Posted: 8/31/07

For 10 years, Christian Women’s
Job Corps has been changing lives

By Jessica Dooley

Communications Intern

Supporting a family can be hard when a person is unemployed, but it can be even harder to find the skills necessary for a decent-paying job. And without money to receive higher education or specialized training, learning those skills becomes almost impossible.

But Christian Women’s Job Corps and Christian Men’s Job Corps, make the process easier—teaching not only job skills, but also life skills in a Christian context.

The ministry started 10 years ago with an idea and a dream. After hearing disturbing facts and real life stories about women in poverty, national Woman’s Missionary Union took action.

San Antonio soon became a pilot program for Christian Women’s Job Corps, along with Chicago and South Carolina. Soon, other cities across Texas joined.

“I stand back in awe watching God’s people at work as they offer a gift of hope to those desiring to change their lives,” said Christine Hockin-Boyd, missions consultant for missions and ministry for Texas WMU. “I’m thankful for the leadership that serves and lives out God’s call to this exciting ministry. They truly are serving as missionaries throughout Texas.”

For 10 years, Christian Women’s Job Corps has helped women across the nation receive training for not just a job, but a new lease on life. In 2004, Christian Men’s Job Corps was launched to help men receive training as well.

The mission exists “to provide a Christian context in which women and men in need are equipped for life and employment; and a missions context in which women can help women and men can help men.”

Along with learning necessary skills such as computer training and parenting, participants also are encouraged spiritually.

“I came to get job training skills, but I think Bible study is part of what impacted my life the most,” a participant from Kerrville said.

Currently, there are more than 55 sites around Texas. The Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions makes Christian Women’s Job Corps and Christian Men’s Job Corps possible.

Each site includes a trained coordinator, and volunteers from local churches help with lunches, mentoring and other needs. Although each site runs differently, there are similarities.

The ministry revolves around eight key elements—certification training, advisory council, needs assessments, networking, covenants, evaluation, Bible study and a mentor for every participant.

The mentorship is an important element in the job-readiness program, and it is what gives the ministry its uniqueness.

“Each participant in the program is paired with a mentor—a mature Christian woman who agrees to keep close contact with her for at least a year,” Texas City Site Coordinator Lena Hair said. “I think that and the power of prayer are what make our program so different.”

Since most of the men and women have children, the sites also offer health classes that teach proper nutrition and exercise.

Through the past 10 years, participants’ lives have been changed. They have discovered self-worth, and they are encouraged daily by Christian women or men from their community. Many have gone on to earn their college degrees.

Christian Women’s Job Corps is seeking to broaden its national scope, and workers have trained potential site coordinators in Moldova, Mexico and Liberia.

But no matter where the location, the results are the same—women and men are experiencing Christ and learning a better approach for life.

“There is so much more to CWJC than equipping a woman with much- needed life and work skills,” said Jeane Law, former president of Texas WMU. “There is the presence of Christ’s love, embodied in all those who serve the participants. Lives are touched and changed for the better, and there is hope for the future.”

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

Posted: 8/31/07

Elizabeth Eckford, one of the Little Rock Nine, is pursued by a mob outside Little Rock’s Central High School. (UPI Photo/Library of Congress)

Baptists active on both sides in
the Little Rock integration battle

By Robert Marus

Associated Baptist Press

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (ABP)—The story of Lakeshore Drive Baptist Church in Little Rock, Ark., encapsulates the little-recounted role that white Baptists played during the Civil Rights Movement—on both sides.

The church owes its existence to the 1957-59 struggle to integrate Little Rock Central High School, when pro-integration members were kicked out of another congregation pastored by an outspoken segregationist. Dignitaries will gather in Little Rock Sept. 25 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Central High’s desegregation.

“It’s a unique church,” said Doyne Elder, Lakeshore Drive’s church historian. Ousted members founded University Baptist Church, located across the street from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. The church later changed its name to Lakeshore Drive.

White citizens rally at the Arkansas state capitol, protesting the integration of Central High School in Little Rock. (U.S. News & World Report Photo/Library of Congress)

Wesley Pruden was pastor of the congregation —Broadmoor Baptist—that ejected University Baptist’s founding members. He became one of the most vocal segregationist leaders in Little Rock during the month-long integration crisis in 1957. Pruden remained in the news through the ensuing turmoil of the 1958-59 school year, when Gov. Orval Faubus—a Baptist—ordered the city’s high schools closed in order to prevent them from operating on an integrated basis.

Ironically, Pruden’s church eventually folded. The University Baptist congregation then took over the old Broadmoor Baptist building. It continues to use the same property today.

Unlike many other desegregation battles of the era, the Little Rock crisis didn’t prominently feature African-American Baptist ministers.

Race: The Final Frontier • Race: The final frontier • Baptists active on both sides in the Little Rock integration battle • Opportunities, challenges confront increasingly multi-ethnic congregation • Minorities are flocking to multi-ethnic campus groups for Christian fellowship • Aging minister recalls price paid for recognizing God's image in all people • BOOKS: When All God's Children Get Together–A Memoir of Race and Baptists

The pastors of the Little Rock’s wealthiest and most prominent and churches and synagogues—including two of the city’s three largest Southern Baptist congregations—spoke out in favor of obeying federal court orders and maintaining law and order. But many pastors of smaller Southern Baptist churches and independent, fundamentalist Baptist congregations were far more outspoken in their defense of segregation.

The segregationists’ rhetoric was suffused with evangelical jargon. In archival news photos from a pro-segregation demonstration on the steps of the Arkansas State Capitol, protesters hold signs that say things like, “Stop the race-mixing march of the Anti-Christ!”

Historians and Baptists who were in Little Rock at the time agree courage in the face of committed segregationists was hard to find among many white leaders, including Christian ministers.

“There were segregationist preachers and they were very outspoken and in the press, and in the news often. Unfortunately, on the other side, I don’t think I could point to that many examples of strong, courageous white pastoral leadership, at least in Baptist circles,” said Larry Taylor, who recently retired as pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Alexandria, La.

Troops from the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division disperse a crowd in front of Little Rock’s Central High School. (Library of Congress)

Taylor was a junior at Central during the 1957-58 school year. He was there when nine African-American students—shepherded by local civil-rights activist Daisy Bates—successfully integrated the campus on Sept. 25, 1957.

“I have immense respect for the Little Rock Nine and for Daisy Bates—I think they were courageous, courageous people made of cactus and steel—otherwise they couldn’t have gotten through that,” Taylor said. “I wish I could have pointed to equally courageous people in the white community.”

But Taylor as well as historians pointed to a handful of Baptist leaders as prominent exceptions. One as Dale Cowling, pastor of Little Rock’s Second Baptist Church.

“The three largest Southern Baptist churches were within a couple of miles of the Central High area,” said Fred Williams, a University of Arkansas at Little Rock professor and a longtime member of Calvary Baptist Church in Little Rock. “But of those three churches, only Second made an effort … to get the congregation to go along with the idea” of integration.

One of the most prominent members of Second Baptist at the time was the late Rep. Brooks Hays, who had represented Little Rock for eight terms in the House of Representatives. In the early days of the crisis, he had worked as a mediator to try to end the standoff between Faubus and Eisenhower. After Faubus closed the schools, he continued to work to re-open them on an integrated basis.

Hays’ support for integration eventually cost him his job. In the 1958 election, a segregationist write-in candidate—Dale Alford—barely beat Hays in his bid for a ninth term in Congress.

During the crisis, Hays also served as president of the Southern Baptist Convention. In his address to the SBC annual meeting in 1959, Hays noted his recently unemployed status and asked his fellow Southern Baptists to consider living up to the denomination’s publicly expressed commitment to supporting integration. He said it especially was important for SBC missionaries to demonstrate that they represent a denomination that believes all people are created equal by God.

“We cannot export what we do not have, and if our Christian devotions here are not adequate, our missionaries cannot transmit the Christian message to unsaved masses abroad,” he said.

Other Baptists played less public—but crucial—roles in the crisis. Margaret Kolb, a longtime member of Pulaski Heights Baptist Church in Little Rock, served with the Women’s Emergency Committee to Open our Schools. In 1958, the women’s group stepped in when many white male business leaders would not, working to re-open Little Rock’s high schools on an integrated basis after the Faubus-ordered shutdown.

One place the Women’s Emergency Committee held meetings was in the Baptist Student Center at the University of Arkansas Medical School—a safe meeting place because Tom Logue, the Arkansas Baptist State Convention’s campus-ministry director, was an ardent integrationist.

In the fall of 1957, Logue led the students who came to the state’s Baptist Student Union annual convention to pass a resolution favoring integration—a subject the Arkansas Baptist convention conspicuously had avoided during its annual meeting a few weeks prior.

Lakeshore Drive Baptist Church continued to be a pacesetter congregation after the crisis that birthed it. It disbanded as University Baptist and reorganized as Lakeshore Drive in 1970 in a bid to regain membership in the Arkansas Baptist State Convention. The group had previously voted to unseat University Baptist’s messengers to a convention meeting because the church practiced open communion.

But congregations like Lakeshore and leaders like Hays and Cowling were the exceptions in white Baptist life during the civil-rights era rather than the rule.

“I have found myself for 50 years wishing that Baptists could get in on the front end of something significant instead of the back end,” said Taylor, the retired pastor and Central High graduate. “I’m still hoping and wishing for it.”

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

Posted: 8/31/07

Aging minister recalls price paid for
recognizing God’s image in all people

By Bill Webb

Word & Way

CHILLICOTHE, Mo.—When Norman Shands made a vow to God 65 years ago, he couldn’t have imagined that it would thrust him into the center of the Civil Rights Movement in Atlanta.

The vow—that he would view and treat every person as someone created in the image of God—contradicted the south Georgia native’s upbringing.

Bob Shands wrote a book in 2006 titled In My Father’s House: Lessons Learned in the Home of a Civil Rights Volunteer. It chronicles his father’s contributions bridging racial barriers and the impact those times had on him as a youngster.

“The process was a work of the grace of God because the only thing that can change prejudice that is ingrained from birth would be the grace of God,” Shands said in a recent interview at the Baptist Home in Chillicothe, Mo., where at 91 he occupies an independent-living apartment and is chaplain to aging Baptists.

The young minister’s concern over the matter culminated a year after graduation from Mercer University, where Shands was the part-time Baptist Student Union director. He was particularly moved during a spiritual focus week when Clarence Jordan of Koinonia Farms in Americus, Ga., told his own story and described his ministry.

Koinonia Farms ministered to the poor and reached across racial lines, and it drew considerable opposition—some of it violent—from people and groups with a racist bent.

Shands was deeply moved by what he heard from Jordan.

“I made a vow in private prayer with God that with God’s help I would spend the rest of my life, to the best of my ability and knowledge, treating every person, regardless of race or sex or class or whatever, as a person made in the image of God,” he recalled.

Following short stints as director of religious activities at Mercer and president of Limestone College in Gaffney, Ga., and five years as pastor of First Baptist Church, Spartanburg, S.C., Shands was called in 1953 as pastor of West End Baptist Church in Atlanta.

Like much of the South, Atlanta was being forced to deal with the race issue. Shands didn’t go out of his way to address it at first, but he didn’t shy away from it in his preaching and teaching either.

That all changed during the Georgia Baptist Convention annual meeting in the fall of 1956. Shands was a member of the convention’s four-man Social Service Commission, which brought a controversial report to messengers.

The report addressed the U.S. Supreme Court’s Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka decision in 1954 and the court’s order in 1955 to desegregate public schools. The commission called for Georgia Baptists to obey the court order and serve as agents to help make the transition to integration of the schools a peaceful one. It called for Christians and churches to proclaim that God intended the gospel for every person.

Race: The Final Frontier • Race: The final frontier • Baptists active on both sides in the Little Rock integration battle • Opportunities, challenges confront increasingly multi-ethnic congregation • Minorities are flocking to multi-ethnic campus groups for Christian fellowship • Aging minister recalls price paid for recognizing God's image in all people • BOOKS: When All God's Children Get Together–A Memoir of Race and Baptists

The convention rejected the report by a 3-1 margin after one of the four commission members brought a minority report and “Mr. Baptist”—Atlanta pastor Louie B. Newton— spoke against it.

Shands’ picture and a quote appeared in the Atlanta Journal and Constitution’s convention report the next day. The pastor’s stand and the resulting notoriety caused a stir among West End’s deacons and other members.

Deacon Chairman John Still visited Shands at home a few days later and asked how he should reply to other deacons who ask him what he thought about Shands and his stand on integration.

Shands responded, ‘Well, what have you been saying to them?’”

“I’ve been saying I don’t agree with him, but he’s my pastor, and I’m loyal to him as my pastor,” Still said.

At Shands’ suggestion, Still called a meeting to allow the deacons and their pastor to discuss the concerns.

“We had a meeting that wasn’t too harmonious,” Shands recalled with a smile. A former deacon chairman made a motion that they go on record before the congregation censuring the position their pastor had taken at the convention.

Tension in the room was high when Still told of his own preparation for the special called meeting. De-scribing himself as a Southerner in every way, Still said he had taken three days off work to study.

He picked up his Bible and read two passageshe had taught the boys in his Sunday school class. Shands vividly remembers what he said next: “Both of these passages say I’m not in accordance with the Scripture, so I want to resign my position as chairman of deacons.”

Amid calls of “no, no, you don’t need to resign,” Still broke down, turned the meeting over to someone else and went to another room. After Still composed himself and returned to the meeting, he had one more thing to say: “Now, you need to know that if you’re going to throw any rocks at this man, you throw them at me. I am going to be between you and him.”

Shands’ eyes reddened as he recalled the event and noted that Still’s stand defused the anger and likely kept him from being dismissed. The motion to censure was tabled.

The pastor discovered that while his stand at the convention brought opposition, it also drew interest and support from people who shared his concerns about human dignity and peaceful integration in Atlanta.

Shands encouraged dialogue and participated in meetings involving ministers and other leaders of various faith groups, and he participated in ongoing meetings between local white and black pastors, including one who would become a good friend, Martin Luther King Sr., pastor of Ebeneezer Baptist Church in Atlanta and the father of the martyred civil rights leader.

Shands became one of the original 80 signers of the Atlanta Ministers Manifesto, a full-page ad published in the Atlanta Journal and Constitution in late 1957. It affirmed freedom of speech, obeying the law, preserving public education, eradication of hatred between races, communication and the importance of prayer.

The Interdenominational Ministers Alliance of Atlanta, representing virtually every black church in Atlanta, issued a favorable response. The next year, 315 ministered signed a revised version of the Mani-festo.

Shands completed 10 years at West End Baptist Church and was called in 1963 as pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Kansas City, where he continued efforts at dialogue to help improve the racial climate. Later he returned to Southern Seminary, where he held various positions before retiring in 1980.

Shands doesn’t talk much about the intimidation he and his family experienced while in Atlanta. His son, Bob, recalls that when cars would slow or stop in front of their house, lights would be turned off, the children would be ordered away from the windows and told to crouch on the floor.

The Ku Klux Klan and other groups were active, and there was good reason to fear violence.

Hateful anonymous calls came to the house frequently. Very often, Shands’ wife, Catherine, answered them.

“I never felt that I was doing anything but preaching the gospel and standing for what Christ stood for with the universality of his invitation and affirming human dignity. That’s the way I feel about it today,” Shands maintains.

“To see changes in Christians who dared to go against the current have been satisfying to me, too.”

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

Posted: 8/31/07

TOGETHER:
Relevant denominations have a future

Many observers today raise serious questions about the future of denominations. Years ago, Baptists themselves were critical of denominations because they were so focused on autonomy of the local church that the idea of anything more than an association of churches seemed too cumbersome and restrictive. We began to work together, slowly and painfully, because of the birth of the modern missionary movement. William Carey went from England to India in 1793 under the conviction that God had called him to go preach and teach the gospel of Christ, and he depended on the churches for support. In the early 19th century, Luther Rice traveled on horseback up and down the Atlantic coast to raise support for missionaries Adoniram and Ann Judson. This awakened Baptists to the cause of missions. They began to see the need for cooperation in supporting the Judsons and calling out more missionaries.

Executive Director BGCT Executive Board

The Triennial Baptist Convention was the earliest attempt to bring Baptists together in a national body. But by 1845, this fragile cooperation ended when the Southern Baptist Convention was formed in Augusta, Ga. State conventions of Baptists began to develop to support missionaries, colleges, church planting, ministry to orphan children and other needs. And, in 1848, the first Texas state convention of Baptist churches was formed.

Through the years, denominations have provided an identity around valued biblical principles, common history and the opportunity for involvement in a network of sister congregations. They also encourage the flow of influence. The churches influence one another and the denomination, and the denomination influences the local churches and helps the influence of the local church to have broader impact.

The idea that we are moving into a “post-denominational” age is not so frightening to Texas Baptists as it might be to others. Lyle Schaller, who has worked with churches of all denominations as a pioneer church consultant, said only the denominations that figure out how to start new churches, train and equip effective leaders, and work together to meet human needs are going to survive. That, of course, is what the BGCT has been about since the beginning. But we do face enormous challenges because many of our churches have neglected to keep fully informed about the missions, evangelism, education and benevolent ministries of the BGCT. You can go to our website— www.bgct.org—and see for yourself the ways you are making a difference in people’s lives for Christ every week with the offerings you give through the BGCT Cooperative Program.

Some significant signs may point to a decrease in the influence of denominations in the Christian enterprise, but I believe our Texas Baptist churches are in an enviable place. Our churches know their convention cares for them, is committed to helping them be effective, provides a strong network of churches that encourages unity and makes possible the synergy of effective cooperation. We do more together than we could alone. 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.

Storylist for week of 9/03/07

TAKE ME TO: Top Story |  Texas |  Opinion |  Baptists |  Faith & Culture |  Book Reviews |  Classifieds  |  Departments  |  Bible Study



• UMHB ‘Welcome Week' includes community service



• Race: The final frontier


• Baptists mark centennial of social work education for churches

• BGCT sends $20,000 to help Minnesota flood victims

• Church swims upstream by moving downtown

• Combined youth choirs ‘converge' on San Marcos

• On the Move

• Around the State

• Texas Tidbits

Special Report: Race, The Final Frontier
• Race: The final frontier

• Baptists active on both sides in the Little Rock integration battle

• Opportunities, challenges confront increasingly multi-ethnic congregation

• Minorities are flocking to multi-ethnic campus groups for Christian fellowship

• Aging minister recalls price paid for recognizing God's image in all people

• BOOKS: When All God's Children Get Together ‘A Memoir of Race and Baptists'


• North Carolina WMU decides to leave convention's control

• Congregations aid flooded church in Oklahoma

• Louisiana College to open law school named for SBC fundamentalist leader

• For 10 years, Christian Women's Job Corps has been changing lives

• Illinois church knowingly placed convicted sex offender in pulpit

• Baptist Briefs


• Investors with moral agenda are bullish on faith-based mutual funds

• Court says Seattle-area school can deny charter to Bible club

• Faith Digest

• Ethicists debate morality of enhancing genetics

• New forum's ambitious goal—get the world's Christians talking


• Book Reviews

• BOOKS: When All God's Children Get Together ‘A Memoir of Race and Baptists'


• Classified Ads

• Cartoon

• Around the State

• Texas Baptist Forum


• EDITORIAL: We can bridge the chasm of race

• DOWN HOME: You-know-what will break your heart

• TOGETHER: Relevant denominations have a future

• 2nd Opinion: Social workers & Christ's mission

• RIGHT or WRONG? Church incorporation

• Texas Baptist Forum

• Cybercolumn by Berry D. Simpson: Playing along



• BaptistWay Bible Series for September2: Connecting the dots

• Bible Studies for Life Series for Sept. 2: Meeting Cultural Challenges

• Explore the Bible Series for September 2: God's unique son

• BaptistWay Bible Series for September 9: No excuses, no exceptions

• Bible Studies for Life Series for Sept. 9: Feeling anxious about the future

• Explore the Bible Series for September 9: God's sinless son


Previously Posted
• Old First Orange parsonage burns

• Hardin-Simmons pulls out of magazine's ranking race

• Activists urged to focus on future, not fundamentalism

• Irving church becomes missions learning lab for students

• Discipline-specific missions help Baylor students apply learning to life

• Summer missions moves UMHB students out of ‘comfort zones'

• Wayland athletes share basketball tips, gospel message in Europe

• ETBU students, alum teach summer classes in India

• The death of a Lubbock church sparks new life

• Texas Baptist Men offer relief to Erin victims

• Watch a slideshow of photos from summer missionaries

• Student missionaries discover Christ's presence while cleaning toilets

• Buckner collects humanitarian aid for earthquake victims in Peru

• Pentagon investigation faults generals for endorsing evangelical ministry


• See articles from the previous 8/20/07 issue here.

Posted: 8/31/07

Baptist philanthropist Eula Mae Baugh dies

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

Less than six months following her husband’s death, prominent Texas Baptist philanthropist Eula Mae Baugh died Aug. 29 after suffering a stroke. She was 89.

Baugh and her husband John, who died March 5, are known for their support of Baptist efforts, including those of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, Baylor University, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Baptist University of the Americas, Houston Baptist University, Baptist Child & Family Services and Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty.

“Mrs. Baugh was a great Christian raised in a pastor’s home,” said BGCT Executive Director Charles Wade. “She never lost her love for helping churches grow. She was a true partner with her husband John in building their business and in growing their churches and in her role as wife and mother. She was truly an example of great Baptist women who have given so much to help our churches and our institutions touch the lives of people across Texas and the world.”

The Baughs were awarded the title Alumnus Honoris Causa, the highest Baylor honor to non-alumni. The couple was among the founding benefactors of Baylor’s Truett Theological Seminary, which began in fall 1994 with 51 students enrolled in classes at First Baptist Church in Waco. In 1997, the Baughs provided the lead gift to construct a permanent home for Truett Seminary.

On Jan. 14, 2002, the 64,000-square-foot Baugh-Reynolds Campus of Truett Seminary held its first classes, and now encompasses a student body of more than 380 students.

In 1991, the Baughs received one of Baylor’s most distinguished awards—the Founders Medallion—which is reserved for men and women whose service and contributions have been unusually significant to the life and future of the university. In addition, the Baughs were the inaugural recipients of a custom Baylor stained-glass hanging, which is awarded at the highest level of the Medallion Fellowship.

In 1989, the Baughs established the John F. Baugh Center for Entrepreneurship in the Hankamer School of Business, which supports the theory of family-owned business. The Baugh Center assists entrepreneurial efforts through the FastTrac Entrepreneurial Training Program, the Innovation Evaluation Program and the Institute for Family Business.

The Baughs have donated funds toward more than 20 programs and projects at Baylor throughout the years, including the School of Music and School of Social Work, endowed scholarships, academic programs, facilities such as the Glennis McCrary Music Building and the McLane Student Life Center, athletic programs, and various memorial and tribute funds in honor of Baylor faculty members.

“Eula Mae Baugh will be fondly remembered at Baylor University for her gracious and gentle spirit and her deep commitment to her family and her Christian faith,” said Baylor President John Lilley. “Her husband once said that his one distinction was being married to Eula Mae. From their more than 70-year marriage to their faithful support of Baylor, the Baugh’s dedication to the things they found important sets a good example for us as we continue to pursue excellence in Baptist higher education.”

BUA’s new campus is set to be called the Baugh Family Campus in honor of the family’s commitment to the school.

The Texas Baptist Missions Foundation honored the Baughs with the Pioneer Award. The Eula Mae Baugh Student Center continues serving the Houston Baptist University student body.

“This very day I visited the Baugh Student Center and saw a wonderful place that is a blessing for our students. It reflects the love and compassion of Eula Mae Baugh and will for years to come,” said HBU President Robert Sloan.

Brent Walker, Baptist Joint Committee executive director, expressed grief over Baugh’s passing, nad he indicated her dedication to the Baptist Joint Committee made a difference in lives across the country.

“We are saddened to learn of the death of Mrs. Baugh,” he said. “A godly woman, wife and mother, she was the lifeblood of the Baugh family. She and her late husband, John, and her daughter, Babs, long have been folks who supported financially those things they held dear. Certainly, the Baugh family’s ardent support of the BJC has bolstered the cause of religious liberty. She now, again, joins her husband of seven decades, and God.”

Baugh taught Sunday School classes for more than 60 years, spending as many as 25 hours a week preparing each lesson. She taught classes of college students, youth, singles and adults.

When the BGCT entered into a partnership with Baptists in Brazil, the Baughs connected with a pastor in Sao Paola who was trying to build a church. They provided the funds for the building materials, while the members of the church provided the labor. They traveled at least twice to Brazil to see the progress, and John Baugh spoke at the “inauguration.” There is a plaque on the Sunday school building thanking the Baughs for their help.

“Mrs. Baugh, along with her husband, found so many ways to serve the Lord,” said Bill Arnold, president of the Texas Baptist Missions Foundation. “Whether through teaching in Sunday School, supporting their church or helping with Baptists causes around the world, she honored her Lord every day.”

Baugh took on projects and helped people like it was her daily duty. She got large trucks filled with food delivered to hungry people. She organized her Sunday school class to clean all the crystal chandeliers in the sanctuary. She saved labels from soup cans for a children’s home.

Funeral services will be at 2 p.m., Sept. 1 at Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston. The services will be handled by George H. Lewis Funeral Home at 1010 Bering. Visitation will be Saturday morning from 9 to 11 a.m. at the funeral home.

Memorials may be made to the Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation, BCFS, Baylor University Alumni Association or Truett Seminary.

Baugh is survived by her daughter, Babs Baugh and her husband, John Jarrett of San Antonio; her granddaughter Jackie Moore and her husband, Kim Moore of San Antonio; her granddaughter Julie Ortiz and her husband, Carlos Ortiz of Austin; her great grandchildren Sterling, Katie and Jake Moore and Breck and Alexa Mae Ortiz, and her brother and three sisters.

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

osted: 8/31/07

CYBER COLUMN:
Playing along

My young friend Jonathan started kindergarten this year. He was so excited; he wore his new backpack around the house, with his new lunchbox and school supplies inside, for days and days. And he wore his new school shoes, which he wasn’t allowed to wear outside the house but could wear inside, even with his pajamas. The young man had no idea what school would be like, but he was ready to get started. He didn’t know what it was, but he was ready.

When I heard this story about Jonathan, I wondered if his sense of anticipation and joy is what Jesus meant when he said we should love him like a child. Matthew 18:4 says: “Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Most of us grownups are too proud and, well, grown up, to show the excitement and anticipation of a young boy looking forward to kindergarten.

Berry D. Simpson

Maybe it’s because we’ve looked forward to too many things that eventually turned out not as much fun as we thought. Is it inevitable that we’ll lose the wonder and imagination and trust that comes with childhood?

During our recent weekend in California, I was fortunate to run (walk) along the oceanfront every morning for an hour and a half. My route took me past a crowd of middle-aged surfers, all clad in well-worn black wetsuits. They didn’t seem like hippies, or Beach Boys, but appeared instead to be professionals of some sort. And they were all having a great time, cheering each other on, riding the waves, hanging ten, and all that.

I saw men and women riding bicycles with surfboard carriers attached to one side. I saw two men carrying surfboards on their backs in special backpacks. We saw one beautiful Lexus sedan with a surfboard strapped on top. (Cyndi said, “Don’t expect to ever see a surfboard on top of my Lexus, whenever I get one.”) They carried those surfboards with the anticipation and joy of Jonathan wearing his backpack. All they wanted to do was play in the water. “Let’s go now,” is what their faces said. “I’m ready!”

In the evenings, from our hotel room, via the Internet, Cyndi was working on her school bulletin board—the one in the main hallway beside the school office that for some reason has fallen into her realm of responsibility through the years. Each year, she puts photos of every teacher and staff on the bulletin board and includes interesting details about their lives.

This year, Cyndi asked each person to list three dreams—as in, three places they dream of going someday, or three things they want to do, or people they want to meet, if time and money were no object. These were Cyndi’s choices: (1) hike Mount Kilimanjaro on a nine-day guided trip, with family, (2) study serious ballroom dancing for a year and (3) take a Mediterranean cruise. Since I couldn’t let her play all by herself, I listed three for myself: (1) hike the Appalachian Trail, (2) take a year and study jazz trombone and (3) do an extended bicycle tour of New England or Scotland or England. A curious thing about this three-dream game is that some people simply won’t play along. They gave up dreaming years ago. It’s too bad they’ve forgotten how to play. My third California morning out along the oceanfront I listened to a podcast called “Phedippidations” about runner and writer and physician, George Sheehan. He was an early influence on me. I first read him in the fall of 1980 while at a two-week school on drilling and completion at Duncan, Okla.

Since then, I’ve read every book he wrote. I keep a framed photo of Dr. Sheehan in my office; he’s sitting at an old manual typewriter, obviously fresh from his run, typing out his daily thoughts. It’s one of my dreams about myself. He’s one of the people I want to be. In his book This Running Life, Sheehan writes: “I discovered that play is an attitude as well as an action. That action is, of course, essential. Play must be a total activity, a purifying discipline that uses the body with passion and intensity and absorption. Without a playful attitude, work is labor, sex is lust, and religion is rules. But with play, work becomes craft, sex becomes love, and religion becomes the freedom to be a child in the kingdom.”

We grownups realize not every day in young Jonathan’s year of kindergarten will be fun or safe or easy. We also know that following God will not always be fun or safe or easy. But can we still find a sense of play, or anticipation? I hope so.

Berry Simpson, a Sunday school teacher at First Baptist Church in Midland, is a petroleum engineer, writer, runner and member of the city council in Midland. You can contact him through e-mail at berry@stonefoot.org.

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

Posted: 8/31/07

On the Move

• Logan Cummings to Knobbs Springs Church in McDade as intentional interim pastor.

• Trevor Dickson to Crescent Heights Church in Abilene as minister of music.

• David Falkenburg to Happy Hill Church in Alvarado as pastor.

• Frisco Formaggio to East-side Church in Comanche as minister to students.

• Walt Hammond has re-signed as minister to youth at Rocky Creek Church in Lake Brownwood.

• T.J. Lewis to Cana Church in Burleson as minister of discipleship/students.

• Robert Nixon to Bono Church in Godley as minister of youth, where he had been interim.

• Darla Richardson to Cres-cent Heights Church in Abilene as minister of community ministries.

• Jim Wells to First Church in Cresson as pastor.

• Dennis Williams to North-ridge Church in Early 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: 8/31/07

RIGHT or WRONG?
Church incorporation

Our church is newly organized. We’ve been advised to incorporate and to adopt a constitution and bylaws. This all seems like a lot of work, and it might negatively impact what we are trying to do. What’s the validity of this advice?

Incorporating and adopting a constitution and bylaws must seem like the very last things you would want to spend time working on. But the truth is that churches in present-day America cannot survive long without the protection and privileges provided by incorporation. By incorporating, your church will become a legal entity and will be registered with the government, enabling your church to open a bank account, obtain insurance and enter into legal agreements, including contracts with builders or service providers. Incorporating also allows the church to register with the IRS and obtain an Employer Identification Number. Finally, incorporation shields members of your new church from personal liability should some tragedy occur or the church face a lawsuit.

Every church needs structure and organization. Mostly likely, the members of your new church have gathered numerous times and discussed goals for this new church, dreams for its future and practical ways of meeting those goals and making those dreams a reality. Your constitution and bylaws, in some ways, are simply the documented version of those discussions. Your discussions probably considered denominational affiliation on the regional, state and national levels. If you have made decisions about what form that affiliation will take, this information should become part of your documents. Church governance also should be addressed, including the process for making major decisions and matters surrounding personnel, church leaders and finances. Specifying church governance in writing helps provide security and stability for a new church.

Another item to include is a statement of beliefs held commonly by those who have formed the church. Working on such a statement will motivate your church to search the Scriptures, read Baptist confessions of faith, study Baptist history and likely decide together what the core beliefs you as a community of faith will embrace. And finally, because all churches need flexibility, make sure to include instructions for amending the constitution and bylaws.

Gathering all this information and putting it in formal documents does seem like a lot of work, but help is available. Contact other churches, both new churches like yours and long-established churches, and ask for copies of their constitutions and bylaws. Use those documents as a guide. Go online and check the numerous websites that offer sample church constitutions and bylaws. The bottom line is that the advice you received is not only valid, it is invaluable.

Pamela R. Durso, associate executive director

Baptist History & Heritage Society, Atlanta, Ga.

Right or Wrong? is sponsored by the T.B. Maston Chair of Christian Ethics at Hardin-Simmons University's Logsdon School of Theology. Send your questions about how to apply your faith to btillman@hsutx.edu.

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

Posted: 8/30/07

Listening sessions remind search
committee of Texas Baptists’ diversity

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

DALLAS—Listening sessions across the state helped the Baptist General Convention of Texas executive director search committee understand the diversity of Texas Baptists.

Ken Hugghins, chairman of the search committee, indicated the group heard a variety of viewpoints during a series of listening sessions. Texas Baptists include many ethnicities, socio-economic levels, education levels and political vantage points, he noted.

“The ‘You Tell Us’ sessions have been tremendously helpful for the committee,” he said. “We have all learned more about Texas Baptists than any of us knew.”

In its Aug. 27 meeting, the committee discussed what members heard during listening sessions and began honing the characteristics they are looking for in the next BGCT executive director.

Committee members will begin seriously discussing names during their Sept. 14 meeting. Hugghins encouraged Texas Baptists to submit letters of recommendation and resumes for people who would be willing to serve as the next BGCT executive director.

Hugghins remains doubtful the committee will nominate someone for the next scheduled BGCT Executive Board meeting. The group remains focused on discovering who God would like to serve in the position.

“We all want to find the right person, God’s person.”

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

Posted: 8/31/07

Around the State

• Donald Forrester has been named vice president for programs and services for Children at Heart Ministries, an agency of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. He previously was executive director of STARRY, Children at Heart’s foster care, counseling and emergency shelter ministry, based in Round Rock. He also has been pastor of Henly Church in Henly 27 years.

• Dallas Baptist University has announced the creation of the Piper Endowed Chair of Missions. The chair is made possible by a challenge grant from Paul and Shirley Piper through the Piper family’s Christ is Our Salvation Foundation. The foundation has pledged $100,000 per year for the next five years if the university raises $500,000 over the next five years for this endowed chair. In addition, the foundation has given a $200,000 grant for ministerial student scholarships in the Cook Graduate School of Leadership.

Daniel Sanchez, professor of missions at Southwestern Seminary and director of the seminary’s Scarborough Institute of Church Planting and Growth, was presented with the North American Mission Board’s distinguished service award for church planting. A Howard Payne University graduate, he and his wife, Carmen, are parents of three children. The award was presented by NAMB President Geoff Hammond.

• Wayland University presented degrees to 24 students in its first group to graduate from the master of arts in counseling program started two years ago. The program now boasts 150 students.

• Buckner Children and Family Services has announced changes to its executive leadership team. Victor Upton has been named vice president of missions resource. Randy Daniels has been promoted to vice president of global initiatives. Felipe Garza has been tapped as vice president for ministry and missions. Melissa Opheim now is director of strategic planning.

• Baylor University conferred degrees on nearly 500 graduates during summer commencement exercises and presented two special awards. The Abner V. McCall Humanitarian Award was presented to Texas Baptist Men, marking the first time the award has been presented to an organization. U.S. District Judge Sidney Fitzwater was presented the Price Daniel Distinguished Public Service Award.

• Several changes have been announced to the organizational structure of Howard Payne University. Donnie Auvenshine, vice president for academic affairs the last five years, has been named dean and a professor in the school of Christian studies. Justin Murphy has been appointed acting dean of the school of humanities. Gary Gramling has been named director of the graduate program in youth ministry, which he has served in an interim capacity.

• New faculty at Hardin-Simmons University include Melanie Bullock, associate professor of counseling and human development; Peggy Dean Johndrow, assistant professor of nursing; Edward Sim, associate professor of information systems; Steven Stogsdill, assistant professor of communications; Rodney Taylor, assistant professor of theology; and Carol Woodfin, associate professor of history.

• Vivian Camacho has been named director of alumni relations at Houston Baptist University.

Anniversaries

• First Church in Byers, 100th, Sept. 8-9. Festivities begin at 7:30 a.m. Saturday with breakfast and fellowship. A musical program and ice cream social will be held in the afternoon. Sunday will begin with services at 9:45 a.m. and continue through a lunch and afternoon service. Former pastors and staff are expected to attend. For more information, call (940) 524-3248. Ken Johanon is pastor.

• First Church in North Zulch, 100th, Sept. 15-16. A barbecue will be held at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, with services at 2 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Sunday will have a 12:30 p.m. meal, with services at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. David Peterson is pastor.

• Parkway Church in Houston, 30th, Sept. 30. The morning worship service will be followed by a lunch and an afternoon service of music and worship. Nick Van is interim pastor.

• First Church in Lake Worth, 75th, Sept. 30. George Dixon will be the keynote speaker in the morning service. A history room with photos recalling the church’s history also will be available. Tim Dahl is pastor.

Retiring

• Lanny Allen, as minister of music at First Church in Amarillo, Aug. 12. He served the church 28 years, and has been in ministry 47 years. He previoustly served at First churches in Lamesa and San Antonio.

Deaths

• Roy Lambert, 87, June 26 in Fort Worth. A graduate of Howard Payne University, he was pastor of churches in Missouri, Arkansas and Texas, including South Fort Worth Church in Fort Worth and First Church in Santa Rosa. He served with the Baptist General Convention of Texas as director of direct missions five years, and with Golden Triangle Association 15 years, retiring in 1985. He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Bess; sons, Joe and Nelson; daughters, Jeanie Williamson and Maritia Blundell; 10 grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.

• Billie Lou Tone, July 31 in San Antonio. She was the wife of Pastor Gene Tone 53 years. He is presently pastor of Cibolo Valley Church in Cibolo. She was a Sunday school teacher and choir member, and taught sign language and many church training courses. She had developed a homebound ministry at Cibolo Valley. She worked 20 years as a social worker for the Texas Department of Human Services. She is survived by her husband; daughters, Candy Powell, Melody Bamburg and Chere Tone; son, Timothy; four grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

• Gene Shelburne, 82, Aug. 19 in Midland. A Hardin-Simmons University graduate, he owned and operated City Transfer and Storage in Midland 50 years. He was a past president of the both the Lion’s Club and the Midland chapter of Gideons International. He was a charter member of Crestview Church in Midland, where he served as a deacon, Sunday school director and teacher, and as a member of every pastor search committee in the church’s 53-year history. He was preceded in death by his granddaughter, Cherie. He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Ruth; sons, Paul, Richard and Kevin; sisters, Dorothy Pattison, Faye Kerr and Lois Wallace; eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Events

• Mimosa Lane Church in Mesquite will hold a benefit car and bike show to benefit the Texas Baptist Men disaster relief fund Oct. 6 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. A craft fair also be held. For more information, call (972) 270-4888. Rocky Pope is pastor.

• Meadowbrook Church in Robinson will hold a commissioning service for True Course Ministries Sept. 9. Waco Regional Baptist Network Executive Director David Hardage will attend, as will Ron Cook, director of the doctor of ministry program at Truett Seminary. Michael Godfrey is executive director of True Course Ministries, which seeks to develop mentoring relationships between pastors. Cary Killough is pastor.

• Acton Church in Acton will celebrate the completion of renovations and the opening of a new sanctuary with a dedication service Sept. 23 at 10:15 a.m. A catered meal will follow the service. Glenn Ward is pastor.

Ordained

• David Hollowell, Richard Rutherford and Miles Tucker as deacons at First Church in Jefferson.

• Lawrence Maynard and Betty Law as deacons at Gambrell Street Church in Fort Worth as deacons.

Revivals

• First Church, North Zulch; Sept. 15-16; evangelist, Steven Smith; music, Russell Welch; pastor, David Peterson.

• Calvary Church, Cuero; Sept. 16-19; evangelist, David Parks; pastor, Bill Gleason.

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

Posted: 8/31/07

Book Reviews

How Do You Know He’s Real? by Amy Hammond Hagberg (Destiny Image Publishers)

Unable to escape the haunting question asked her daughter by another teenager, Amy Hagberg has written a very interesting book that responds to this universal question. Instead of theological arguments and apologetics, the book is filled with 34 celebrity testimonies regarding personal life experiences with God. The list of witnesses includes actors, actresses, a beauty queen, music stars of every category and athletes. An additional bonus is the author’s testimony at the beginning of the book. It alone makes the book worth reading. 

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

An interesting feature found in the book is a list of 82 topics and issues we face in life. The author then lists the celebrities whose testimonies relate to that topic, such as grace: Charlie Daniels, Gloria Gaynor, Ken Hensley, Heather Powers, Ricky Skaggs, Steve Stevens and Zoro. The testimonies reveal how God’s reality was experienced in the midst of their lives while struggling with that particular battle and/or dilemma.

How Do You Know He Is Real? is an easy book to read, a book of inspiration and encouragement, a book worth giving to another, and one you are glad to own.

Randall Scott, pastor

Immanuel Baptist Church, Paris

Breaking Free by Beth Moore (B&H Books)

Many Christian women struggle with a past, which can hinder their relationship with the Lord. They desire to have a close walk with God, but obstacles are often in the way.

Best-selling author Beth Moore helps lead readers on a journey to overcome the things holding them captive in Breaking Free.

Moore holds the readers hand as they walk through the valley together toward freedom in Christ. The reader feels as though she is on this journey with a friend through the sincerity and encouragement of Moore.

The study allows readers to discover parts of themselves yearning for healing only found in the love of their Heavenly Father. Through forgiveness and strength, the shackles will be lifted and hearts will begin to mend, Moore teaches. If the reader will take an honest, in-depth look into her life, she can achieve a place of victory.

This book offers reflection, healing and growth. As the bonds holding the reader captive begin to break, God will begin to fill in the holes left behind, Moore reveals. He will fill these places with his love, and the reader will find a new confidence resting in his arms.

Rebekah Hardage, communications intern

Waco

Heroes and Villains by Mike Alsford (Baylor University Press)

Why is Superman considered a hero? Why is Darth Vader a villain? Comic book enthusiasts and sci-fi followers know the stories, but is there something more that helps define the line between icons of good and evil? In Heroes and Villains, Mike Alsford explores the philosophical backbone behind hero and villain archetypes using contemporary media.

Consider this book to be a primer on some classical philosophical concepts with Batman, Gandalf and the Borg as illustrations. Alsford tackles the literary concepts of heroism and villainy as a way of considering our society’s ethical compass. The book is not very long (158 pages), but is packed tightly with references to classical philosophers like Plato, Nietzsche and Bertrand Russell, to name a few.

For people interested in these literary and philosophical concepts, this is a good read. Just beware— Heroes and Villains is not the same as a stroll through a comic store.

Scott Higginbotham, youth minister

First Baptist Church

Lampasas

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