2007 Archives
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Rich pastors not common, but not endangered species
Posted: 8/17/07
Rich pastors not common,
but not endangered speciesBy Matt Kennedy
Associated Baptist Press
DALLAS (ABP)—Success in many professions is expected to bring riches. With pastors, however, luxurious lifestyles traditionally are frowned upon. Some people have a hard time listening to sermons against greed and false idols from a pastor wearing a Rolex and a new Armani suit.
Nonetheless, the wealthy pastor is not an endangered species. The growth of megachurches, big book deals and media stardom have increased their number in recent years.
Joel Osteen discontinued receiving his $200,000 salary from Lakewood Church in Houston after his first book, Your Best Life Now, sold more than 4 million copies. Some sources have reported he could earn up to $13 million on the contract for his second book. (RNS photo/courtesy of Lakewood Church) 08/17/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Two years after Hurricane Rita, Southeast Texas still rebuilds
Posted: 8/17/07
Volunteers (left to right) Crystal Moody, Morgan McNew, Natalie Bagley and Victoria Waugh help paint a house as part of Nehemiah’s Vision. Two years after Hurricane Rita,
Southeast Texas still rebuildsBy Whitney Farr
Communications Intern
VIDOR—It sounds like a story from two years ago—victims of hurricane Rita receiving help from total strangers—but this is not an old newspaper.
For most Americans, the horrors of Rita have become a distant memory. But many Southeast Texas residents still live in the same nightmare as in the day the storm struck.
08/17/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Austrian students have Super Summer of service in Texas
Posted: 8/17/07
Austrian students have Super
Summer of service in TexasBy Jessica Dooley
Communications Intern
ABILENE—For the first time all day, students are quiet. They are clean and groomed, with only trace amounts of colored paint on their faces giving away an eventful afternoon. They stand and lift their hands as they sing praises to God.
Hours earlier, the high school and junior high students were playing in bird seed, marshmallows, syrup and a variety of sticky, slimy stuff.
East Texas Baptist University was a host campus for Super Summer, a school of evangelism conducted by the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Super Summer offers training opportunities for Christian young people interested in advancing their personal spiritual growth and learning more about how to share Christ with others. 08/17/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Texas Tidbits
Posted: 8/17/07
Texas Tidbits
Memorials committee seeks names. The Baptist General Convention of Texas at its annual meeting honors Texas Baptists who have died during the preceding year. The memorial committee invites Texas Baptists to identify individuals whose lives made a contribution to their churches and to the state. Call (214) 828-5348 or email debbie.moody@bgct.org before Oct. 1.
BGCT leadership leader takes seminary post. Reggie Thomas, director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas congregational leadership team, is leaving the Texas convention to head the Southern California campus of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary. BGCT Chief Operating Officer Ron Gunter will serve as interim director of the congregational leadership team until a new director is named. In other staff moves, Josue Valerio, director of the BGCT missions team, was named interim director of BGCT Border/Mexico Missions, filling the vacancy left when Dexton Shores moved to Buckner International.
08/17/2007 - By John Rutledge
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TOGETHER: Missions requires balanced approach
Posted: 8/17/07
TOGETHER:
Missions requires balanced approachMissions has changed. Churches no longer see missions as simply something a select few do while the churches provide the money and prayers. More and more church members are getting involved in missions themselves, and this is a powerful engine for kingdom advance, which I applaud.
I want our churches to do more direct missions, but I also want every church to remain committed to cooperative missions through the BGCT. There is a temptation for a church to lower its support for cooperative missions in order to fund efforts they know on a more personal basis. When churches do this, it can create a serious lack of support for cooperative missions.
Executive Director
BGCT Executive Board
Ironically, the motivation and encouragement for the increased emphasis on local and global efforts by a congregation often has come about because of the efforts of our convention. For example, our efforts to develop key mission churches by helping them call ministers of missions and to expose our churches to Partnership Missions opportunities in countries around the globe has created an unbelievable explosion of local-church involvement in missions.
In Texas, we can see the power of cooperative effort. Through the BGCT Cooperative Program, you support missionaries around the world, theological training for our future pastors and leaders, and church starting in Texas and throughout the United States. Last year, we started 204 churches in Texas. And we now have 103 cowboy churches—80 of them started since October 2004.
08/17/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Pastoral residency offers mentoring for young ministers
Posted: 8/17/07
Young ministers who have been through the pastoral residency program at Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas include (left to right) Jay Hogewood, Sean Allen, Amy Grizzle, Brad Jernberg, Ann Bell Worley, David King, Jake Hall and Andrew Daugherty. Not pictured is second-year resident Anne Jernberg. Pastoral residency offers
mentoring for young ministersBy Mark Wingfield
Special to the Baptist Standard
ALLAS—When a Baptist minister graduates from seminary or divinity school, what factors predict whether that person will succeed or fail in local church ministry?
Educational training plays a part, as does the personality of the congregation the minister serves. But according to data gathered by the Lilly Endowment, other intangibles play perhaps an even greater role in predicting whether that minister will remain in ministry five, 10 or 15 years down the road.
08/17/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Students want to serve God’s kingdom– not necessarily in the church
Posted: 8/17/07
Randall Maurer, professor of psychology and family ministries at Hardin-Simmons University, leads a discussion forum of (clockwise from left) Amanda Cutbirth, Ramundo Silva, Meredith Stone and Daniel Dotson. (Photos/courtesy of Hardin-Simmons University) Students want to serve God’s kingdom
– not necessarily in the churchBy Ken Camp
Managing Editor
College students who feel a calling into ministry passionately want to make a difference for God’s kingdom. But a significant number don’t believe the local-church setting is the place to do it, according to guidance directors for ministerial students at some Baptist schools.
“I think that for both positive and negative reasons, a lot of young people don’t see themselves settling into local-church ministry positions,” said Omer Hancock, professor of church ministry and director of in-service guidance at Hardin-Simmons University’s Logsdon School of Theology. “An increasing number of our students are gravitating to other areas—other expressions of ministry.”
See related articles:
• PASSING THE TORCH: Does pastoral transition have to be hard?
• Collaboration essential part of effective mentoring
• The church has a new pastor. When will it start to feel normal?
• Pastoral residency offers mentoring for young ministers
• Students want to serve God's kingdom' not necessarily in the church
08/17/2007 - By John Rutledge
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PASSING THE TORCH: Does pastoral transition have to be hard?
Posted: 8/17/07
PASSING THE TORCH:
Does pastoral transition have to be hard?By Hannah Elliott
Associated Baptist Press
When a longtime pastor leaves, succession can be sticky
When the only pastor an entire generation at a church has known leaves, there’s no set model for ensuring a smooth transition, experts say. The right way to do it at one time in a church’s history may be wrong at another time. And orchestrating a succession at a mega-church is much different than easing into one in a smaller community.
See related articles:
• PASSING THE TORCH: Does pastoral transition have to be hard?
• Collaboration essential part of effective mentoring
• The church has a new pastor. When will it start to feel normal?
• Pastoral residency offers mentoring for young ministers
• Students want to serve God's kingdom' not necessarily in the church
08/17/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Pentagon investigation faults generals for endorsing evangelical ministry
Posted: 8/17/07
Pentagon investigation faults generals
for endorsing evangelical ministryBy Robert Marus
ABP Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON (ABP)—A group of high-ranking Pentagon officials improperly endorsed and aided an evangelical Christian ministry, according to a Defense Department investigation recently made public.
The Department of Defense inspector general’s report was dated July 20 and released to the public by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. The watchdog group requested an investigation last year into a promotional video for Christian Embassy.
08/17/2007 - By John Rutledge
