Posted: 10/12/07

DOWN HOME:
Procrastination or patience?

Remember the dead section of our favorite maple tree? I told you about it before.

Well, it’s not there anymore.

A recap: The top eight or 10 feet of the center branch of our stately maple tree turned bitter brown and died. A boar squirrel scraped the bark off all the way around the trunk about 20 feet up, sprayed it to mark his turf, and waited for the leaves to die so he could use them to build the nest for his first offspring.

Following the advice of our local “tree doctor,” I sprinkled red fox urine on the trunk. The squirrel, fearing its mortal enemy, decided a few leaves weren’t worth becoming the main ingredient in a fox version of burgoo. So, he stayed away.

But his handiwork remained—a gigantic rust-colored banner of rodent sabotage, a swaying symbol of squirrel vandalism, a fluttering flag of fiendish fecklessness.

Every time I looked into that tree, the blight made me mad. I kept thinking about how much money I’d have to spend to remove the dead parts. At least $150, I figured, maybe much more.

In the afternoons, when I got home from work, I’d walk back there and look into the tree, trying to decide if I thought I could take the damaged area down myself.

If it had been a branch that swayed out, I wouldn’t have worried. Lop it off and let it drop. But this was part of the core trunk. It grew straight up and then branched out. Even if I got a clean cut, I guessed, it might knock me out of the tree as it fell. Or scrape me as it passed. Or both.

Cheapskate that I am, I kept putting off calling the “tree doctor.”

Turns out, I didn’t need to.

Joanna called me while I drove home from work. “Remember the dead section of our favorite maple tree in the backyard?” she asked. Like I could forget. “It fell down. Well, most of it fell down.”

When I got home, the top third of the middle section of the tree lay in the backyard. It just missed crushing the swing Jo’s daddy built.

After dinner, I climbed up in the tree (which the little boy in me loved) and cut down four remaining small branches. Then I cut the big section into smaller pieces and carried it all to the alley. And it didn’t cost me anything.

Now, unless you know what to look for, you’d never realize a squirrel nearly ruined our maple tree. It’s still beautiful, and all of it is green.

This little episode reminded me my timetable isn’t always best. While I won’t go so far as to claim the hand of God knocked down the damaged part of our tree to save me money, I do know that if I had followed my normally compulsive timetable, I would’ve shelled out a lot of cash to pay somebody for a chore I did myself in about an hour.

So, patience is a virtue. And sometimes, even procrastination pays.
–Marv Knox

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

Posted: 10/12/07

EDITORIAL:
Confession comeback? Let’s hope so

Thirtysomething years ago, a young couple “got in trouble,” as we used to say back then. The girl was a bright, outgoing high school cheerleader, the delight of her prominent church, where her father was the pastor. The boy was a friendly, polite football player, not a star but good enough to make the team, and a member of the church’s youth group. They were well-liked and respected—the kind of kids you’d want your children to hang out with. But since biology is impervious to whether the participants are “good” or not, they did something scandalous, and she got pregnant.

Have you ever noticed how nothing travels faster than bad news about good people? All our school and half the town must’ve known about her condition before she got home from the doctor’s office.

If the next Sunday wasn’t High Attendance Day at their church, you couldn’t convince the ushers otherwise. A huge crowd turned out. Human nature being what it is, the worshippers’ motives were mixed. Some attended to support the humiliated pastor and wife. Others showed up to feast on their shame.

What happened that morning shocked every student in our school. That pastor-father commanded his daughter and her boyfriend to stand before their church and confess their sin. Their tears outnumbered their words, but they got it out: We disobeyed God. We brought shame upon our families, our church, ourselves. We are sorry.

As their classmate, I found their public confession both mesmerizing and appalling. They stood before hundreds of people who had known them their whole lives and admitted aloud to something about which proper people only whispered. I could not comprehend their humiliation. And I thanked God I did not have a father who could be that cruel.

As you can tell, those classmates and their Sunday-morning confession made quite an impression. I have recalled that episode countless times. But many years ago—probably shortly after my own first child was born—my feelings toward that father changed drastically. No hearts broke more violently that morning than the four hearts of those children’s parents. No words scorched a throat more painfully than that father’s introduction of his precious daughter and his soon-to-be son-in-law. Yet he knew their public pain would pay the toll of forgiveness. They cried and writhed in agony. They wore their sorrow for sin like ragged robes of shame. And then that congregation rose up and did what those kids never expected. They hugged them, cried with the, visibly loved them. And forgave them. Nobody ever said conceiving a child outside marriage was right. But they received permission to leave their sin behind, and they became productive once more.

That young couple came to mind the other day. A Wall Street Journal report claims confession is making a comeback, especially in the Roman Catholic and Lutheran churches, as well as some evangelical congregations.

Of course, Baptist doctrine sets us apart from Catholics and some other groups. For example, we don’t believe confession is a sacrament, and we don’t require a priest to intercede to God on our behalf. But a serious re-evaluation of confession would serve us—individual Christians, congregations and a denomination—well.

Massive confession would be needful only occasionally. The scale of the confession should match the scale of the sin. Still, confession within the bonds of accountability and trust—Bible study classes, small prayer groups, one-on-one sessions with a trusted spiritual confidant—can light the path toward restoration and redemption, as well as shine a beacon that signals danger and warns against temptation.

Beyond this, we as the body of Christ need to transcend the world’s refusal to acknowledge fault. When we are willing to say, “I was wrong; please forgive me,” we restore integrity sorely missing among Christians today.

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

Posted: 10/12/07

Faith Digest

NCC nominates new leader. The National Council of Churches has nominated a veteran educator and ecumenist to be its next general secretary. If affirmed next month by the council’s governing board and general assembly, Michael Kinnamon will assume the helm of the New York-based ecumenical agency in January. Kinnamon, a Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) minister and professor of ecumenical studies at Eden Theological School in St. Louis, serves on the NCC’s governing board and chairs its justice and advocacy commission.

Conservative Episcopalians explore alternative church. Some Episcopal bishops and more than 200 Episcopal congregations have taken a first step toward forming a new alternative to the Episcopal Church that will unite conservatives irked by the church’s liberal drift. Meeting in Pittsburgh, the Common Cause Council of Bishops brought together nine North American splinter groups to lay the groundwork for a conservative counterpart to the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada. Conservative Episcopalians, a minority in the American church, have decried the church’s stance on gay rights, especially the 2003 election of an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire.

Mormons launch PR campaign. Prompted by interest generated by Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is mounting its own campaign to help journalists better understand what it means to be Mormon. This month, two spokespeople for the Salt Lake City-based church hosted an online news conference with religion reporters. Church leaders are planning meetings with editorial boards and may schedule additional online news conferences.

Brits OK teaching creationism; just don’t call it ‘science.’ The British government has given teachers the go-ahead to discuss creationism with their pupils—but only if they stress the controversial theory has “no underpinning scientific principles.” The Department of Children, Schools and Families issued the guidelines after several teaching unions and civic groups said science teachers were unsure how to tackle the issue of creationism in their classrooms. Under the government’s guidelines, teachers are expected to contrast the belief that God created the world in six days with Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, which teaches life on earth evolved over millions of millennia.

Ecumenical body rejects military force in Iran. The World Council of Churches has cautioned the United States and its allies that the dispute over Iran’s nuclear programs must be settled through negotiations and not military force. In a statement on Iran and the Middle East regional crisis, the council’s executive committee said, “Threats to begin another war in the Middle East defy the lessons of both history and ethics,” referring to the “belligerent stance” of the United States toward Iran and of Iranian threats against the United States and Israel. The group also called for withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Iraq and urged the implementation of “alternative Iraqi and multilateral political, economic and security programs.”

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

Posted: 10/12/07

Southerners give more
to religious organizations

By Heather Donckels

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)—The numbers prove it: Southerners are more generous to their churches, while lagging in other categories of giving.

Using data provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, a new study by empty tomb inc. shows that in 2005, Southerners gave an average $816.81 per household to church and religious organizations while Northeasterners gave only $453.84. And the South has been outpacing the Northeast in religious giving almost 20 years.

“One point that often ‘defends’ the Northeast is that the region has higher living expenses,” said Sylvia Ronsvalle, executive vice president of empty tomb, a Christian research organization in Champaign, Ill.

That reasoning only goes so far, though, because “although the Northeast has the second-highest level of expenditures … it also has the second-highest level of income,” she said.

The study found the Midwest came in second in religious giving, at an average of $784.16 per household, and the West came in third, at $665.61.

However, in giving to “charities and other organizations,” the South ranked last, at $176.69 per household, while the West came in first, at $221.75. In giving to educational institutions, the South also placed last, at $22.49, while the Midwest came in first at $53.77.

In other words, the South leads the nation in religious giving but barely leads in overall charitable giving. Other parts of the country, it seems, just direct their charitable dollars elsewhere.

So what would explain the difference? Observers say it’s not entirely clear but offered several possibilities.

In religious giving, there may be a denominational link.

The North American Religion Atlas, using data from the 2000 census, shows a high concentration of Protestants in the South while Catholics dominate the Northeast. For example, only 8 percent of people in the South are Catholics, compared to 42 percent of New Englanders.

Francis Butler, president of the Washington-based Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities, said research shows Catholics give about 1 percent of income to charity. Protestants, meanwhile, generally give double that, he said.

Charles Zech, director of the Center for the Study of Church Management at Villanova University, wrote a book addressing that very topic—Why Catholics Don’t Give … And What Can Be Done About It.

In it, Zech says Protestants give more than Catholics because their churches do better at teaching the concept of stewardship and because Protestants are more transparent about their finances.

Also, since one parish may be home to as many as 2,000 Catholic families, parishioners don’t experience the same feelings of community as Protestants do. And ultimately, as Zech said, “people give to people.”

Ronsvalle suggested there also may be political reasons behind regional differences in giving. She said people in the red Southern states generally want to minimize government while promoting private industry and philanthropy. The blue Northern states, on the other hand, stress the government’s responsibility and government-led social welfare programs.

Charles Reagan Wilson, professor of Southern studies at the University of Mississippi, came to a similar conclusion. “The South’s approach to giving has stressed private charity over governmental assistance,” he said.

Southerners have “long tended to be conservative on issues of government,” stressing provision from family and churches rather than government intervention in times of crisis, he explained.

Melissa Brown, associate director of research at the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, said education levels play a role in giving, regardless of region.

“College and above, you really do start to expect a higher level of giving,” Brown said, adding college graduates will give away more of their income because of their social networks, work affiliations and ties to more than one community.

Ronsvalle said the survey may prompt more questions than answers.

“I don’t think we have to have all of the answers at this point,” she said, “But we have to establish the truth that there are trends, and these trends … have occurred over multiple years.”

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

Posted: 10/12/07

Book Review

The Preacher and the Presidents: Billy Graham in the White House by Nancy Gibbs & Michael Duffy (Center Street)

A deadly trio of temptations—money, sex and power—have ruined the lives of many influential people, including ministers. When he still was young, evangelist Billy Graham wisely created rules that would safeguard his ministry against any appearance of sexual or financial impropriety. He pledged never to be alone with any woman other than his wife, and he instructed his evangelistic association to place him on a salary no greater than the income of an average large-church pastor.

But as Gibbs and Duffy—veteran reporters for Time magazine—note, Graham learned lessons about succumbing to the temptations of power the hard way.

For more than 50 years, Graham received unprecedented access to the White House, serving as pastor, counselor and even political adviser to presidents. Along the way, the evangelist grew in his understanding of how a close relationship with the nation’s chief executive could either benefit or blemish his ministry—open doors for the spread of the gospel or tie the kingdom of God too closely to the kingdoms of this world.

The authors faithfully record innocent missteps such as when the young evangelist naively told reporters the details of a meeting with Harry Truman and then Graham and his associates, in their pistachio-green suits and white bucks, kneeled to pray on the White House lawn at the request of news photographers. Truman became incensed at what he saw as Graham’s grandstanding, and he did not reconcile with him until Graham visited his home in Independence, Mo., 18 years later and apologized profusely for the blunder.

What are you reading that other Texas Baptists would find helpful? Send suggestions and reviews to books@baptiststandard.com.

Gibbs and Duffy also detail Graham’s close and complex relationship with Richard Nixon, beginning when Nixon was Dwight Eisenhower’s vice president and extending beyond Watergate and Nixon’s resignation. They tell how Nixon often was protective of Graham and—at least sometimes—surprisingly reluctant to capitalize politically on their friendship. They also honestly report the occasions when Graham seemed too quick to please the president, such as a meeting when Nixon blamed Jews for the woes of America. Like a straight-arrow high-school boy awkwardly trying to fit into a lewd locker-room conversation, the evangelist uncharacteristically echoed many of Nixon’s sentiments. Thirty years later, when the tape of the meeting became public, a mortified Graham—whose en-tire public life refuted any charges of anti-Semitism—begged forgiveness from Jewish leaders.

While the authors unflinchingly record those times when Graham stepped over the line and became seduced by power, they also tell inspiring stories about his remarkable opportunities to provide a pastoral presence and Christian influence in the White House.

Essentially, Gibbs and Duffy have written a love story. Presidents genuinely loved Graham because he was an internationally known public figure and man of action—someone as influential in his own sphere as the presidents were in their own. They could relate to him, and they knew they could trust him. For his part, Graham demonstrated genuine Christian love and forgiveness to people at the pinnacle of power in an unforgiving world.

In their concluding chapter, the authors describe Graham’s ministry to the presidents as a story of “grace under pressure.” Perhaps that’s true. It certainly wasn’t grace in the sense demonstrated by a gifted athlete or unerring dancer; the evangelist stumbled plenty of times. But in the New Testament sense of grace as unmerited favor, Graham unfailingly preached by word and deeds a message of God’s unconditional love.

Ken Camp

Managing editor, Baptist Standard

Dallas

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

Posted: 10/12/07

Texas Baptist Forum

BGCT & the future

Tim Ahlen’s innovative letter about “The Great Commission Initiative” (Oct. 1) appeared in the same issue as the editorial “If we don’t change, this is just Round 1,” which demonstrates a common-sense approach that is greatly needed. 

• Jump to online-only letters below

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

“What’s centrally important is our concern for missions and evangelism, relief and development, human rights and theological reflection.” Neville Callam Baptist World Alliance general secretary (RNS) “Please pray for me as I continue to meet with persons such as Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Bill Richardson. I already have spent time with leaders such as John McCain, Mike Huckabee and Rudy Giuliani. I have spoken on the phone with persons such as Mitt Romney.” Frank Page Southern Baptist Convention president (RNS) “The KKK is our own terrorist organization. They have murdered, lynched and terrorized thousands of people in this country, or inspired the same. It is disingenuous of us to say that someone in Saudi Arabia ought to do something about their (Muslim) hate groups and then us not do the same.” Jeremy Lucas Pastor of St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in Athens, Ala., on his plans to organize a silent counter-protest to a rally by the Ku Klux Klan (Huntsville Times/RNS)

I served 24 years on the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board staff and five years at the Southern Baptist Convention Home Mission Board. During this time, a major shift took place in the SBC, which preceded an equally dramatic shift in the BGCT.

As a former employee of both conventions, I have been an interested observer, but not participating in the politics. From the beginning, the problems were more about conflicting personalities than fundamental issues. All my friends on both sides believe the word of God is “inerrant.” Some say it without using this word.

The ways people were treated—some ignored, some included and others excluded—caused hurt and a desire to retaliate. No one or no group is happy when they are ignored. This action and reaction has resulted in where we are today, “downsized budget, staff reduction.” Baptists have voted with their money for a long time—and will continue!

Most early leaders of these movements in the SBC and BGCT have retired, and others have gone to heaven. There is no reason to continue the fight! It is time for new visionary leadership to emerge, build trust and cooperation! 

The harvest is too great to pray for less.

J.V. Thomas

Rye

Our executive leaders are sending the wrong message to the messengers of our convention. In light of the debacle of last year’s convention, when it appeared that the convention in session did not have a voice on a major issue facing us, the implementation of a budget not yet approved by the convention tells our messengers once again their votes do not count. I realize (Executive Director) Charles Wade had the rightful authority to reduce the staff as he saw fit, but the timing sends the wrong message to our churches.

A significant reason why we have our budget woes can be traced back to the fact that too many us feel out of the loop. Many churches are now speaking to us in dollars and cents, and yet their voices are not being heard. If we are going to do more together, we need to do a better job of sending the right messages to our people.

David Lowrie

Canyon

I agree with Marv Knox when he says budget cuts create an atmosphere where “visions for the future are thrown into competition” (Oct. 1). This struggle was evident when the Executive Board met to create next year’s budget. I was more than a little surprised when the board decided to cut missions and evangelism funds by half a million dollars. No other area of the BGCT budget was cut more. 

The No. 1 reason most Texas Baptists give sacrificially to the Cooperative Program is because of the BGCT’s missions and evangelism work. To make the deepest financial cuts in these two areas is to undermine the very reason most Texas Baptists contribute. This, in turn, will discourage future gifts. I fear the BGCT is only exacerbating its financial crisis.  For Texas Baptists, missions and evangelism come first, and all other priorities must take second place. 

Tim Overton

Louisville, Ky.

Presidential ‘timing’

Joy Fenner is something of an icon in Texas Baptist life, and her integrity, leadership and service to our Lord Jesus Christ are beyond reproach. Should she be elected president of the BGCT, I will be honored to support her leadership. However, press coverage surrounding her nomination seems to reflect that one of the key factors in her nomination is that it is “time for a woman to be selected.” But is it really?

In view of the fact that church attendance among men lags women by as much as 12 percent and is continuing to decline; and in view of the fact that participation in denominational life by young progressive pastors has declined sharply, precipitating a significant fiscal crisis and layoffs at the BGCT; and in view of the fact that church attendance in the 18- to 30-year-old demographic is decreasing at an astonishing rate, is it really time to elect a respected Baptist icon in order to make a statement about tolerance and diversity?

Or is it time to invite some of our best and brightest cutting-edge pastors to the table of leadership?

Perhaps before we go to Amarillo to cast our votes, we should all pause and prayerfully ask ourselves what time it really is.

Gary Morgan

Waxahachie

Pray for troops

Due to the situation in Iraq, many families suffer the absence of loved ones, who answered the call to military service. I do not wish to point to political differences. I only want to focus on the suffering and agony thousands of families are going through as they await the return of their loved ones.

Please pray until the return of all U.S. and allied troops. May all of us dedicate a specific prayer time and dedicate our prayers to this noble cause.

Please do not break this prayer chain until you see the awaited results. Unite with us in prayer for the needs many families are experiencing for their loved ones!

The intention of this request is to humanize us and allow us to agree in a “common cause” to sympathize and support those with loved ones in Iraq. Can you commit yourself to pray for these families?

We want to know how many Texas Baptists will participate. Please write to us at: Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas, Office of Hispanic Ministries, 333 North Washington Ave., Dallas 75246-1798. Or contact: baldemarbj@aol.com, rolando.rodriguez@bgct.org, pibdelriotx@hotmail.com or JoAnn.Lira@bgct.org.

In the name of many families who have loved ones in Iraq, thank you for your participation in the prayer that can change things, no matter how difficult or impossible they seem.

Baldemar Borrego, president

Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas

Wichita Falls

‘Being green’

Congratulations on your well-balanced articles on environmental issues (Oct. 1).

Enviro-politics jumps around on all sides of the issues. A well-meaning Christian may consider activism a good way to serve the Lord, only to find defining the issues is important.

For example, when the first Earth Day was celebrated April 22, 1970, the world’s greatest concern was global cooling. Today it’s global warming. What will another 37 years bring? And why the change of direction?

Seems likely the cooling came because for over 50 years we sent lead into the atmosphere while burning leaded gasoline, and the beginning of a cooling trend was a way God had to teach us that lead in our sky will reflect solar energy away from his earth. Shortly after the catalytic converter was invented, the lead in the atmosphere began diminishing year by year, followed by the warming trend we are now experiencing.

William M. Menger

Huntsville

“It’s not easy being green” addressed a subject all Christians need to understand and support.

Contaminating the atmosphere with hydrocarbons and other man-made gases harms mankind, and the economically deprived suffer most. What was not said is that these gasses have only a minor contribution to global warming. The article attempted to link these two scientifically different subjects.

In spite of the political misinformation, global warming is God’s way to increase food production in our world! When we were in Africa as part of program under the International Mission Board, we were distributing a ton of grain each week to very hungry people. God’s people need to understand the need to produce food for an ever-growing human population in our world.

Global warming increases plant growth in areas nearer to the poles of the earth by lengthening the agriculture production season in those regions. Carbon dioxide is not a harmful gas. It is a natural gas used by plants much as oxygen in used by animals.

Perhaps Greenland will again be productive as it was in the days of the Vikings.

Bill Osborne

Houston

Grace & healing

I enjoyed your article about the music ministry of Blake Bolerjack (Sept. 17). We have hosted Blake in our church on three occasions and have been blessed by his musical abilities and heart for following God’s call upon his life.

Not only does Blake have a powerful voice, but God has used painful experiences in his life to encourage people who are hurting and let them know of God’s grace and healing. I would strongly encourage Texas churches to invite Blake to share with your congregation.

The people of First Baptist Church in Carrollton have been tremendously encouraged and blessed, and I know your church will as well.

Brent Taylor

Carrollton

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

Posted: 10/12/07

Book by former student-body president
aims to correct record on Little Rock

By Robert Marus

Associated Baptist Press

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (ABP)—Ralph Brodie has been waiting for 50 years to tell his side of the desegregation crisis at Little Rock Central High School. A lot of his classmates have been waiting, too.

“The main thing … is that the student body of Central High in 1957-58 had a class full of extraordinary students who, both academically and athletically, would have been the envy of any high school in the country in normal times,” he said. “And, in extraordinary times, we really should look at them and be proud of their conduct, despite the fact that there might have been 50 or 60 kids in a 2,000-student body who caused problems.”

Brodie referred to the segregationist students who ceaselessly harassed the nine African-American students who integrated the school Sept. 25, 1957. He was the student-body president that year.

Media coverage of the crisis surrounding the event—exacerbated by a formerly moderate governor who played to segregationists due to electoral pressures—gave the white citizens of Little Rock a black eye from which the city is only now starting to recover, residents say.

“With the media, we’re looked at as white, Southern and presumably racist,” Brodie, now a Little Rock tax attorney, said in a recent interview.

But, with the help of co-author Marvin Schwartz, he has compiled accounts from scores of his schoolmates in order to tell their stories, which he believes history has largely ignored. Titled Central in Our Lives: Voices From Little Rock Central High School 1957-59, the book was published by the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies.

Brodie, a lifelong member of Pulaski Heights Baptist Church in Little Rock, said the turmoil of a year unlike any other continued after reporters left Little Rock and the nation’s eyes had turned to other news, like the Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik.

He began collecting his classmates’ memories after their 40th reunion, nearly 10 years ago. He said he was surprised to hear white students recount stories of many small gestures of kindness toward their black schoolmates.

“There are a number of positive stories. I didn’t know these happened until 10 years ago,” he said. He noted that school officials had instituted a strict no-discussion policy in class regarding integration or the crisis itself, in order to avoid further turmoil during the school day.

For instance, Brodie recounted that one of his football teammates became the physics laboratory partner of the only senior among the Little Rock Nine, Ernest Green, when Green was allowed to enter the school three weeks after the term started. The teammate, Steve Swofford, and another class member helped Green get up-to-date on his assignments. Brodie helped facilitate a reunion between Green and his old lab partners immediately after a 50th anniversary commemoration at the school Sept. 25.

His book recounts many such tales, including a female classmate who initially befriended Green. Segregationist students took note of her friendliness, she said, and threatened her father’s business with a boycott. After that, she resorted to maintaining her friendship with Green only by telephone.

His classmates had lots of these kinds of stories, Brodie discovered.

“Individually, they probably don’t amount to much, but collectively, it tells a tale of a student body where kids were willing to reach out, and then they ultimately suffered the consequence of reaching out,” he said.

While quick to note that what white students endured doesn’t compare to the Little Rock Nine—“this isn’t a competition in suffering”—Brodie said such stories prove that the students weren’t all virulent racists.

And, Brodie added, even the students who were ideologically segregationists but did not harass the black students or disrupt the school day should at least be looked upon kindly for allowing integration to proceed.

“Desegregation was just another rule change, so it wasn’t any big thing for most of us,” he said, noting that Central High then—as now—was one of the best public schools in the nation. Brodie estimates that the troublemakers numbered 50 or 60, while others estimate the group was as many as 200 out of nearly 2,000 students.

Schwartz, a New York native who settled in Arkansas as an adult, said the stories the book tells show a school filled mainly with good citizens who were tainted by the historical record. The work “draws a portrait of a student body that was really, exceptionally well-groomed young people. They had a good sense of equity and fair play. Plus, they were exceptionally motivated to better themselves.”

What many members of the Little Rock Nine have recounted over the years, however, is the paucity of the acts of kindness described in the book.

“The majority of (white) students turned their backs, and the message … it seemed to me, is that they really didn’t care about what was happening to us,” said Elizabeth Eckford, one of the Nine, in a press conference prior to the 50th anniversary event. “Today, some of those people say that they were kind to us, that they were welcoming to us. I think that they want to be seen as understanding, as good people.”

But Eckford and other members of the Nine have told several stories of white students who befriended them.

Also, Brodie and Schwartz both noted, administrators and the school board bowed to segregationist pressure by instituting several policies banning the black students from extracurricular involvement. Because they couldn’t be on integrated sports teams or get to know black students outside of the classroom, Schwartz said, white students at Central missed many opportunities for camaraderie-building.

“These were kids with whom the body of students at Central High had no previous encounter, no shared cultural history,” he said. “So, they were virtually strangers. There was no animosity to them [among most white students], but there was no shared history.”

Brodie said school board officials also feared expelling the worst of the troublemakers because segregationist students had been offered legal support by local anti-integration groups. Because of that, many students who tormented the Little Rock Nine were able to keep up a reign of terror that school officials otherwise would not have tolerated.

Such circumstances, he said, added up to tarnish the reputation of most of his schoolmates, not to mention a school and city that had, before the crisis, been considered by some as models of progress in the South.

A photograph of Eckford taken by Arkansas Democrat photographer Will Counts at the beginning of the crisis is arguably one of the most famous images of the civil-rights movement. It features Eckford, barred by Arkansas National Guard troops from entering the school, hounded in the street by a jeering white mob. Discernible in the crowd directly behind Eckford is the face of Central student Hazel Bryan Massery. Massery’s mouth is contorted in rage, as Eckford suffers silently behind large sunglasses.

Brodie laments that that photo has become the defining image of Little Rock Central High School for much of the world.

“Many times a photo will be taken to mean a lot more than it suggests—for example, the landmark photo of Hazel Massery yelling at Elizabeth Eckford—that girl represents to all the media and all the public all Central High students,” he said. “That wasn’t the way the whole student body acted, nor was that what happened on the inside of the school.”

Brodie contrasts that image with one the same photographer took a month later, after the black students finally made it inside Central for good. It shows students standing outside during one of the many bomb threats the school experienced that year. Among the crowd is black student Minnijean Brown Trickey—shown laughing and talking with her classmates.

“They should show both of those images side-by-side,” Brodie 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: 10/12/07

East Texas pastor to be
nominated for BGCT 1st VP

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

East Texas pastor Mike Massar—whose church launched a satellite campus and has become involved in extensive hands-on worldwide missions under his leadership—will be nominated for first vice president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas at the BGCT annual meeting in Amarillo, Oct. 29-30.

Roger Paynter, pastor of First Baptist Church in Austin, announced his intention to nominate Massar, saying First Baptist Church in Tyler has “broadened the scope of its ministry” to an “amazing” degree during his 10 years as pastor.

During the past decade, the church has built health clinics in Mexico and participated in missions ventures in the Dominican Republic, Belize, Kenya, Kosovo and India.

Locally, First Baptist Church started the Tyler Family Assistance Center, the Niños de Promesa preschool program for Hispanic children and was integral in launching the Bethesda Health Clinic. Through the clinic, more than 250 physicians donated their services to provide care for nearly 12,000 patients last year.

In addition to helping start four churches in the last 10 years—two Hispanic, one African-American and one Anglo—First Baptist Church also built its south campus, while continuing to maintain its historic downtown location.

“Essentially, he has been pastoring two churches,” Paynter said.

In addition to providing East Texas representation, Massar can bring “a healing presence” to the BGCT during a tense time, Paynter added.

“He brings a lot of wisdom to everything he does,” Paynter said. “He is a unifying and reconciling person.”

Massar cited “a sense of calling” and loyalty to the BGCT as his reasons for allowing his nomination for the vice president’s post.

“Holding an elected office has never been on my radar,” he said. “It’s never been an ambition of mine.”

Massar wants to see renewed emphasis on cooperative missions through the BGCT—particularly communicating the importance of shared ministries to the emerging generation.

In the process, he wants to be “a peacemaker, of sorts,” he said.

“I’d like to see us focus not so much on criticizing each other but more on the mission Christ has given to us,” Masser said. “It’s time for less pointing of fingers and time for more rolling up of sleeves.”

Masser, 58, was born in Big Spring and graduated from high school in Midland. He earned degrees from Baylor University, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and the Graduate Theological Foundation in Notre Dame. He also has completed advanced studies at Oxford University’s Mansfield College and numerous other institutions.

Before he arrived at First Baptist Church in Tyler, he was pastor at First Baptist Church in Clemson, S.C.; pastor of Wildewood Baptist Church in Spring; and minister to students and associate pastor of Seventh & James Baptist Church in Waco.

He and his wife, Lisa, have three grown children: Matthew Dann, Patrick Clark and Meredith Leigh.

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

Posted: 10/12/07

Rain couldn’t put the
brakes on church’s car rally

In spite of intermittent rain throughout the day, visitors stopped at Mimosa Lane Baptist Church in Mesquite to see more than 50 cars, trucks and motorcycles on display at the church’s third annual Motorama rally.

The church’s Pit Stop Ministry—a volunteer program that provides basic auto maintenance and simple repairs, particularly for single mothers and needy families—sponsored the event. The church asked exhibitors to make a donation to Texas Baptist Men disaster relief as their entry fee, and the car rally raised $640 for disaster relief.

Texas Baptist Men disaster relief volunteers from Dallas Baptist Association gave away 330 hot dogs, and as visitors learned firsthand about TBM’s disaster relief ministry, many searched out organizers to make a donation, George Felker of Pit Stop Ministry noted.

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

Posted: 10/12/07

Presidential hopefuls look to
theologian Reinhold Niebuhr

By Benedicta Cipolla

Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Thirty-six years after his death, Protestant theologian Reinhold Niebuhr seems more alive than ever. Perhaps not since President Jimmy Carter acknowledged Niebuhr’s influence during his 1976 campaign has his name been on the lips of so many politicians and pundits.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama told New York Times columnist David Brooks that Niebuhr is “one of my favorite philosophers.”

Brooks himself quotes Niebuhr consistently, describing him as a thinker we could use today “to police our excesses” in foreign policy.

Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne’s forthcoming book takes note of the current longing for a new Niebuhr to inspire religious liberals, while GOP hopeful John McCain, in his volume, Hard Call, wonders what the critic of pacifism during World War II would say today about Iraq.

As political theorist William Galston put it recently: “After a period of neglect, Reinhold Niebuhr is the man of the hour.”

Niebuhr widely is regarded as one of the most significant Christian intellectuals of the 20th century.

Born in 1892 in Missouri to German parents, Niebuhr was ordained in the German Evangelical Church—later part of the United Church of Christ—and taught for more than three decades at Union Theological Seminary in New York.

He was a founder of the liberal anticommunist lobbying group Americans for Democratic Action, and in 1948, he appeared on the cover of Time magazine.

Over the years, Niebuhr won the admiration of political figures on the left and the right, including the late historian and Kennedy aide Arthur Schlesinger Jr. and the late Jeane Kirkpatrick, who served as Ronald Reagan’s U.N. ambassador.

Niebuhr’s unrelenting gaze inward—at a United States that he refused to herald as the world’s unquestioned savior—runs counter to the renewed sense of American exceptionalism that followed the 9/11 attacks.

Niebuhr’s Christian realism—his recognition of the persistence of sin, self-interest and self-righteousness in social conflicts—highlights the distinction between the acknowledgment of evil’s existence and America’s own involvement in that evil.

“As Niebuhr famously said, we always use evil to prevent greater evil,” said Peter Beinart, who advocated a Niebuhr-inflected American humility in his recent book The Good Fight: Why Liberals—and Only Liberals—Can Win the War on Terror and Make America Great Again.

“The recognition that America is capable of evil has been brought home to a new generation, in things like Abu Ghraib, in the most topical way since Vietnam.”

As the 2008 election heats up, Obama has emerged as perhaps the most visibly Niebuhrian candidate.

At a June forum on faith for Democratic candidates, he spoke of the peril inherent in seeing America’s actions as always virtuous and in drawing battle lines too neatly between good and evil.

In his keynote address to the United Church of Christ that same month, he called the challenges of poverty, racism, war and unemployment “moral problems rooted in societal indifference and individual callousness, in the imperfections of man, the cruelties of man towards man”—in other words, the inescapable fact of sin.

But his UCC speech also captured Niebuhr’s insistence that neither sin’s inevitability, nor the idea that worldly justice can only ever approximate divine justice, should give rise to a “Christian pessimism which becomes an irresponsibility.”

University of Virginia religious studies professor Charles Mathewes suggests Niebuhr “is the best theologian to think about things if you want to think about sin without being cynical.”

Niebuhr’s last teaching assistant, Ronald Stone, now professor emeritus of Christian social ethics at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, sees Hillary Clinton as a Niebuhrian candidate because of her bipartisan pragmatism.

As a teenager in Park Ridge, Ill., she read Niebuhr and other theologians such as Paul Tillich and Dietrich Bonhoeffer with her Methodist youth minister, Don Jones.

Niebuhr’s own grounding of his political beliefs in his Christian faith may serve as another factor in the increased interest in him.

At debates and forums, candidates from both parties have spoken about how faith has informed their public policies and personal lives with a pietistic emphasis some believe would have discomfited Niebuhr.

Stone found Niebuhr to possess a deep personal religiosity, while disdaining discussion of personal beliefs in the public square.

“Far better to have good political ideas and a way to carry them out pragmatically than to win votes through pious protestations,” Stone said.

Future global threats, Mathewes said, are going to require collaboration across religions, national boundaries and ideologies, and the U.S. response will need to be “infused with moral urgency, but also moral humility.”

The 21st century, he predicts, will be a Niebuhrian century. If the current political moment is any gauge, he just may be right.

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

Posted: 10/12/07

On the Move

• Dale Berry to Bethel Church in Nocona as pastor from First Church in Jacksboro.

• Carl Bilderback has resigned as pastor of First Church in Pottsboro.

• Craig Blakeslee to First Church in Harlingen as minister of children and discipleship from Arroyo City Chapel in Arroyo City, where he was pastor.

• Shannon Bond to First Church in Bangs as minister of youth.

• Brent Bowden has resigned as minister of youth at Central Church in Italy.

• Eric Boykin has resigned as pastor of First Church in Campbell.

• Wes Bryant to Central Church in Pampa as minister of music and youth.

• Richard Buerkle to Memorial Church in Arlington, Va., as minister of music and outreach from First Church in Gatesville, where he was minister of music and missions.

• Don Caldwell to First Church in Lakeside as pastor.

• Ronald Cantrell to Main Street Church in Grand Saline as pastor from North Park Church in Sherman.

• Derek Carter to Rosen Heights Church in Fort Worth as pastor.

• Brad Cockrell to First Church in Denton-East as campus pastor, from First Church in Denton, where he was associate pastor.

• Jonathan Coleman to Oak Crest Church in Midlothian as music director.

• Kevin Collison to First Church in Eagle Lake as pastor from Hendricks Avenue Church in Jacksonville, Fla., where he was minister-in-residence.

• Drew Dabbs has resigned as pastor of Spring Creek Church in Meridian.

• Ronald Davis to First Church in Campbell as pastor.

• Gary Flynt to Webb Church in Arlington as pastor.

• Melanie Green has resigned as children’s minister at First Church in Sherman.

• Walter Guillaume to First Church in Dallas as executive pastor from First Church in Wichita Falls, where he was minister of education.

• Chris Harris to Chapel by the Lake in Point as pastor.

• Sam Hill to North Bryan New Birth Church in Bryan as pastor.

• Matt Hudson to First Church in Taylor as pastor.

• Robert Jeffress to First Church in Dallas as pastor from First Church in Wichita Falls.

• Billy Koinm to Heights Church in Temple as pastor from First Church in Yorktown.

• Kurt Krodle to First Church in Denton as minister to students from First Church in Saginaw.

• Ron Kurtz has resigned as minister of education at First Church in Texarkana.

• Bryan Lakey to Calvary Church in Lumberton as campus pastor from Rock Point Church in Flower Mound, where he was minister of assimilation and pastoral care.

• Becky McKinney to First Church in Stockdale as music minister from Oak Hills Community Church in Floresville, where she was minister of music and youth.

• Robert Mills to Crescent Heights Church in Abilene as assistant pastor.

• David Pequeño to Iglesia El Calvario in Bryan as pastor.

• Michael Ray to First Church in Lovelady as minister of music.

• Ben Reams to First Church in Kopperl as pastor.

• Jay Reed to First Church in Taylor as youth pastor from Central Church in Clovis, N.M.

• Jeff Ritter to First Church in Jefferson as student minister from Crestwood Church in Midlothian, Va., where he was interim youth minister.

• Wayne Sewell to First Church of Trimmier in Killeen as pastor.

• Eddie Singleton has resigned as pastor of Paradise Church in Caddo Mills.

• Dan Turner has completed an interim as minister of music of Central Church in Pampa.

• Bryan Waterbury to Oak Hills Church in Floresville as associate pastor of music and youth from Southwest Christian Fellowship in Burleson, where he was youth minister.

• Mike Williams to Cottonwood Church in Bryan as pastor.

• Brandon Wommack has resigned as pastor of College Hill Church in DeKalb.

• Michael Wright to Fellowship Church in Liberty Hill 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: 10/12/07

Texas Tidbits

Childcare offered for BGCT annual meeting. Free childcare will be provided for messengers to the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting Oct. 29-30 in Amarillo. Care for children ages 2 months through 10 years will be offered at the north entrance of First Baptist Church at 1208 S. Tyler Street. First Baptist Church childcare providers are licensed by the state of Texas. All workers have been processed through background checks and received formal training in caring for children. The service will be offered Oct. 29 from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Oct. 30 from 6:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Advance reservations are required by calling Elaine Clark at (806) 373-2891, ext. 255 or via e-mail at elainec@fbc-Amarillo.org. Children will receive breakfast on Monday and Tuesday and lunch and dinner on Monday, with snacks and beverages available at all times.

CityReach West Texas scheduled. CityReach West Texas, scheduled immediately before and after the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting, Oct. 29-30 in Amarillo, provides Texas Baptists opportunities for hands-on involvement in missions. Projects include constructing a house with Habitat for Humanity, servant evangelism, prayerwalking and block parties. For more information on CityReach, call (888) 944-2400.

Canned food drive slated for BGCT. Baptist General Convention of Texas leaders are encouraging Texas Baptists to collect canned goods and bring them to the BGCT annual meeting in Amarillo. Items collected during the annual meeting will benefit church-based food ministries in West Texas. Monetary donations also will be accepted to support the hunger ministries. More than 62,000 people in the Amarillo area live near or below poverty level.

Texas religion reporters honored. Several Texas journalists were among the reporters who recently received recognition from their peers in the Religion Newswriters Association. Jeff Weiss of the Dallas Morning News received third-place honors in the Supple Writer of the Year category, Terri Jo Ryan of the Waco Tribune-Herald received second place Cassels Award honors for a newspaper with 50,000 circulation or less and Maria Arita of CBS Channel 11 in Dallas/Fort Worth was recognized in the short-form news broadcast category.

Baylor names university chaplain. Burt Burleson, pastor of DaySpring Baptist Church in Waco, has been named university chaplain at Baylor University. Burleson succeeds Byron Weathersbee, interim chaplain from August 2005 to May 2007, and Todd Lake, who served as Baylor’s chaplain from 1999 to 2005 before becoming vice president for spiritual development at Belmont University. Burleson earned his bachelor’s degree in sociology and business from Baylor in 1980, a master of divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1985 and his doctor of ministry degree from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in 1992. His previous experience includes church staff positions at Pioneer Drive Baptist Church in Abilene, Willow Meadows Baptist Church and Garden Oaks Baptist Church in Houston, and Lake Highlands Baptist Church in Dallas. He and his wife, Julie, have two children—Abby and Brandt.

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