churches and individuals and mission opportunities around the globe.

The site—Beonmission.org—is believed to be the only online missions broker that depicts missions opportunities of multiple agencies and organizations graphically rather than through a simple database, allowing users to sift and sort through more worldwide service opportunities quickly.

More than 1,000 Texas Baptist mission, prayer and giving opportunities already are listed on the site, and more are being added daily. Users can systematically sort the entries by location, project date and required time commitment.

Mission efforts from a variety of Texas Baptist sources that serve around the globe include BGCT Texas Partnerships, Go Now Missions, Border/Mexico Missions, World-conneX, Buckner International, Texas Baptist Men, Children at Heart Ministries, Baptist Child & Family Services, South Texas Children’s Home, Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas and the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger.

The idea for the site originated in Texas Baptist discussions of mission work, BGCT President Steve Vernon said. He hopes the site will enable more people to be involved in missions worldwide.

“I think the site is a great start,” he said. “It’s just going to grow stronger as more information is added. I think this is a wonderful tool for all of our churches.”

Ashli Young, BGCT web content manager, said the convention plans on including mission projects from all BCGT-affiliated institutions on the site this fall and ultimately incorporate efforts of Texas Baptist churches as well.

She hopes the site will help connect Texas Baptists in missions.

“My hope is that churches will be able to see where others are working and be able to join them, whether that means coordinating a trip together, praying for each other or giving to help others going to that area,” she said.

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

Posted: 10/26/07

On the Move

• Philip Oswald to First Church in Dallas as contemporary worship leader from First Church in Wichita Falls, where he served in the same position.

• Matthew Richard to Spring Creek Church in Meridian as pastor.

• Jennifer Wills, a student at Baylor University, to First Church in Cranfills Gap as youth minister.

• Joseph Kirby to First Church in Sinton as youth director.

• Jimmie Nelson to First Church in Blum as interim pastor.

• Casey Stark, a student at Southwestern Seminary, to First Church in Godley as minister of youth.

• David Couch, formerly minister of youth at Lane Prairie Church in Joshua, to First Church in Burleson as minister of recreation.

• Bret Woodall to First Church in Clebune as music minister from Southwest Park Church in Abilene.

• David Tankersley to College View Church in Abilene as interim pastor.

• Jim Mosley has resigned as pastor of Builders Church in Merkel.

• Jack Craig to First Church in Devine as minister of youth.

• Wade Rush from First Church in Odem to First Church in Pleasanton as pastor.

• Bob Rutherford to Belmont Church in Denison as interim pastor.

• Wendell Williams to North Park Church in Sherman as interim pastor.

• George Yarbrough to First Church in Refugio as interim pastor.

• Michael Gleason to First Church in Pettus as youth director.

• David Silva has resigned as pastor of Primer Iglesia Bautista in Mathis.

• Tommy Ingle to First Church in Pawnee as pastor.

• David Diggs has resigned as pastor of Live Oak Church in Gatesville.

• Phil Beck to First Church in Sulphur Springs as worship leader. He formerly served as associate minister of worship and media at Hermitage Hills Church in Nashville, Tenn.

• Ross Shelton from First Church in Castroville to First Church in Woodville as pastor.

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

Posted: 10/26/07

Senator backs off on funding
earmarked for religious group

By Bill Walsh

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Bowing to pressure, Sen. David Vitter, R-La., has backed off an attempt to steer $100,000 to a Christian group that supports teaching religious and alternative theories of creation alongside evolution in science classrooms.

Vitter took heat from educational, religious and civil rights groups for earmarking money in a fiscal 2008 spending bill for the Louisiana Family Forum, “to develop a plan to promote better science education.”

The group has long challenged Darwinian theories explaining the origins of life, and the earmark was seen by some as an attempt to inject Christian religious doctrine into the classroom.

Vitter announced on the Senate floor that “to avoid more hysterics,” he wanted to shift the money to science and computer labs in schools in Ouachita Parish. He said the earmark had been misconstrued.

Sens. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Arlen Specter, R-Pa., the two managers of the $605 billion bill, accepted Vitter’s proposal and said the money would be reallocated in House-Senate negotiations.

The Louisiana Family Forum was launched in Baton Rouge nine years ago by Tony Perkins, now president of the Family Research Council, a national Christian advocacy group. The Family Forum’s stated mission is “to persuasively present biblical principles in the centers of influence on issues affecting the family through research, communication and networking.”

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

Posted: 10/26/07

Texas Tidbits

Search committee interviews candidates. The committee searching for the next Baptist General Convention of Texas executive director is in the process of interviewing candidates. The committee plans to meet with about 10 candidates, and several interviews have been completed, said Chairman Ken Hugghins. The committee has determined it will fulfill its appointed task of putting forth an executive director nomination and will not suggest the BGCT Executive Board seek an intentional interim executive director, he said. BGCT Executive Director Charles Wade has announced he will retire at the end of January.

BGCT budget workshop planned. David Nabors, chief financial officer and treasurer of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, will lead a workshop about the proposed 2008 budget at 10 a.m., Oct. 29, during the BGCT annual meeting in Amarillo. The workshop is titled “How are We Doing More Together Through the Cooperative Program?” Nabors will talk about the ministries supported through the BGCT Cooperative Program and answer questions regarding the proposed budget. The workshop will be in Room 110 of the Amarillo Civic Center.

DBU schedules preview event. Dallas Baptist University will hold a Patriot Weekend preview event for prospective students and their parents Nov. 10. At the one-day event, high school juniors and seniors and their parents are offered a series of seminars on financial aid options, the admission process, and campus life, as well as fellowship opportunities with other families and DBU faculty. To register or receive more information, contact the undergraduate admissions office at (214) 333-5360 or visit www.dbu.edu/patriotday. Additional preview events are scheduled Feb. 9, Feb. 18 and April 26, 2008.

TBM needs volunteers. Texas Baptist Men has received 22 pallets of medical supplies from the Feed the Children organization.  The supplies are bound for North Korea by the end of December and Nigeria next spring.  TBM needs volunteers at the Dixon Missions Equipping Center in Dallas to help inventory and pack the supplies for shipment. Volunteers can be used every day through the end of November to prepare the first shipment. For more information, contact Shirley Shofner at (214) 828-5359 or (214) 384-3365 or e-mail Rae.Jones@bgct.org.

Howard Payne plans alumni event at BGCT. Howard Payne University will sponsor an alumni dinner in conjunction with the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting. The dinner will be held at 5 p.m., Oct. 29, at Second Baptist Church in Amarillo. Tickets are $10 each. For more information, call (325) 649-8006 or (800) 950-8465, or visit the Howard Payne booth at the BGCT annual meeting.

Spurger announces retirement. Baptist General Convention of Texas Intervention Specialist Sonny Spurger will retire Jan. 1, 2008. Spurger has served Texas Baptists for nine years in the area of minister/church relations, helping congregations prevent and work through crisis situations. He has been focused on preventing clergy sexual misconduct, resolving church conflicts and assisting ministers in transition.

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

Posted: 10/26/07

TOGETHER:
Details about the ’08 budget process

Baptists love to do our Lord’s work. Generally, we would much rather focus on that work than on the detailed finances that lie behind the work of missions, evangelism and ministry.

This year, in Texas Baptist life, the reality of our financial situation has seized our attention. As messengers prepare to consider the proposed 2008 budget, it is good to share some details about this process.

Executive Director BGCT Executive Board

The past few years, we have had to deal with basically a flat rate of growth in Cooperative Program giving. In 2000-01, we lost about $5 million in CP giving as more than 400 churches pulled away from the BGCT. That stabilized in 2002, and CP giving began to grow slightly over the next years.

As we have restructured our staff, there has been a time of transition in which we have moved people to new assignments, emphasized getting our staff into the field and closer to the churches and their concerns, and committed ourselves to be servants of the local churches.

This has not been a simple, straight-ahead path to negotiate. We faced two pressures:

First, to make the best decisions we could in light of priorities and goals for programming and personnel. Our priorities and goals are highlighted in the mission, vision, values and priorities statements adopted by the convention.

Second, the limitations of funding had to be considered. For the past two years, we have accessed funding from our available earnings and allocated funding in excess of what we could do on a continuing basis. This was done with the full knowledge and approval of the Executive Board. It was the appropriate thing to do, but we made it clear to the board and to our staff a year ago that we would not be able to recommend as much extra support for the budget on a continuing basis.

Now the board brings this proposed budget to messengers at the annual meeting for their consideration. They can approve it as presented or change it.

Any messenger can move to amend the budget, and the body will decide whether or not it is a wise amendment. It does not happen often for two reasons: (1) Messengers to previous annual meetings have selected highly competent Texas Baptists to serve on the Executive Board, and these board members deal with the budget in a detailed fashion; and (2) it is hard for a gathering of thousands to deal with the intricacies of a large budget.

As messengers consider this year’s proposed budget, I pray they will remember their board already has agonized over it. Those board members proposed and discussed possible changes but, in the end, approved this proposal because it seemed to be the best approach given current circumstances.

At the annual meeting, as there has been over the past few years, there will be a breakout session where the budget will be discussed and questions answered.

In the end, the convention can vote down the budget, amend the budget and/or approve the budget. I pray for God’s will to be known and done in each messenger’s vote.

We are loved.

Charles Wade is executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board.

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

Posted: 10/26/07

Communities feel the squeeze
of accelerated church growth

By Amy Green

Religion News Service

ORLANDO, Fla. (RNS)—Some neighbors complain about too many Wal-Marts or too many strip joints in their midst. In southeast Orlando, it’s too many churches.

About a dozen churches—Baptist, Nazarene, Pentecostal and independent—are located within a few miles of each other on the city’s outskirts, and more are under construction.

Neighbors venturing out Sunday mornings for bagels or errands often find themselves stuck in traffic, heads bowed not in faith but frustration. Some complain the congestion persists all week as religious, youth, sports and other activities draw crowds after work and school, too.

Unmitigated in many places by taxes, zoning and other restrictions, church development can pose a delicate quandary for municipal leaders who want to balance neighbors’ concerns with the valuable services churches provide.

In some places, a concentration of churches—because of their tax-exempt status—strains the economy, according to some municipalities.

Frustrations have grown especially since President Clinton signed the Religious Land Use and Institu-tionalized Persons Act in 2000, said Marci Hamilton, a professor and church-state scholar at Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University in New York City.

The law protects religious landowners from many zoning and other restrictions that apply to other developers, she said. Across the country, governments are challenging the law in cases that could eventually reach the Supreme Court. But it will take time, and meanwhile, neighbors are unhappy, she said.

“It’s happening all over the country,” Hamilton said. “I get an e-mail from a new neighborhood daily. It’s unbelievable because of this law what religious entities are willing to impose on residential neighborhoods.”

Religious leaders say they are responding to community growth by providing needed services, such as youth activities and sports facilities.

While religious organizations usually are exempt from property taxes, communities are finding other ways to tap them for revenue, said Chris Hoene, director of policy and research for the National League of Cities. For example, some may tax profit-generating enterprises, such as health care or child care.

Especially in communities that operate on small margins, a small change in the budget can mean a big difference, Hoene said.

“It’s a growing concern, because if you look at the sectors of the economy that are growing, the not-for-profit sector is continually noted as a fast-growing sector,” he said.

Neighbors can feel hamstrung and frustrated by laws and politics they feel encourage religious organizations to develop with little restraint—especially in areas residents had thought would be preserved for agriculture or conservation. Religious organizations sometimes are immune to such restrictions, and neighbors who had moved to open spaces for peace and quiet suddenly find themselves near a megachurch.

And when they turn to county commissioners for relief, elected officials don’t want to look like they don’t support a church.

In Montgomery County, Md., just outside Washington, D.C., leaders in 1980 zoned 93,000 acres—about 140 square miles—as an agricultural reserve. The zoning allowed churches, and there were about 60 scattered in the area, said Royce Hanson, chairman of the county planning board.

But in recent years, neighbors balked as a few megachurches sought to develop in the reserve. Civic leaders moved to curb the growth by rejecting building plans that required separate water and sewer systems.

“Churches, because they produce a level of activity, it was out of character with the rural area,” Hanson said. “Those of us who want to preserve the agricultural reserve believe it was a good solution.”

In Stafford, southwest of Houston, leaders decided the city’s 50 or so existing churches were enough, especially since only 200 acres remained available for development.

Many worshippers don’t actually live in the Houston suburb, Mayor Leonard Scarcella said, and without a city property tax, Stafford’s budget was stretched. Leaders imposed new regulations meant to put anyone who wants to develop in Stafford under stricter review.

“We believe very strongly in God. If you want religion you can get just about anything here,” Scarcella said. “We don’t have 50 of anything else. … We’re looking into ways that we can maintain balance, maintain viability and vitality of our economy.”

In southeast Orlando, the 6,000-member Faith As-sembly of God will pay up to $1 million in impact fees for its new building, Pas-tor Robb Hawks said. The idea that churches don’t shoulder a fair share of development costs is a fallacy, he said.

The church plans to maintain its old property—home to a school, fitness classes and youth programs—and hold worship services at its new site.

Across the street from the new facility, another large church is under construction. Neighbors worry the roads can’t handle the development, but Hawks offers no apology for his church’s growth, saying it reflects Orlando’s growth.

“I find it fascinating that people will move into a housing development and … the first thing they want to do is stop any developments going in around them,” he said.

“People come, and they move into the city. They’ve transplanted themselves possibly from up north and they come looking for community, and where do you find community? … They go looking for a church to not only fulfill their spiritual needs but their social needs, as well.”

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

Posted: 10/26/07

Where your treasure is…

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

Advocates of Christian education and human care institutions insist their ministries represent the best example of what Texas Baptists can accomplish when they work together. But they fear what budget decisions over the last decade mean for the future of cooperative giving.

Changes in accounting make direct comparisons somewhat difficult. Some institutions and ministries—such as Baptist University of the Americas and chaplaincy—have moved from one funding category to another in recent years.

But the trend remains unmistakable. Whether examined in terms of dollars or as a percentage of the total budget, Texas Baptists provide less support for educational and human care institutions through the Cooperative Program budget now than in the past.

The 2008 recommended Cooperative Program budget includes $10.2 million for Christian education, not counting funds specifically for ministerial financial aid and funding for seminaries—down from more than $13.26 million in 2003. Add in support for the seminaries and aid to ministerial students, and the totals drop from $15.2 million in 2003 to a little less than $12.3 million.

The proposed 2008 budget also includes $4,695,000 for human care institutions, compared to a high of $5.69 million in 2000.

Several BGCT Executive Board directors have expressed concern about declining financial support for institutions during budget discussions the last two years. But the trend predates the recent round of cutbacks.

While funds in the annual budget earmarked for training ministers have risen $1.4 million since 1999, other Cooperative Program funding for education has dropped more than $3.8 million, and annual funding for human care institutions declined $921,000 during that same period.

In 1999, support for Christian education and human care institutions represented about 48 percent of the BGCT Cooperative Program budget, but it accounts for 43 percent of the proposed 2008 budget.

Remove theological education from the equation, and the drop in support for institutions appears even more striking—43 percent of the 1999 budget compared to 34 percent of the recommended 2008 budget.

At Baylor University, for example, Cooperative Program support has declined from about $3.2 million in 2003 to the current $2.3 million, not counting ministerial financial assistance. Counting the financial aid for ministerial students, the allocation dropped from $3.6 million to a little bit more than $2.5 million.

While Cooperative Program support provides a small percentage of the operating budget at a large school like Baylor, smaller universities feel the impact even more.

East Texas Baptist University has seen its Cooperative Program support drop from a $1.6 million high in 1999 to $1.2 million, ETBU President Bob Riley noted.

“That kind of significant decrease makes a huge difference in our ability to provide services to students,” Riley said. “It means we buy fewer computers and have less money for faculty. We have to adjust operations.”

Likewise, Hardin-Simmons University has been forced to make significant adjustments as it has seen Cooperative Program support—exclusive of money for Logsdon Seminary—drop from more than $1.26 million to $1 million, said President Craig Turner.

“We have to make up the money somewhere,” he said. “So, the impact ultimately is felt by the students.”

Hardin-Simmons has seen its endowment and similar funds grow to about $122.5 million, and those funds have helped the school offset tuition increases by offering additional scholarship aid. Similarly, ETBU’s $60 million endowment helps generate scholarship aid for students.

But both Turner and Riley pointed to the key difference between Cooperative Program funds and gifts from other donors. Almost always, individual donors designate their gifts, whether to a building campaign, a scholarship or some other specific project.

“Donor gifts usually are restricted. The wonderful thing about the BGCT funds is that we are able to apply them to meet needs wherever they are, when the funds are available,” Riley said.

Turner agreed, noting, “Any fundraiser will tell you that operational dollars are the hardest to raise.”

Consequently, as Cooperative Program funds have become scarcer, each school’s ability to maintain its facilities and to remain current in technology has suffered.

Likewise, human care institutions have felt the impact of the declining Cooperative Program support—none more so than South Texas Children’s Home.

Historically, the children’s home has depended on Cooperative Program funds for 25 percent to 30 percent of its annual operating budget, said Todd Roberson, interim president at South Texas Children’s Home.

In the last few years, the institution has only been able to rely on the Cooperative Program for 15 to 17 percent of its support.

Although Roberson just recently assumed interim duties as president, he has been on staff at the children’s home 15 years, including a long tenure as chief operating officer, and he has witnessed the impact of the declining funds on South Texas Children’s Home.

“It’s just like a household budget. If the money isn’t there, you have to hold off on (building) maintenance, and you can’t spend money on some things that are needed,” he said.

“Our situation is unique in two respects. We’ve never taken on debt, and our board is committed to remaining debt-free. So, it takes that option off the table. The other factor is that we do not take any state or federal funds.”

Most institutions have thrived in spite of declining Cooperative Program dollars. During the same period financial support from the BGCT failed to keep pace with rising costs, Buckner Baptist Benevolences became Buckner International and expanded its ministries far beyond Texas.

In Buckner’s case, fewer dollars from the BGCT did not translate into fewer services to children and families.

On the contrary, Buckner grew significantly, but the BGCT missed the blessing of being a strategic partner in Buckner’s ministry—at least to the degree it had been in the past, said Buckner President Ken Hall.

Within the last five years, the BGCT ceased to be the largest annual donor to Buckner, he noted. Cooperative Program funds represent about 1 percent of Buckner’s annual budget.

A decline in dollars from the Texas Cooperative Program “means we minister to fewer people with BGCT funds in a direct way,” Hall said.

“I hurt for the BGCT. … As God has expanded our opportunities, the BGCT has missed the joy of participation.”

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

Posted: 10/26/07

Students explore world of opportunities
during Mary Hardin-Baylor missions week

By Carol Woodward

University of Mary Hardin-Baylor

BELTON—Students who wanted to know how God could use an accountant or an athlete on the mission field found answers to their questions during Mission Emphasis Week at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, Oct. 22-26.

Lori Brown, who serves with Sports Plus in Kenya, told students she asked the same questions when she was in college. She wanted to be involved in missions, but she wondered how or where God could use her.

“Then I heard about sports in missions, and I was all over that,” she said.

Tom Pate, a junior accounting major from Brenham, said visiting with missionaries on campus helped him see their commitment and how they were using their talents for God.

“Instead of thinking of missions as this giant thing that is beyond what I can do, this is giving me an understanding that God wants to use my gifts,” he said.

Missionaries advised students to use Internet search engines to explore the possibilities of where God may be calling them into service.

“The Internet is a great resource to combine the gifts you have, that soft spot in your heart and needs on the mission field,” Brown said.

She suggested students type in the word “missions” in combination with a word describing their interests—anything from “business missions” or “sports missions” to “juggling missions.”

“Juggling is great for missions because a juggler can draw a crowd in and tell a story at the same time,” she said.

Khang Duong, a marketing major from Houston, started the week unclear where or how he could serve in missions. But hearing missionaries speak during roundtable discussions gave him new hope, he said.

“I’m very interested in sports, and this got my attention,” he said. “I didn’t know there were sports in missions, but it makes sense, because through sporting events, kids come to you. You don’t have to go looking for them.”

John Robinson of Wales challenged students to think beyond traditional missions models.

“The traditional model of being trained and ordained as a missionary does not work as well as people who come with a passion and who are teachable,” he said, urging student to pray for a God-given missions passion.

“Get a world map, and throw a dart. Anywhere it hits land, there is a mission field,” 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.

Posted: 10/26/07

Conservative ‘values voters’
insist on anti-abortion candidate

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

WASHINGTON (ABP)—Voters in a recent straw poll seemed to confirm what many pundits have said all along: Conservative Christians simply will not support a presidential candidate who backs abortion rights.

In the second-largest straw poll of this campaign, 5,775 self-described “values voters” said they will vote for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the 2008 election. Longshot Mike Huckabee, the Southern Baptist minister and former Arkansas governor, came in a close second, only 30 votes behind Romney.

The votes were announced at the second annual Values Voters Summit, sponsored by conservative groups including the Family Research Council and held in Washington. More than 2,500 people attended the event, organizers said.

Noticeably absent from the top vote-getters was Republican Rudy Giuliani, who supports abortion rights. The former mayor of New York regularly leads national GOP polls but has apparently been unable to convince “values voters” of his conservative credentials.

Giuliani placed eighth out of nine candidates, with 1.8 percent of the vote. Other lead names in the poll were Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, with almost 15 percent of the vote, and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, who received nearly 10 percent of votes. Romney and Huckabee received 27.6 percent and 27.1 percent of the votes, respectively.

All presidential candidates from both parties were listed on the ballot.

At a press conference after Family Research Council President Tony Perkins reiterated that conservative Christians had “drawn a line that we will not cross in supporting a pro-abortion candidate.”

“I would not say that it is an insignificant issue that we have that causes us to disagree,” he said. “It’s not something that can be let go of easily. The life issue is a very fundamental issue.”

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

Posted: 10/26/07

Yale panelists ask: ‘Is there a theological
foundation for political engagement?’

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (ABP)—Theologians, lawyers, pastors and ethicists shared their views on the theological foundations of political engagement during a recent exchange at Yale Divinity School.

The daylong event, called “Voices & Votes II: Shaping a New Moral Agenda,” was co-sponsored by Sojourners, Christianity Today and The Christian Century.

Greg Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, Minn., began his remarks by noting the main distinction between governmental power and the power of Christian love is how they’re applied—one entity flaunts its power over people, and the other sacrifices its power through love.

The American ideal of life, liberty and happiness is good, but it’s exactly opposite what Christ told his followers, Boyd said. Instead, Jesus urged his disciples to lay down their lives and give up their rights when wronged.

“I think it’s wonderful to debate political issues, and we’re doing that, but the goal of the kingdom is to get people free of what politics fights for—life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” Boyd said. “It seems to me that is something the kingdom of God directly speaks against.”

Serene Jones, on the other hand, strongly protested Boyd’s assertion. Christians are called to be happy in Christ, she said.

“I completely disagree that we are not called to be happy as Christians,” said Jones, a theology professor at Yale Divinity School. “We need to take pleasure and joy about who we are in the world.”

Serene Jones

Jones confessed she often finds herself frustrated that more people don’t debate war, torture, homosexuality and abortion in a “distinctly theological mode.” For her, theology has deeply political implications.

“How do we engage in an honest theological discussion about (homosexuality) without thinking in a sustained way about what God’s … relation to our human bodies is?” she asked. It often comes down to how people perceive God, she said.

“Do you primarily have a wrathful God?” she asked. “Or do you have a God of compassion and grace who is primarily smiling or worrying about the world? What a profound thing it would be if that were the starting point for some of our discussions about abortion (and) homosexuality.”

Andy Crouch, who is working on a series of short documentary films about a Christian counterculture, also talked about the meaning of power. If Christians want to discuss politics and religion seriously, they have to evaluate their views on power, he said.

When Christians usually think about power in politics, they often think they don’t have enough, said Crouch, a former campus minister with InterVarsity Christian Fellow-ship. But that isn’t a biblical view—the biblical perspective is one of reversal, he said.

“Jesus goes to the cross with this unbelievable confidence in another power” that comes from above, not from government, Crouch said.

As leader of Sojourners, Jim Wallis has firm beliefs about how Christians should influence political power. Jesus created a new world order, Wallis said, and Christians embody that change.

“God is personal but never private,” he said. “The question is, ‘How is God public?’”

Wallis said that when Christians fight against slavery, social ills or sex trafficking, “that shows God is alive.”

The kingdom of God transforms the world by translating the specifics of injustice, he said.

The church as an institution should be political but not partisan, he insisted.

“The church is the conscience of the state,” Wallis said. “There is a biblical role for the state, just as there is for the church. And they’re not the same.”

Stephen Carter, a professor at Yale Law School, said much the same. Christians should keep “their hands off the levers and simply be the voice crying in the wilderness,” he asserted.

Carter tells his law students never advocate for a law for which they are not willing to kill.

That mindset will keep his students humble, especially in light of new ways they approach politics and world views, he said.

While the baby boomer generation came up with grand plans to change the world through national and international platforms, this generation’s young politicos focus more on grassroots activism, Carter said.

“It’s not just a suspicion of grand plans, it’s an opposition,” he said. “The passion for (large-scale) engagement seems to be weakening.”

Crouch, too, said he does not encounter the political clarity of past generations, and he noted that people “tend to think much more granularly. They think in terms of their neighbor.”

Wallis urged a more national, systematic approach.

“At some point, you can’t keep pulling bodies out of the river and not move up the river at some point to see who’s throwing them in,” he insisted.

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

Posted: 10/26/07

Separation of church and state great but
misunderstood by many, panelists insist

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (ABP)—The separation of church and state is part of what makes America great, and America is plagued by “total ignorance” about what it means, panelists at a Yale Divinity School event said.

However, not even all the expert panelists agree on how the pesky details of church-state separation work themselves out in real life.

David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, joined a megachurch pastor, a political editor, policy experts and theologians to discuss the role of politics and faith in the public sphere.

“The founders began the (list) of our must fundamental rights with the statement that ‘Congress shall make no law’ even ‘respecting’ the establishment of religion,” Saperstein said. “We, the religious community, get enormous benefits out of the fact that this exists.”

Unfortunately, Saperstein said, some people in the Religious Right have deluded Americans into thinking that upholding the separation concept amounts to being anti-religion.

On the contrary, separation of church and state doesn’t mean Americans don’t have religious principles that influence public policy, said Norman Ornstein, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

The key is to find the middle ground between an official public religion and no mention of the role of religion in public life, he said.

Seamus Hasson, founder of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, said differences of religion and its practice should be treated like race—acknowledge and celebrate differences instead of pretending they’re not there.

For instance, Americans usually celebrate secular but cultural events like St. Patrick’s Day and Black History Month without problems, Hasson said, but he always gets calls from people upset about the religious holidays of Christ-mas or Chanukah.

As pastor of the Vineyard Church of Columbus, Ohio, Richard Nathan said the church has a big role in supporting a healthy understanding of religious freedom.

His concern is not about using public institutions to assert Christian views, he said. He cares more about forming healthy contacts between community leaders and church leaders—partnerships that foster confidence between the two and that neither corrupt religion nor destroy the neutrality of the state.

Amy Sullivan, the political editor for Time magazine, said people in both the Democratic and Republican parties could use some “basic education” about what the separation of church and state means.

“I’m always chagrined when I hear, … ‘I want somebody in office who is of my faith,’” she said. That’s “getting far far away from our Baptist forefathers.”

Sullivan, who was raised Baptist, said the Christian community is getting wiser when it comes to forming alliances with partisan groups.

For instance, she noted, many left-leaning evangelicals want to make sure that Democrats don’t take them for granted during this election like Republicans have, in recent years, taken their conservative brethren for granted.

Eric Sapp, who works to build relationships between the Democratic Party and religious communities, agreed.

“The (Democratic) Party has learned a great deal, and part of that they’ve learned from some of the mistakes made by the Religious Right,” said Sapp, senior partner at Common Good Strategies.

But Ralph Reed, founder of the Christian Coalition, a conservative advocacy group, didn’t let the conjecture about the failed policies of the GOP go on for long.

“Don’t make the mistake of watching the intramural within the (Republican) Party and think that that … they won’t be united in the fall,” Reed said.

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