2007 Archives
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It’s not easy being green
Posted: 9/29/07
It's not easy being green
By Hannah Elliott
Associated Baptist Press
This isn’t your mother’s environmentalism.
Footage of polar bears on shrinking glaciers and hummingbirds in sparse rainforests used to have a prominent place in films about the need to “go green.” But now some Christian environmentalists are engaging believers with a new message: Humans actually suffer the most when economic exploitation afflicts the environment.
09/29/2007 - By John Rutledge
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State Department reports Iraqi insurgency hurts religious freedom
Posted: 9/29/07
State Department reports Iraqi
insurgency hurts religious freedomBy Adelle Banks
Religion News Service
WASHINGTON (RNS)—The continuing insurgency in Iraq is significantly harming the freedom of worship in that country, the State Department said in its 2007 International Religious Freedom Report.
The recently released report lists Iraq among 22 countries it notes for either particular abuses or positive steps related to religious freedom.
09/29/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Texas Baptist Forum
Posted: 9/29/07
Texas Baptist Forum
Faith is central
Faith is whatever you center your life around. If it’s making money, then money is your faith. If you center your life on God and living his way, then God is your faith.
The first faith is idolatrous and leads to self-destruction. The second faith is true, for it is creative and builds life. Both are faith, for each is the organizing principle in someone’s life.
• Jump to online-only letters below Letters are welcomed. Send them to marvknox@baptiststandard.com; 250 words maximum. 
“It amazes me that Jesus could call a Matthew and a Simon both to be his disciples. Matthew was a tax collector, a conservative of the conservatives. Simon was a zealot, the liberal of the liberals. … They were farther apart than Ted Kennedy and Rush Limbaugh could ever dream of being. … What’s amazing is that you don’t find Jesus whispering a word about which one he thought was better. … Jesus is the lord of a transpolitical kingdom.”
Greg Boyd
Pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, Minn., speaking at a forum on ministers and politics sponsored by Christian Ethics Today (RNS)“In order to be an effective leader, you can’t just be president of the Christians. It insults our intelligence to assume that we would let difference separate us.”
T.D. Jakes
Dallas megachurch pastor, writing a letter to the editor in Time magazine in response to an article on Democrats and religion (RNS)But even true faith contains doubt. Take biblical Abraham, for example. He was certain he experienced a call from God. But he struggled with doubt about whether he was getting the call of God right. Scripture says that after Abraham experienced God’s call, “he went out from his homeland, Babylonia, to he knew not where.”
09/29/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Small church reaches nursing home residents
Posted: 9/29/07
Volunteers from Ephesus Baptist Church in Jewett lead a worship service for nursing home residents. Small church reaches nursing home residents
By George Henson
Staff Writer
EWETT—Worshippers tapped fingers and feet as they sang songs closest to their hearts—“I’ll Fly Away,” “I’ve Got a Mansion” and “I’m in the Gloryland Way.” A guitar, keyboard and tambourine accompanied a five-member choir.
The worship service filled with glory—and gusto—was in a nursing home.
09/29/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Texas Tidbits
Posted: 9/29/07
Texas Tidbits
Historical Society meeting set. The Texas Baptist Historical Society will hold its fall meeting at 10:30 a.m. Oct. 29, immediately prior to the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting. The society’s lunch meeting will be held in the Gilliland Education Center at the Globe-News Performing Arts Center, directly across from the Amarillo Convention Center. The agenda includes the election of officers, recognition of the history award winners, and a presentation by Terrell Blodgett from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas about Pat Neff, former governor of Texas, president of Baylor University and prominent Baptist layman. Cost is $10 per person, payable at the door. The reservation deadline is Oct. 22. To make reservations, contact the Texas Baptist Historical Society at (972) 331-2235 or Autumn.Hendon@bgct.org.
BGCT hotel block full; more housing options added. The block of 700 hotel rooms reserved by the Baptist General Convention of Texas for the BGCT annual meeting is full, but the convention has added additional housing options to the annual meeting website, www.bgct.org/annualmeeting.
09/29/2007 - By John Rutledge
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TOGETHER: Board made the responsible decision
Posted: 9/29/07
TOGETHER:
Board made the responsible decisionThe BGCT Executive Board faced the challenge this past week of dealing with a decrease in funds available next year to support our work together. To meet our 2008 budget, changes in benefits, spending and staff reductions must be addressed. The board did not want to approve a budget where 25 to 30 staff positions would be affected by those reductions. But after a great deal of very open discussion, they reluctantly—but responsibly—voted to recommend the budget to the annual meeting in Amarillo.
Executive Director
BGCT Executive Board
The finance subcommittee had been working with and examining options since August, and the Administration Support Committee met prior to the full board meeting. Both groups believe the way in which the budget addresses the reduction is the most appropriate option.
Some staff responsibilities will be reassigned, some tasks and roles combined and some jobs eliminated. Some employees will be eligible to retire, and some will be eligible for various benefit payouts per current policies. Everyone affected will receive a severance. As some begin searching for new opportunities, our human resources department will provide outplacement services to assist with resumes, Internet and job search access, and search strategies. The transition assistance being provided still does not make this task any easier for anyone involved, but it allows us to show how much we care and how much we appreciate their service.
We believe the end result of the changes will make us even move effective in using the missions and ministry dollars given by the churches which support the critical work of our staff with churches and the amazing work of our ministry and educational institutions.
09/29/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Venezuelan Baptists hit their stride, enter partnership with BGCT
Posted: 9/29/07
Members of Church at Brooks Hills in Birmingham, Ala., support the Venezuela mobile medical clinic with volunteers, games and food. The clinic is one of many ministries Texas Baptists can support in Venezuela. It is in need of food medical professionals, medicine and Christians to run games and build relationships with children. (Photos by John Hall/BGCT) Venezuelan Baptists hit their stride,
enter partnership with BGCTBy John Hall
Texas Baptist Communications
CARACAS, Venezuela—By age 50 or so, some people have become mired in mid-life crisis or start downshifting into pre-retirement gear. But Venezuelan Baptists are just hitting their stride.
The National Baptist Convention of Venezuela, which was started in 1951, is experiencing unprecedented growth. Last year, the nearly 500-church convention launched a strategic plan to double the number of churches in the convention by 2010. Venezuelan Baptists started 70 churches during the first year, and they hope to start another 70 by the end of 2007.
For more information about mission opportunities in Venezuela, call BGCT Texas Partnerships at (888) 244-9400. View a slideshow of photos from Venezuela.
Many existing congregations either are starting or are in the midst of construction projects in an effort to keep pace with growth. Often, the increase in membership is so rapid, Sunday school classes are forced to meet in half-constructed facilities.
09/29/2007 - By John Rutledge
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WorldconneX fund helps churches send and support their missionaries
Posted: 9/29/07
WorldconneX fund helps churches
send and support their missionariesBy Ken Camp
Managing Editor
WorldconneX, the missions network launched by the Baptist General Convention of Texas, is establishing a fund to help churches send out their own missionaries.
The WorldconneX board of directors voted to establish a church-sending mission fund. WorldconneX will receive designated contributions from churches and individuals that it will direct according to the donors’ instructions to support missions personnel deployed by missions-sending churches.
09/29/2007 - By John Rutledge
