Posted: 8/03/07

Around the State

• Brian Carter has been presented the Douglas MacArthur Freedom Medal by Howard Payne University. The medal is awarded to individuals for their role in preserving Judeo-Christian values, Western heritage and the free enterprise system. Carter, a graduate of HPU’s Academy of Freedom program, was chosen to receive the award in honor of his service in the Marine Corps, including a recent tour of duty in Iraq, according to Justin Murphy, director of the Academy of Freedom.

• The Baylor Board of Regents has approved formation of the Baylor Advanced Research Institute. It will provide faculty with industrially funded research opportunities, student internships and graduate faculty funding to meet the scientific challenges of the future. The institute’s goal is to narrow the gap between discoveries in Baylor’s research laboratories and their practical application in industry.

• Dallas Baptist University has announced additions to its faculty. Included are Joe Cook, assistant professor of counseling; Scott Jeffries, assistant professor of library science and reference librarian; Caia McCullar, professor of music; Amie Sarker, assistant professor of education; and Stephen Stookey, professor of Christian history and leadership studies.

• Ted Barnes has been named dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.

• Candace Desrosiers has been named director of university events and conferences at Houston Baptist University.

Joel and Angela Jolley
Truman and Becky Oakley

• Two couples with Texas ties were among the 84 missionaries appointed recently by the International Mission Board. Joel and Angela Jolley will serve in western Europe as church starters. Both attended Dallas Baptist University. He was pastor of Iglesia Nueva Vida in Irving from 2003 until early this year. Oak View Church in Irving is their home church. They have two children—Elizabeth, 8, and Abigail, 3. Truman and Becky Oakley will serve in central, eastern and southern Africa as church starters. He previously served as minister of youth at First Church in Post and Northside Church in Weatherford. She directed the mother’s day out programs at Northside Church in Weatherford and First Church in Canton. The Canton church is their home church. They have two children—Samantha, 10, and Truman, 5.

Anniversaries

• Brian Hill, fifth, as minister of education at First Church in Levelland, July 29.

• Jack Chelf, fifth, as pastor of First Church in Rockdale, Aug. 11.

• Emmanuel Church in Houston, 100th, Aug. 19. A time of fellowship will begin at 10 a.m., and the worship service will begin at 10:45 a.m. An unveiling and dedication of an official Texas historical marker will follow. A lunch also is planned. For more information, call (713) 869-1786. Arlis Fuller and Raul Hidalgo are copastors.

• First Church in Mineral Wells, 125th, Sept. 15-16. A reception and a viewing of historical displays will be held Saturday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Included is a collection of photographs and memorabilia of weddings held throughout the history of the church. Sunday morning’s worship service will be followed by a catered lunch. Tickets for the lunch are $8.50 for adults and $4.25 for children 10 years old and younger. To purchase tickets to the lunch or for more information, call (940) 325-2523. Mark Bumpus is pastor.

Retiring

• Paul Wheelus, as pastor of Country Chapel in Denison, May 6. He served the church six years and was in the ministry 60 years. He also was pastor of North Park Church in Sherman, First Church in Brenham, First Church in Fairview, and Bounds Church in Powderly, as well as churches in Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. He and his wife, Monnie Marie, live in Sherman.

• Harold Cook, as director of missions of FIRM Area, where he has served 15 years, Aug. 31. Among churches he served as pastor are First Church in Taylor, where he also had a 15-year tenure, and First Church in Godley. A celebration of his ministry is planned Sept. 8, beginning at noon at First Church in Cameron with a catered meal. The cost of the meal is $7 and reservations are required. A general reception will follow at 1:30 p.m. To make reservations, call (254) 697-6505.

Deaths

• Ralph Caffey, 84, July 12 in Midland. He was licensed and ordained to the ministry at First Church in Trent in 1951. His ministry spanned 45 years and 15 full-time pastorates plus numerous interim pastorates in West Texas, California and North Dakota. He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Ladie Fred; daughters, Linda Russell, Dianne Haun and Deborah Heath; seven grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren.

• George Oakes, 93, July 13 in Dallas. Oakes was a missionary to Brazil from 1951 to 1979. After returning from South America, he served as associate pastor at Cockrell Hill Church in Dallas. He is survived by his wife of 51 years, Dorothy; sons, Philip and Tim; and four grandchildren.

• William Clardy, 50, July 24 at Lost Maples State Natural Area near Vanderpool. He died after being struck by lightning while hiking with two of his sons. Both his sons also suffered injuries, but his 18-year-old son, Andrew, managed to secure help. Clardy was pastor of Grace Fellowship Church in San Antonio, where he had served three years. Clardy had retired from the Air Force and formerly was associate pastor of Crestview Church in Midland. He is survived by his wife, Tawnya; sons, William, Andrew and Stephen; mother, Alice; and brothers, David and Mark.

Events

• First Church in Howe has commissioned Jack and Sondra Leavenworth as Mission Service Corps volunteers. Roger Tidwell is pastor.

• Blake Bolerjack will perform at First Church in Carrollton Aug. 19 at 6 p.m. Songs will range from gospel to contemporary. Admission is free. Brent Taylor is pastor.

• The Franz Family, a bluegrass/acoustic gospel group, will perform at First Church in Dennis Aug. 24 at 7 p.m. An offering will be taken. Danny Shearman is pastor.

Licensed

• Robert Jay Mills to the ministry at Crescent Heights Church in Abilene.

• Rick Carney to the ministry at Bones Chapel in Whitesboro.

Ordained

• Adrian Ramirez to the ministry at Iglesia Hispana in Groveton.

Revival

• Mount Sylvan Church in Mount Sylvan; Aug. 12-15; evangelist, Charles Dodson; music, Norris Cash; pastor, Robert Davenport.

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

Posted: 8/03/07

Book Reviews

Sitting Strong: Wrestling with the Ornery God by Jeanie Miley (Smyth & Helwys)

Like Job, Jeanie Miley is acquainted with heart-wrenching grief. And like Job, her book offers the fortitude to “sit strong” in pain. That’s a far cry—and, frankly, a more realistic option—than “being strong.” This book is a guide for being able to “simply sit with your suffering, wrestling with it, arguing with God, and letting the old die so that the new can be born.”

With healing, renewing candor, Miley lauds an honest-with-God confrontation of life’s hardships. Rather than deny or denigrate them, she shows how to hold fast to God in the abyss of their pain. She teaches how to listen for the whisper of God’s grace even as the storms of life howl about.

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

Sitting Strong not only confronts the mind with its forthright acknowledgement of pain, evil and suffering, but it also soothes the heart. The straightforward prose of each chapter presses onward in exploration, while the original poetry that concludes them reaches beyond thoughful analysis to salve the soul.

Marv Knox, editor

Baptist Standard, Dallas

Find it in the Bible for Women: Lists, Lists, and More Lists by Bob Phillips (Howard Books)

For people fascinated by the World Almanac and Book of Facts, gripped by the Encyclopaedia Britannica, or enthralled by Google searches, Bob Phillips compiled Find it in the Bible for Women: Lists, Lists, and More Lists.

Phillips offers 50 lists, all related to women and everyday living. Bible characters range from “107 Nameless Women” and “6 Women of the Night” to “6 Gentile Queens” and “161 Who’s Who Women.”

While fun topics include “11 Helps for Worrywarts” and “15 Men Who Married More Than One Wife,” more serious enumerations contain “9 Passages to Consider in Seeking God’s Will” and “12 Things to Remember when Facing Fear.”

Christian leaders will discover a wealth of devotional material and sermon illustrations in Find it in the Bible for Women: Lists, Lists, and More Lists. For others, the book will provide endless fodder for conversation and trivia games. After all, who else could name “4 Hairy Men” and “15 Bad Hair Days”?

Kathy Robinson Hillman, former president

Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas, Waco

For God’s Sake, Shut Up! Lessons for Christians on How to Speak Effectively and When to Remain Silent by Brian Kaylor (Smyth & Helwys)

Brian Kaylor recounts seeing a sidewalk screamer/preacher who forced everyone to the other side of the street in order to avoid him. Kaylor remembers thinking, “For God’s sake, shut up,” not profanely, but because he honestly believed the speaker was driving people away from God as quickly as they were literally running away from him.

This stirred Kaylor into writing about how often Christians say something that in content or manner not only makes them look bad, but also hurts how people view God.

The book is divided into two sections. The first addresses seven common mistakes in communication to avoid, and the second covers steps toward becoming a more effective communicator.

Kaylor uses pertinent examples that almost everyone will recognize. His suggestions are thought-provoking and lead to self-examination. Anyone interested in shaping up their skills in communicating the good news of Jesus Christ will benefit from reading and applying the lessons of this easily readable book.

Van Christian, pastor

First Baptist Church, Comanche

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

Posted: 8/03/07

Baptist Briefs

Accrediting association reprimands Criswell College. A Bible college with close ties to the Southern Baptist fundamentalist movement is in danger of losing its accreditation due to financial problems. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools announced it has placed Criswell College on a one-year probation period for failure to comply with standards regarding financial stability and control of finances. The Dallas-based school’s finances have been under scrutiny by the accrediting agency for two years. While the association’s statement indicates Criswell displayed enough progress on “noncompliance” with SACS financial standards to prevent a complete withdrawal of accreditation, those advances apparently were not enough to return it to good standing with the association. SACS rules require it either to regain good standing after the two-year study period, continue accreditation but in a probationary period, or have its accreditation revoked entirely. SACS officials said they would continue studying the school’s finances and make another determination on Criswell’s status in June 2008.

Gushee migrates to Mercer. Ethicist and author David Gushee has been appointed distinguished university professor of Christian ethics at Mercer University. Gushee currently serves as a university fellow, Graves Professor of moral philosophy and senior fellow of the Carl F.H. Henry Center for Christian Leadership at Union University in Jackson, Tenn. At Mercer, he will be based in the James and Carolyn McAfee School of Theology in Atlanta and is expected to teach interdisciplinary ethics courses throughout the university. Gushee is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the College of William and Mary, where he earned an undergraduate degree. He received the master of divinity degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and earned a master of philosophy degree and a doctorate in Christian ethics from Union Theological Seminary in New York. Gushee is a columnist for Christianity Today and Associated Baptist Press, and he has written or edited nine books. Gushee, an ordained Baptist minister, is married to Jeanie, a homemaker, poet and nurse. They have four children: Holly, David, Marie, and Madeleine.

N.C. Baptist moral activist arrested. Coy Privette, chief of a Christian morality group and a former state legislator and Southern Baptist Convention leader, has been arrested on prostitution-related charges in North Carolina. Privette, the president of the Christian Action League, was charged with six counts of aiding and abetting prostitution. Privette’s alleged actions took place in a Rowan County hotel between May 4 and June 25. Tiffany Denise Summers, 32, of Salisbury, N.C., was charged with six counts of prostitution in connection with the investigation. Privette, 74, is a former trustee of the Christian Life Commission (now Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission), the Southern Baptist Convention’s moral-watchdog agency. He is a former trustee chair of the SBC’s Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C. Privette, who is married, was freed from Rowan County jail on a written promise to appear in court Aug. 22. A State Bureau of Investigation spokesman said the investigation is ongoing. Privette could not be reached for comment. Privette is a current member of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina and its executive committee. During a conference call, the board of the Christian Action League removed Privette as president, pending resolution of the charges. League Vice President David Hansley of Kinston, N.C., has assumed the duties of president.

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

Posted: 8/03/07

BWA creates young leaders network

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

The Baptist World Alliance has started a network of young people in an effort to develop its next generation of leaders.

More than 30 young leaders from around the world gathered before the BWA’s General Council meeting held recently in Ghana. They met one another and discussed issues they are facing.

Three Texans—John Petty, pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Kerrville; Beverly Parrish, Texas A&M University Baptist Student Ministries associate director; and Blake Killingsworth, assistant to the Dallas Baptist University president—took part in the initial gathering of leaders.

Chris Liebrum, Baptist General Convention of Texas executive coordinator who helped organize the first young leaders’ meeting, said the gathering helped individuals from around the globe connect.

Parrish said she was blessed by the time she spent with other young leaders. Each person provided unique insight into what it is like being a Baptist where they are.

“It was a great opportunity to meet and spend time with Baptist leaders, basically my peers, from around the world,” she said. “It was very humbling and enriching just to see what being a Baptist and follower of Christ costs people around the world.”

Killingsworth indicated the worship service during the meeting provided a glimpse of heaven.

“I think that the first meeting went exceptionally well,” he said. “Everybody in the group found common ground through Christ, and even though we had different backgrounds and viewpoints, we saw value and worth in each other’s ministries. We wanted to know how we could pray and help each other, and when we worshipped together, each in our own language, it was an incredible glimpse into the future reality of every tongue and tribe gathering around the throne, praising the Risen Lamb.”

Each participant in the group, called the Emerging Leaders Network, was paired with a mentor from another country, and the group committed to meeting annually for the next three years.

Participants encouraged BWA leaders to expand the group, and Parrish said this young leaders group could help the alliance develop people who will lead for years to come.

“I think it’s a starting place of something that hopefully will grow,” she 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: 8/03/07

Dallas Cowboy’s son & other
youth score at Camp Exalted

By Barbara Bedrick

Texas Baptist Communications

AN MARCOS—Snagging gummy worms immersed in a paper plate full of vanilla and chocolate pudding is not exactly what Eugene Lockhart expected to be doing recently. He had anticipated being on the field at Texas Stadium with his dad, who was leading a Big Brothers Big Sisters of North Texas fundraiser.

Instead, Lockhart joined nearly 250 middle school and high school students and college freshmen for Camp Exalted July 16-20 at San Marcos Baptist Academy.

Few campers knew at first that he was the son of former Dallas Cowboys linebacker Eugene Lockhart. The younger Lockhart wore the typical urban teenage accoutrements—a baseball cap, expensive fashionable sneakers, baggy shorts and an attitude of invincibility.

Like most of the young people at Camp Exalted, the eighth grader came seeking direction in his life. Lockhart soon learned some valuable lessons.

In the praise and worship services one night, Pastor Blake Wilson of Crossover Bible Fellowship in Houston preached to the young people using video clips from movies like Independence Day while talking about Revelation.

“He talked about the end of the world, and I realized it was time to make a change because I don’t want to go to hell,” Lockhart said. “I wanted more God in my life. I was doing a lot of stuff like sneaking out of the house to hang out with my friends. I used cuss words a lot.”

Through sermons, praise and worship sessions, quiet times and the Christian leadership training classes at Camp Exalted, Lockhart realized he needed to change.

“If someone says a cuss word around me, I’m going to tell them to stop because I’m not going to be around that kind of language,” Lockhart said as he proclaimed he has learned God’s purpose for his life.

“I’m going to be an evangelist and spread God’s word,” Lockhart said as he talked about telling his friends about how “God is good” and how he’s changed.

For freshman camper Desmond Granger, a member of New Providence Baptist Church in Houston, the camp confirmed a decision to serve God. The 15-year-old student wants to be a pastor even as he continues recovering from bone cancer.

Fifteen-year-old sophomore Adeola Olabode, member of United Christian Fellowship in Arlington, plays volleyball and basketball and had drifted away from God because most of the games were on weekends, including Sundays, so there was no time for church.

“It’s been a good experience, and I’ve gotten closer to God,” Olabode said. “I used to complain about crickets in my room, but after watching a video showing how many people still sleep outdoors in Africa, I thank God he allows me to have a roof over my head.”

Camp Exalted is designed to “exalt Christ” and is modeled after the Baptist General Convention of Texas’ Super Sum-mer camps. The Camp Exalted curriculum focuses on developing leadership skills including worship, ministry work, moral purity and family relationships.

The camp, partially funded by the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions, also is geared to “providing campers with the tools to impact communities, not just influence them,” according camp Director Joe Fields, youth pastor of Westside Baptist Church in Lewisville.

“We stress skills needed to impact a community because the ramifications are forever,” Fields explained. “We’re teaching students how to navigate what they’re going through in the real world. We want students leaving here to practice the tools and the discipline they’ve learned so they can impact their peers.”

Baptist leaders praised the late president of the African American Fellowship of Texas, Ronald Edwards, for jumpstarting the camp for African-American youth—one of few such camps in Texas. Camp leaders are working to help students get their lives right and to help them examine how to make key decisions in life, in school and in college and careers.

“We understand the importance of impacting young people. It’s important to us … it is growing us. By God’s grace, he has brought us them so we can give back to them,” explained Brenda Suggs, camp instructor and member of Tolivar Chapel in Waco. “We’re taking too much for granted with activities at the church because of lot of important questions aren’t addressed.”

By the time camp ended, there were 72 professions of faith in Christ, three calls into ministry and numerous requests for special prayers and rededications.

“It’s more than chips and Kumbayah,” Fields explained. “We want to impart the knowledge to these young African-American students that you may never meet 50 Cent, but you will meet God someday.”

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

Posted: 8/03/07

2nd Opinion:
Great news at a glad reunion

By Brad Riza

They all are older now, and most are larger around the middle. Some have less hair, and everyone’s hair is a little lighter than it was then. Still, they made their way to Hideaway, near Tyler, this summer for an unusual military reunion. They weren’t all from the same military unit, not even from the same branch of the service. They were Marines, Air Force, Army and Navy. Some were postal workers, and others were fighter pilots and airlift specialists. Some were police and others chaplains. They weren’t even in Vietnam at the same time. The only thing these people had in common was a connection with Trinity Baptist Church in Saigon.

In the early ’60s, the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board endorsed Jim and Mary Humphries to go to Vietnam and pastor an English-speaking church in downtown Saigon. That was their mission—but they did way more than that! They worked with military and embassy personnel for sure, but they also reached out to many Vietnamese families, sharing their friendship and eventually the gospel. They trained and mentored Vietnamese who would be future pastors and leaders.

On a Friday night in July, many of those whose lives were touched by Jim and Mary traveled to their home just like they used to do on Friday nights in Vietnam. And just like in Vietnam, they had a great meal and a wonderful fellowship time. They met others who had been a part of that congregation at a different time. They spoke of ministry and worship and communion. They recalled working with orphans. They sang together, just as they did almost four decades ago.

No one spoke of politics. They did not debate the propriety of the war. They simply celebrated the opportunity to share ministry during a year that they were there—a year they were away from their families when they found a church family to fill that void.

A missionary who now ministers in Vietnam gave a report and praised those who served all those years ago, saying they had laid a foundation for a Vietnamese church that thrives today. Forced underground when South Vietnam fell, the Baptist work in Vietnam survived and has grown. Grace Baptist Church in Saigon, a lineal descendant of Trinity, is the mother church of hundreds of house churches all across Vietnam!

Grace recently was fully recognized by the Communist Vietnamese government. In their application for recognition, Grace had to write a purpose statement. They debated being politically correct and saying they would do social work and teach English and work with orphans. What they decided to say was what was in their heart: “To preach the gospel all across Vietnam, to seek to bring the nation to Christ.” Amazingly, the Communist government granted their application, and while perhaps not realizing the meaning of those words, it said the church’s operations within the country are “limited to their purpose statement.”

Perhaps the worst thing Ho Chi Minh ever did to his Communist movement was press for the unification of North and South Vietnam. His success in the mid ’70s has now opened the entire country to the gospel. What a unique turn of events, and we were all part of that all those years ago. Who would have thought? Who could have thought? Only in the providence of God!

Brad Riza, director of missions for Paluxy Baptist Association, is a retired U.S. Air Force chaplain. He served in Saigon in 1971-72.

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

Posted: 8/03/07

Discipleship: It’s all about the basics

By Rebekah Hardage

Communications Intern

GARLAND—Ron and Cindy Blevins believe teenagers learn the importance of a daily walk with God the same way they learn core subjects at school.

“It’s like a math class. You’ve got to have the basics first,” Blevins explained. The Blevinses have written a youth discipleship program, Course for Life, that focuses on the basics—memorizing Scripture, daily quiet time and mission projects that help the students make their relationship with God a priority.

“The program started based on the need of the students. They didn’t have spiritual depth, and we thought, ‘There’s got to be a better way to do this,’” said Blevins, associate pastor of business at First Baptist Church in Garland.

He and his wife began writing one lesson a week for the program. The curriculum tackles issues not discussed in other programs due to the depth of the topics.

No matter the age, students beginning the program start with “First Mile,” and the program builds from there. Students who complete the “Fourth Mile” will participate in a yearlong mission project of their choice. Some may teach a younger class, while others plan international mission trips.

“This course is designed to deepen their relationship with Christ by showing them how to prioritize their time so there is always room in their calendar for some quiet time each day with the Lord,” said Cheryl Mize, a Course for Life small-group leader.

The program is important to give the students strength to overcome the temptations of young adulthood, Mize said. For instance, the course challenges teens to deepen their walk with God to a level so that even the temptation to skip out on church can be overcome—a strength Mize wishes she had possessed at their age.

Students are gaining strength and a spiritual depth beyond their years, and other people are noticing, Mrs. Blevins explained. Other teens in the youth group look to those in the program as role models, she noted.

Course for Life pushes students to stretch themselves to establish good habits and create a sense of accountability to one another. It also affirms to them there is time every day to spend with God if they make it a priority.

Mrs. Blevins explained a step in completing the third mile is to spend three hours in prayer. “Some of these kids have never spent 10 minutes in prayer,” she said, “but they are ready when the time comes, and many even say they ran out of time.”

The buzz surrounding the program has spread across the country, with churches in South Carolina, Arkansas and Texas participating. The Blevinses love to share with youth pastors, especially those who “catch the vision.”

One of those youth pastors is Ronnie Wilson of Meadowlake Missionary Baptist Church in Conway, Ark.

“We are reaching teens that I was not sure would ever be reached,” he said. “Teens are learning their Bible verses left and 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: 8/03/07

DOWN HOME:
OK, who’s the owner here?

I’m not sure whether Joanna and I own our home, or this house owns us.

(OK, technically, the bank owns our home. But we’re paying down, and if we live to be old enough, we’ll hold the title. Don’t get hung up on the details here.)

Not quite a year ago, we sold the home where we raised our daughters. I loved that place. It was comfortable and suited our family. Even empty, the walls seemed to echo the voices and laughter that provided the soundtrack to our lives for almost 11 years. The rooms fairly buzzed with memories of all the happy times we shared there.

But the commute to work grew more dismal by the day. Too many cars and trucks on too few roads means too long driving to and from work. I began to fantasize about living in a village with only one flashing light.

Jo, ever the logical member of this duo, came up with a brilliant idea: We could move.

True. We no longer worried about uprooting the girls. We were free to roam. Once we ruled out changing churches, we began to house-shop. Eventually, we cut about nine or 10 miles—depending on the route—off my commute, but that little bit cut my driving time by about half.

We quickly fell in love with our new house. And almost immediately, it felt like it’d been our home for years and years.

The other morning, however, I realized several of the things that attracted us to this house have come ’round to bite us. Not literally. Not yet.

This came to mind as I went out to check on “the hole” right beside our foundation.

We like the fact our house is about a block from undeveloped land, home to a dormant power plant and unlikely to be developed. Unfortunately, skunks like undeveloped land, too. And the pest guy thinks one might like our dirt so much he decided to move into the neighborhood.

Speaking of neighborhood, we love all the trees in the blocks surrounding us. But web worms do, too. And since we don’t have a cherry picker (Shouldn’t every family own one?), we’re paying someone to come and “snip” them out of our trees.

We adore the patio. It’s where the roof leaked like a sieve all winter. We got that fixed, but we had to tell our girls their firstborn kids will be indentured to the patio-roofing people.

Oh, I could tell you another story or three about water, but they’re not all that unusual for a house as old as ours.

The good news is we’re fixing every problem as it comes along. Incrementally, our house is getting better and better. And we feel even more and more at home all along.

The even-better news is that every little glitch reminds me we are not what we own, and security is not vested in houses and land. What matters is how faithfully we live there and the joy that springs from our lives in that place.

—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: 8/03/07

EDITORIAL:
Texas Baptists learn to live at peace

Democracy sure is messy. Especially in times of peace.

For years, the Baptist General Convention of Texas faced an ominous threat: Fundamentalists with a theological/political agenda for absolute domination set out to take control of the Southern Baptist world. They succeeded nationally in 1990, and then they set their sights on state conventions. One fundamentalist leader notoriously said their ultimate prizes were the BGCT, Baylor University and the Baptist Standard.

For traditional Texas Baptists living “abroad”—beyond our borders—those years afforded numerous opportunities for embarrassment. The most visible leaders of the fundamentalist movement hailed from Texas, so outsiders associated Texas Baptists with their theo-political excesses. Non-Texans seemed to think the BGCT would fall and become the bastion of Baptist fundamentalism.

This left traditional Texas Baptists saying something like this: “The BGCT is not like that. Traditional Texas Baptists are biblical conservatives, but we’re certainly not fundamentalists. We believe in the priesthood of all believers and religious liberty. We champion local-church autonomy. Texas Baptists will resist fundamentalism like nobody else. Our convention will stay strong. When others fall, the BGCT will remain a beacon for liberty and freedom.”

Thanks in large part to a then-new organization called Texas Baptists Committed, we were right. Time after time, as other conventions capitulated, the BGCT withstood the fundamentalist onslaught. Texas Baptists Committed provided the structure, will and discipline to hold on, to resist the seemingly irresistible force that gained control of the national convention and most other state conventions.

Ironically, Texas Baptists Committed faced its greatest challenge not in the heat of battle but at the onset of peace. In a reverse-image of national politics, fundamentalist leaders acknowledged defeat in Texas and went off to start their own convention. Soon, their followers quit attending the BGCT meetings, and threat of takeover ended.

So, what happens to a potent—and valuable—political force when the din of battle falls silent? Some Texas Baptists, who never really wanted to resist fundamentalism or who felt queasy at the thought of resistance, clamored for TBC to dismantle. Others, who deeply appreciated TBC for providing core leadership in resisting fundamentalism, began to question its peacetime role. And even many TBC leaders acknowledged the need to redefine the organization in an era when fundamentalism does not present an imminent danger.

Now we’re up to date: For the first time since TBC began leading Texas Baptists to resist fundamentalism, a non-fundamentalist candidate with a potentially broad base is opposing a TBC-supported candidate for convention president. The broader issue has nothing to do with either candidate’s background and qualifications. It has everything to do with how the BGCT elects leaders and moves forward in a post-fundamentalist era.

Temptation beckons from the extremes: Either the TBC should fold up shop, or anyone who opposes the TBC is not loyal to the BGCT. Neither extreme—which, incidentally, is not the position of the candidates and their close supporters—is accurate. The TBC still has a role to play, and at minimum, it should include educating Texas Baptists regarding their history, heritage and future. And Texas Baptists can thrive with open elections. Multiple viable candidates are good for our convention, and diversity of opinion regarding whom to elect is a distinct Baptist quality that demonstrates healthy openness.

Let’s take the high road: Say good things about the candidates and their supporters. Speak well of each other. Encourage each other as we look to the future. We showed how to win the Baptist “holy war.” Let’s show the world how Baptists of goodwill can wage peace.

Marv Knox is editor of the Baptist Standard.

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

Posted: 8/03/07

WMU FamilyFEST joins Buckner,
BGCT to minister on the border

By Jenny Pope

Buckner International

JUAREZ, Mexico—Jan Burton sat with Pastor Pascual Juarez from Iglesia Bautista Genesis as he told her, through a translator, about the hardships of serving God in a border town. Weeks earlier, thugs burned his trailer to the ground, held him at gunpoint and threatened to kill him and his family.

“He told us that he was not going to leave Juarez until God sent him away,” Burton said.

Burton, a nurse from Athens, Ala., was one of nearly 100 people who devoted a week to serving others recently during the national Woman’s Missionary Union FamilyFest in El Paso and Juarez, Mexico.

A volunteer nurse provided a routine health checkup to an infant in Juarez, part of a traveling medical clinic during WMU FamilyFEST week along the Texas/Mexico border.

WMU volunteers from more than 15 states partnered with Baptist General Convention of Texas Border/Mexico Missions and Buckner Border Ministries to provide light construction, medical clinics, crafts, haircuts and sports camps to children and families living in some of the poorest colonias—unincorporated communities—straddling the border.

The week of ministry was their 14th since 2001 in an effort to bring families together for missions and encourage others to get involved.

FamilyFest volunteers endured heat and swirling sandstorms in Sparks Colonia in El Paso to minister to families whose average annual income is $12,000. About 20,000 people live in Sparks, where homeowners build their homes brick-by-brick with each paycheck earned, taking an average of seven years to construct their “dream home,” typically a one- or two-bedroom shack.

Ruth Ann Smith sat on the floor scrubbing paint splotches in the middle of newly painted Tierra Prometida church in Sparks.

As a former Girls in Action member and traveling on her 12th WMU FamilyFest mission trip with her husband Owen, Smith said missions is in her blood.

“We just enjoy doing church work,” she said, meticulously scrubbing one white spot before noticing another halfway across the room.

“I can’t do everything, but I can clean the floor. You just do whatever it takes; whatever needs to be done.”

Her daughter and son-in-law, Susan and Dan Foley, made repairs outside as their two sons, Brendan, 16, and Ryan, 14, finished the exterior paint. It was the Foleys’ first mission trip as a family.

“I think it’s good for these kids to be here,” Dan Foley said. “It’s given them a different perspective on life and how to help others.”

A few team members repaired the leaky roof of church member and neighbor Soccoro Sepulveda, while others conducted adult crafts and a sports camp at the Sparks Community Center down the road.

Less than 10 miles away, on the other side of the Rio Grande, volunteers worked alongside pastors and church members in Juarez to provide minor construction, food boxes and routine health checkups at four Baptist churches—Alpha Omega, Nosotros con Dios, Genesis and Antioquia.

With an estimated population of 3.5 million, Juarez has experienced a surge in working-class citizens migrating from the south to labor in one of the many maquiladoras, or factories.

The swelling population and lack of police authority has brought a near-crippling increase in crime, drugs and disease.

Volunteer Bonnie Eaton, an El Paso native, was among the many nurses and two area doctors who checked blood pressure and basic health conditions of Juarez citizens in need of medical care.

A small construction team worked to repair the roof of several families’ homes at Iglesia Bautista Antioquia, located in the impoverished Avelina Gallegos colonia.

The homes are part of Pastor Pablo González’s social ministry Brindando Ayuda al Necesitado (Giving Help to the Needy), a multi-service program to help struggling families get back on their feet.

Each family in the church’s multi-unit home occupies about a six- by six-meter space. They share an open courtyard and one bathroom. Several of the men work in the maquiladoas or as bus drivers.

Mike Boyd, Taylor Johnson, 17, and Kenneth Little, 16, from Birmingham, Ala., have little construction experience.

Even so, it took them just three days to repair the roof covering three family units in the home.

It’s a roof that will last more than eight years, González said.

“It’s more than just work,” Johnson said. “There’s meaning behind it.

“It’s been one of the best experiences of my life.”

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

Posted: 8/03/07

Faith Digest

Study links religious liberty with prosperity. Religious freedom goes hand-in-hand with economic well-being and freedom of the press—but not necessarily with a secular or religiously oriented government. Those are the some findings of a global survey conducted by the Center for Religious Freedom at the Hudson Institute, a conservative-leaning think tank in Washington, D.C. Researchers named radical Islam the biggest threat to religious freedom. Most of the nations listed as “least religiously free” were states with Muslim extremism, while those with the most religious freedom had Christian roots, according to the report. The countries that scored one on the seven-tier Religious Freedom Index, indicating the greatest religious liberty, were the United States, Ireland, Estonia and Hungary. Countries rated seven, indicating the most religious restriction, were Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Sudan. As a result of events over the past year, Iraq also sunk to the lowest rank of religious freedom.

Welsh church: ‘Power to the people.’ An aging Anglican church in Wales has come up with a modern way to give—or at least sell—power to the people by marketing its spare electricity to Britain’s National Grid. The power comes from 30 solar panels installed as part of a $1.5 million restoration at the crumbling, Victorian-era St. Joseph’s Church in Cwmaman, in the Cynon Valley. Pastor David Way initially had his doubts, but the church now has discovered that the $66,000 array of panels are producing far more electricity than had been expected or needed. The church now will sell off the surplus.

LA archdiocese pays for sex abuse. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has reached a landmark $660 million settlement with 508 alleged victims of sexual abuse, the largest such payment thus far in the Catholic clergy sex abuse scandal. Collectively, the sex abuse scandal has cost the U.S. Catholic Church about $2 billion since 1950. Archbishop Roger Mahony said funding for the settlement will be shared by the archdiocese, insurance companies, several religious orders and other parties. The archdiocese is expected to pay $250 million, which Mahony said would require selling “nonessential properties,” not parish properties or schools.

Homosexuality ‘inconsistent’ with God’s will, Mormon booklet says. Mormon officials have issued a new booklet on homosexuality that states same-sex relationships are “inconsistent” with God’s plan, but it says some people may not be able to overcome such attractions. “While many Latter-day Saints, through individual effort, the exercise of faith and reliance upon the enabling power of the Atonement, overcome same-gender attraction in mortality, others may not be free of this challenge in this life,” the new church document reads. If God’s plan is followed, “our bodies, feelings and desires will be perfected in the next life so that every one of God’s children may find joy in a family consisting of a husband, a wife and children,” the booklet states.

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

Posted: 8/03/07

Baptist volunteers rebuilding
lives one house at a time

By Jessica Dooley

Communications Intern

’HANIS—When Mario Reyes woke up on July 20, he expected it to be a Saturday like any other. But when he looked out his window and saw water rushing through a nearby pasture, he knew he had to get out of his house.

Most residents received little or no warning about the overflowing Seco River, so Reyes took it upon himself to inform his neighbors before heading for higher ground.

Now residents of D’Hanis, a community of about 500 on the outskirts of Hondo, are attempting to rebuild their lives. The Seco River, too narrow to handle the amount of rain it has received, flooded the Brickyard neighborhood, leaving 242 people without a place to sleep.

The American Red Cross transformed Hondo Middle School into a shelter. Meanwhile, First Baptist Church in Hondo called Texas Baptist Men and began working alongside Baptist volunteers from across the state.

“People are in need and are hurting. We are trying to meet those needs because it’s what Jesus would do,” said Ross Chandler, pastor of First Baptist Church in Hondo.

A TBM clean-out unit from Second Baptist Church in LaGrange, the Austin Baptist Association shower and laundry unit, and Victim Relief chaplains have ministered in the area more than a week. Baptist Men from across the state put their lives on hold to help First Baptist Church with its disaster response in D’Hanis.

Baptist General Convention of Texas Congregational Strategist Fred Ater met needs in the area, and the convention made family financial assistance available to flood victims.

“The church could not do it all without the Baptist organizations,” Chandler said. “Baptists all over Texas have helped D’Hanis.”

First, the men remove furniture and cut out sheetrock and carpet damaged by the water. Then they spray a chemical that sanitizes the house and stops mold from growing. Once the chemical dries, residents face the decision of moving back in or moving out.

“We will rebuild. We have to. We have no choice. And in 10 years, we will rebuild again,” Reyes said as he shook his head and looked at his belongings scattered across the front yard. “They want us to relocate and buy us out, but this land was given to us by our grandparents. We have to stay together and be a community, Hispanic or white.”

Cruz Guana does not want to move because he can walk to his job. He works at the brick factory located at the end of his street, which is where the neighborhood derives its name.

Nearly five feet of water swept through Guana’s home, carrying the refrigerator through the house and knocking out the back wall. The family’s belongings were swept away with the current.

Like many residents of the Brickyard, the Guanas continue to sleep in their broken home.

Homeowners are afraid of looters taking what little they have left, so they put a mattress down on the floor and continue to live amid the rubble. One family set up a tent in their living room.

But through the devastation and harsh living conditions, residents still are finding a beacon of hope.

“This is the first time I’ve smiled in a long time,” Luz Aguiñagaz said. “These (Texas Baptist) men have such joy and smiles. What they have been to me and this community is inspiring.

“I have been Catholic all my life, though I haven’t practiced since my husband died in 2003. I am inspired, and I want to see what their church is about. I am going to First Baptist Church Hondo on Sunday,” Aguiñagaz said as tears streamed down her cheeks.

Stories like these are what First Baptist Church and Texas Baptist Men have hoped for. Currently, there is no Baptist church in D’Hanis. Chandler said his church has been looking to establish a presence in the community.

“FBC Hondo cares and could not have shown them that without the Baptist Men mud-out units, chaplains and disaster relief teams,” Chand-ler said.

The next step for First Baptist Church is to help the people in the community rebuild their lives. The congregation is developing a long-range strategy that will assess the needs of residents affected by the flood. From that list, the church will try and figure out a way to meet those needs.

“The Brickyard needs hope,” Chandler said. “And with help, they can find it.”

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