2007 Archives
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CBF council OKs UN anti-poverty goals, hears of year-end budget shortfall
Posted: 10/19/07
CBF council OKs UN anti-poverty goals,
hears of year-end budget shortfallBy Greg Warner
Associated Baptist Press
DECATUR, Ga. (ABP)—The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s governing board, at its mid-October meeting, endorsed the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals, joining many governmental and religious bodies in the global fight against extreme poverty, hunger and disease.
Jack Glosgow, moderator-elect of the Fellowship and a pastor from Zebulon, N.C., said CBF will “demonstrate tremendous responsiveness” to the decision by its annual general assembly last June to pursue the UN goals.”
10/19/2007 - By John Rutledge
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2nd Opinion: Prioritize equipping & edifying
Posted: 10/19/07
2nd Opinion:
Prioritize equipping & edifyingBy Woody Hambrick
The ‘‘Great Deception’’ within the church is the prevailing belief that evangelism itself is the answer to the unchurched state of our nation and the cure for the anti-Christian social agenda. Christians have institutionally neglected equipping and edifying the saints.
This is not to say no churches value discipleship. But you cannot deny our primary initiatives center on evangelism. We have mission boards that are well worth funding, but what about a discipleship board? We have some very well-prepared discipleship tools—but no real discipleship initiatives. Christians have focused the lion’s share of our energies, time and finances on the wrong impetus—outreach. Not that outreach is wrong in itself, but it should not be our first priority.
Most churches need to refocus on inreach rather than outreach. Yes, I am painting with a broad brush. But I am looking honestly at a nation that is no longer “one nation under God.” America is one nation under “self.” This change in emphasis from biblical values to moral relativism has been made possible by the failure of the local church. We must admit we collectively have failed as a church at the local level. This has not been a failure to evangelize. We often hear of salvations in large numbers. It is a failure to develop pure faith through equipping and edifying the saints.
10/19/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Struggling Corpus Christi church finds new lease on life, new purpose
Posted: 10/19/07
Families fellowship at the hot dog supper at Windsor Park Baptist Church's Vacation Bible School. Struggling Corpus Christi church
finds new lease on life, new purposeBy George Henson
Staff Writer
CORPUS CHRISTI—Even though at one time the church appeared so dead that it needed to post a “not for sale” sign, the faith of a core group has made a resurgence at Windsor Park Baptist Church possible.
Windsor Park was struggling when Pastor Grover Pinson and his wife, Jana, arrived last year. Only about 20 names remained on the membership rolls, and attendance averaged about a dozen. Even so, Pinson was excited about being the church’s pastor.
Pastor Grover Pinson holds a fish cookie at Vacation Bible School at Windsor Park Baptist Church, Corpus Christi. 10/19/2007 - By John Rutledge
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DBU team hits home run with Guatemalan children
Posted: 10/19/07
DBU Head Baseball Coach Dan Heefner said the trip to Guate-mala was a highlight not only for his players, but also for himself. (Photos/Chris Hendricks/DBU) DBU team hits home run
with Guatemalan childrenBy George Henson
Staff Writer
DALLAS—The Dallas Baptist University baseball team and 40 other students recently returned from a four-day mission trip to Guatemala, and the picture etched in most of their minds is a child with a beaming smile.
The two groups embarked on several mission opportunities around Guatemala City, including visiting several orphanages, conducting baseball clinics for Guatemala’s Little League teams, and wrapping up each day with a game versus the Guatemalan national team as part of the university’s missions partnership with Buckner International.
Clay Kelly offers encouragement to a Guatemalan boy during a base-running drill. 10/19/2007 - By John Rutledge
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DOWN HOME: About time for a technology sabbath
Posted: 10/19/07
DOWN HOME:
About time for a technology sabbathMy buddy Greg had a really bad day.
He woke up in a hotel far from home, with a slate of activities stretching out before him. He got busy, checked out of the hotel and took off.
Unfortunately, he left his briefcase in the parking lot. Worse still, by the time he realized what had happened and returned to the hotel, somebody else had driven over his briefcase, crushing his cell phone and laptop computer.
He called around asking for phone numbers because, like me, he doesn’t memorize or write them down anymore. His cell phone stored them all. Until his phone went to the big cellular relay station in the sky.
10/19/2007 - By John Rutledge
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EDITORIAL: Look to horizon for BGCT perspective
Posted: 10/19/07
EDITORIAL:
Look to horizon for BGCT perspective“Just keep your eyes on the horizon,” my friend Brent advised me the first time I went deep-sea fishing. “If you start feeling queasy, look at a fixed point—like trees on the tip of a peninsula or the top of a condo on the beach. That will help you keep your equilibrium, and you’ll be OK.”
Brent gave good advice for a breezy outing off the Florida coast. We didn’t catch many fish, but we had a great day.
That’s good advice for Texas Baptists these days, too. Our Baptist boat is bouncing on a sea of controversy. Folks are looking a little green around the gills. They’re responding in various ways. Some feel sick; others are mutinous.
So, we’d all benefit by looking to the horizon. Here are some fixed points on which to gaze. They’ll help us ride out the stormy seas:
10/19/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Faith Digest
Posted: 10/19/07
Faith Digest
Religious references OK on flag certificates. Americans who ask for a flag to be flown over the U.S. Capitol now will be able to include religious references on the accompanying certificate under new guidelines. Some House members were angry after an Ohio Eagle Scout requested a flag be flown in honor of his grandfather’s “dedication and love of God, country, and family.” The accompanying certificate left out the word “God.” Acting Architect of the Capitol Stephen Ayers, who supervises the flag program, said guidelines from 2003 would be revised to allow whatever messages a member of Congress deems appropriate. After an internal review, Ayers determined the existing policies had been “inconsistently applied.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, after initialing downplaying the dispute, later said Ayers’ office should not “be in the role of censoring what members want to say.” Rep. Michael Turner, R-Ohio, who received the flag request that sparked the policy change, said he would pursue legislation that permanently allow flag certificates to acknowledge God.
Publisher offers environmentally friendly Scriptures. If the “What Would Jesus Drive?” campaign aimed to get Jesus into a fuel-efficient hybrid, now there’s an answer to “What Would Jesus Read?” Publishing giant Thomas Nelson Inc. has released the first-ever “green” Bible. The Charles Stanley Life Principles Daily Bible uses paper certified by the Forest Stewardship Council and includes an FSC logo on its packaging that indicates it met the council’s standards in every stage of production, from the forest to the paper mill to the printer. The new Bible comes as part of a larger effort at Thomas Nelson to practice stewardship and implement environmentally friendly practices. “We are committed to trying to learn more about how we can reduce our carbon footprint as a company,” said Lindsey Nobles, director of corporate communications at Thomas Nelson.
10/19/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Wayland nurse takes healthcare expertise, servant’s heart to Brazil
Posted: 10/19/07
Josie Gomez and most of the medical mission team gather for a group photo on the boat that took them to their remote patients each day while in Brazil. Pictured are (back row, from left) a German missionary to Brazil; Gomez; Donna Winchester, dentist; Pastor Kenneth Winchester of Slaton; Gordon Wurster, a pharmacist from Lubbock; Ron Hanby, a CPA from Plainview; Hugh Wilson, a physician from Lubbock; (front row, from left) Luiz Alcantara, a physician from Brazil; Renata Bubanc, a pastor’s wife from Brazil; and Adrienne Laramore, a physical therapist from Lubbock. Wayland nurse takes healthcare
expertise, servant’s heart to BrazilBy Teresa Young
Wayland Baptist University
LAINVIEW—Josie Gomez normally sees dozens of Wayland Baptist University students and employees in a typical week.
But recently, her caseload increased significantly. Fortunately, Gomez didn’t have to meet the needs alone.
10/19/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Iraqi Christians face choice – flee or live in fear
Posted: 10/19/07
One of a dwindling number of Iraqi Christians stands before an icon after Sunday Mass at the Church of the Virgin Mary in Baghdad. (RNS photo by James Palmer/The Star-Ledger) Iraqi Christians face choice
– flee or live in fearBy James Palmer
Religion News Service
BAGHDAD, Iraq (RNS)—Nabil Comanny and his family endured the dead bodies left to decompose along the road in their southern Dora neighborhood. They accepted the criminal gangs that roamed the area, searching for targets to kidnap. And neither the utility failures nor the mountains of trash in the street could drive them away.
As Christians, the Comannys learned to keep a low profile. They even stayed in their house after many Muslim neighbors fled the daily chaos when sectarian bloodshed between Shiite and Sunni militants broke out in 2006, making this one of Baghdad’s most embattled districts.
10/19/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Faith changed best-selling novelist’s world
Posted: 10/19/07
Faith changed best-selling novelist’s world
By Nancy Haught
Religion News Service
VANCOUVER, Wash. (RNS)—Karen Kingsbury, the reigning queen of Christian fiction, lives on a hilltop just outside Vancouver in a spacious modern Tudor house, with a sweeping driveway and a large, landscaped pool.
This is the house that Life Changing Fiction built. That’s her trademark, says the winner of the 2007 Christian Book Award, because that’s how her fans describe her work.
Karen Kingsbury’s novel Ever After won this year’s Christian Book of the Year award from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association. She wrote it in five days. 10/19/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Texas Baptist Forum
Posted: 10/19/07
Texas Baptist Forum
Spirit & pastor searches
After reading Roger Olson’s 2nd Opinion column on the pastor-search process (Oct. 1), I find it difficult to agree. Yes, I believe pastors as well as church members are led by a call of the Holy Spirit daily. I would hope his church’s pastor-search committee didn’t browbeat or bribe a pastor or member to join his church. We do not need to look to help-wanted ads of pastors wanting to leave a difficult situation.
• Jump to online-only letters below Letters are welcomed. Send them to marvknox@baptiststandard.com; 250 words maximum. 
“I believe there is a universal God. I believe the God that the Muslim prays to is the same God that I pray to. After all, we all came from Abraham. I believe in that universality.”
George W. Bush
U.S. president, (Al Arabiya television/The Washington Times/RNS)“When we started talking about the Holy Spirit, people said: ‘Oh, that’s kind of dangerous. You don’t know what may happen.’ I’m kind of hoping something unexpected does happen.”
Cindy de Jong
Coordinator of worship at Calvin College, about a worship series on the Holy Spirit (RNS)“Torture undermines victim and torturer alike. It corrodes the society that permits it. It overthrows the rule of law and then destroys the tyrannies that it spawns. Corrupting the soul, it eventually corrupts everything in its path. Torture is itself the ticking bomb.”
George Hunsinger
Founder of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (RNS)Our church lost our pastor 18 months ago. Even though my heart cried, I could still praise God that he will continue to minister through that young man. I hope my church’s search committee is looking for someone who is going through the door that the Holy Spirit opens, not the door that is listed “Exit.” Praise God for pastor-search committees that bathe their work in prayer and listen to the Holy Spirit’s leadership.
Robert Dillard
10/19/2007 - By John Rutledge
