Posted: 8/19/05

BSM helps establish sense
of community among students

By George Henson

Staff Writer

Baptist Student Ministries leaders at university campuses across the state see building community–a sense of belonging among students–as vital to their work.

“Community is key to helping students grow in Christ, and it draws non-Christian students to faith in Christ,” said Joel Bratcher, BSM director at Texas A&M University. “Community is what adds authenticity to the Christian experience, that there really is something different.”

Chris Sammons, BSM director at Stephen F. Austin University, agreed.

“This generation is looking for a place to belong as much as anything,” he said. “They won't start to consider what it is you believe until they feel they belong.”

For students leaving home for the first time, finding people they feel comfortable with is priority, said Emily Quesenberry, BSM director at Texas Christian University.

“Most students at TCU will be leaving their home to come here,” she said. “They are going to be looking for those people they feel comfortable with, looking for someone to sort of be their family. For me, that was the BSM, and we want it to be same for the students that are here.”

While students on most campuses gather for a mid-week worship services, small-group Bible studies are crucial to building the sense of community, the directors agreed.

“Community is really developed in those small groups as they are authentic in their faith,” Sammons said. “As you share where you are, community naturally follows.”

Andy Dennis, BSM director at Howard Payne University, said the small-group Bible studies are a good starting point for building friendships between people with like interests.

“The small-group Bible studies are key to what we do,” he said. “Over the past two years, we've been able to maintain a consistency in our attendance. One of the things we try to do to help with that is that our leaders also try to connect with the people in their Bible studies through things like going bowling and mission service projects like taking out the trash in the dorms.”

Quesenberry agreed the small groups were the framework for deepening relationships. In addition to a teaching leader, each group also has a care group coordinator. This person seeks out each member of the group outside of the Bible study.

“We try to get to know their life outside of TCU by getting into their rooms and seeing whose photographs they have up. We want them to know that we care about them and not just because they are coming to a Bible study,” she said.

Having food at most events also helps, she added. “Providing free food is part of establishing community on a college campus.”

Area churches provide weekly meals for students at Texas A&M. The lunches, called Vision, are aimed at the spiritually curious, Bratcher said.

“Some come looking for community, some are curious about Christianity and there are those who are just there for a free lunch,” he said. Regardless of the reason, he is glad just to have the opportunity to meet with many non-Christians and expose them to the gospel.

The BSM director at the University of Houston is also a believer in the magnetic power of food. He and his leadership team are going to make Thursdays the day when “the Christians come out with food and live music.”

“We're not going to have a bunch of banners that say 'BSM' or anything like that. We're just going to create a crowd by showing up and having a good time with food and live music, and we know that is going to draw people,” he said.

While the food and music may be the apparent attraction, he said, the less-visible draw will be the many hours of prayer he and his leadership team have done in preparation.

“We pray a lot, and we pray a lot for that sense of community,” he said. “We don't know how to define what that is, but we want to develop a Christ-centered community.”

Prayer has engendered a passion for reaching others among the members of the leadership team, he said.

“My leadership team is passionate in their desire to create a sense of community for others. The core of community is the Holy Spirit empowering people to live beyond themselves and serve others,” he said.

Serving together is another good way to establish bonds of community, the BSM leaders said.

“In my experience, there are few better ways to connect with people than by serving side-by-side with them,” Dennis said.

“I don't think anything builds community like mission trips,” Quesenberry said. In recent years, students have planned trips to Las Vegas, Nev., and Brunswick, Ga. Students not only work together during the trip, but also do the planning. Quesenberry hopes an international trip soon will be in the planning stages.

Baptist Student Ministries at Texas A&M University and the University of Texas at Arlington give special emphasis to reaching international students. Both BSM organizations have opportunities for international students to practice their conversational English skills.

At Texas A&M, churches donate furniture and other things students might need to give the BSM another means of contact.

“We call it the 'Big Giveaway.' Basically, it's a free garage sale. Most of these students arrive without anything but their clothing. We help them with furniture and other things for their rooms or apartments. Our American BSM students make the deliveries, giving us another opportunity to develop relationships,” Bratcher said.

While the UTA campus provides language practice for internationals, BSM Director Gary Stidham said, an effort to provide a sense of community for Christian students is crucial.

“UTA has . . . no football team that is often the focus of a school's spirit or sense of community. There is no Navigators organization here, no InterVarsity and no Campus Crusade, so we are the only ones trying to give the Christian students here that feeling of community.

“A lot of our students come from small churches in the area, so they don't have fellowship with other Christian college students apart from BSM,” Stidham said. “That's not true in every case. We do have some students from larger churches with excellent ministries aimed at college students, but for many, we're all they've got.”

The work of the Baptist Student Ministries is important, since students are at a crucial time of decision-making in their lives, ministry leaders agreed.

“It's good to be passionate about Jesus, but God is impressing me more and more that we also need to be serious about him as well,” the University of Houston BSM director said.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.

Posted: 7/27/07

Texas teens minister, from Waco to Windhoek

By Paul Carr

Special to the Baptist Standard

WINDHOEK, Namibia—Thirteen Waco teenagers paused as they entered a walled compound in Nambia, scanning the teeming chaos that turned a patch of dirt and concrete into a playground. Within just a moment or two, children spied the strangers and swarmed them, latching onto their legs and stretching out their arms to be picked up.

Some of the teens knelt in the dirt, hugging two or three at a time, while others scooped up love-starved children giving them rides on their shoulders.

In the days that followed, the youth mission team from Highland Baptist Church in Waco sang songs, taught Bible lessons, made crafts, played with and simply hugged about 50 children left orphaned by AIDS.

During their two-week mission trip to Namibia, the Waco teens spent most of their time in Windhoek, where they shared the gospel through music, skits, Bible lessons and testimonies. They participated in a youth camp where 25 Namibians gave their lives to Christ; they promoted the local missionary’s youth program to 3,000 students in local schools, drawing interest among new students in attending the weekly youth group; they shared love and the gospel with the orphans at Beautiful Gate in the heart of the poorest part of the city; and they encouraged the local Christians through their own act of faith by leaving their safe, comfortable homes to come to another country.

Highland Baptist Youth Minister Ronny Higgins and his wife, Kylie, lived in Namibia two years on assignment with the International Mission Board, where they assisted career missionaries Bryan and Dana Bullington. Higgins joined Highland’s staff on his return to Waco in August 2005. The Higgins, their 1-year-old son, and two other adults accompanied the youth team on the trip.

But the Waco to Windhoek connection goes back further. After the Bullingtons had spent four years in Namibia, they returned to the United States for a one-year furlough—time they spent at First Baptist Church of Woodway in suburban Waco.

When they returned to Namibia, the Bullingtons were reassigned from the rural north to the capital city of Windhoek. There they began a youth ministry with a dozen participants. The ministry, now called Youth With a Purpose, drew 130 teens ages 15 to 19 one night while the Highland team was in Windhoek, and it attracted 75 participants at another event geared to younger adolescents.

Preparing for a visiting mission team is a lot of work for the missionaries who arrange housing, meals, travel in the country as well as visits to local schools and the orphanage. In the early years, Bullington said the youth teams were vital in giving his ministry credibility among both local youth and with school officials. Now that Youth With a Purpose is established, he prefers having an ongoing relationship with visiting teams.

Waco has become that link, with a second Waco team serving in Windhoek in recent weeks. Bob Johns, associate pastor for youth at First Baptist Woodway, led his third youth team to Namibia. PJ King, a member of the 2003 Woodway youth team, is living in Namibia this summer volunteering with Youth With a Purpose, and Josh Humphrey, a member of the 2005 Woodway team, is volunteering at Beautiful Gate this summer.

Highland Baptist Church of Waco teenagers lead worship at the altar and down the aisle during an assembly while on a youth mission trip to Namibia.

The Texas teens who participated said the impact on their lives has been immeasurable, with the orphanage having the most dramatic effect. “It struck me how happy those kids were all the time, and how even in the worst living conditions, they had such great joy,” said Cody Overstreet, 18. “I’m different now just in the way that I act every day. People around me have noticed.”

“Beautiful Gate caused many different emotions for me,” said Nathan Barker, 17. “At first, I really had a lot of anger and sadness because of the situation these children were in. I thought they didn’t deserve to be in that tough situation, but God showed me that I had three days with these kids and I needed to make the best of it

“I’ve learned to trust God with everything,” he said, “not just the big parts in my life, but all aspects of it. My faith has been strengthened because of seeing God’s power in Namibia.”

Preparing mentally and spiritually for the trip was as much a growing experience for Addison Pritchard, 18, as was the trip itself. “I was trying to have a relationship with him where I was in control. God showed me that I have to let go of my life and my desires and lean totally on him for my everyday needs. I am never going to be a perfect Christian, and that’s OK, I don’t have to be in order to minister to others.”

Higgins said he finds satisfaction when he is able to “see the light go on” for the teen volunteers, as they witness needs firsthand and realize they have a place in God’s plan.

“The reality sets in that God can use them to reach out and be his hands and feet in a world veiled in darkness,” he said. “The bubble that most Christians live in gets shattered by a trip like this because you realize that there are so many things that we can be doing, no matter the location, in order to share the awesome story of Christ. It is only then that we realize it doesn't matter what country you live in, what language you speak, or even your station in life—the name of Christ has the power to change lives and that is truly happening in Windhoek.”

Johns witnessed the same experience. “For these kids, there is a paradigm shift,” he said. “They will never be the same. Once you go to Africa, there is something about that place that gets into your heart.”

Paul Carr is director of marketing information at Baylor University.

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

Posted: 7/26/07

BaptistWay Bible Series for August 5

How long, God?

• Habakkuk 1:1-2:4, 15-16

By Kade Curry

Hardin-Simmons University, Abilene

God’s justice, in the context of evil and suffering, has been and always will be of central concern to those who look to God for justice in times of destruction and violence. That is true whether the issue be literal destruction and violence in today’s world, cultural corruption or personal needs. Those who trust in God eventually will ask: “Where are you, God?” and “How long must I wait for your justice to come?”

Cultures are different socially, morally, economically and spiritually. However, from age to age, there also remains some similarities. As is true in the 21st century, even in the day of the prophet Habakkuk (sometime between 609 B.C. and 598 B.C.), believers were looking for an answer from God as to his presence in times of persecution.

For a printer-friendly version, click on the printer icon at bottom of page.

The book of Habakkuk is unique in its revelation of a dialogue between the prophet and God about Judah’s welfare. Habakkuk’s ministry took place in Judah, when many scholars believe they were being dominated by the neighboring Egyptians. Habakkuk has some serious questions about God’s presence in his nation’s suffering and is in turn surprised by God’s answer.

Habakkuk begins his questioning of God with his first concern. In Habakkuk 1:1-4, he asks God “How long, oh Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen?” Habakkuk wonders why he is faced with having to even wonder about God’s justice. Habakkuk goes on to remind God how wicked and violent his oppressors are being toward his nation.

Most likely, Habakkuk was asking for God to bring justice upon the people in his nation who refuse to follow God’s law or Torah in the midst of Egyptian domination. Habakkuk is at his wits' end, saying “the law is paralyzed and justice never prevails.” How often do we wonder where God might be in our suffering today?

What might be more interesting and even more useful for us is God’s answer to Habakkuk’s questions of injustice. In Habakkuk 1:5-11, God replies: “I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people. They are a feared and dreaded people; they are a law to themselves.” God, unexpectantly to Habakkuk, informs him (in Habakkuk 1:6-8) that God is raising up the Babylonians as an instrument of justice for the Judeans who refuse to follow the law. Habakkuk never expected God to punish the Judeans’ violence with a taste of their own medicine. How often are we disappointed with God’s answers to our questions of injustice?

Habakkuk continues his dialogue with God to express his second concern that God’s use of wicked Babylon, as an instrument of justice, is unfair (Habakkuk 1:12-21). Habakkuk wonders how God can use what is completely evil to destroy what is at least partially righteous. Habakkuk is wondering what will happen to the righteous Judeans like himself.

God continued this dialogue with Habakkuk with a simple answer to Habakkuk’s concern for protection of the faithful. In Habakkuk 2:2, God promises consolation and protection for the righteous in Judah.

This dialogue between God and Habakkuk can shed light on our own struggle to find justice in our culture today. The book of Habakkuk is a reminder to all of us that it is appropriate and sometimes essential that we are comfortable in questioning God’s plan and role in our struggles and strife. We are encouraged, just as Habakkuk was, that God will, indeed, bring justice to each of our individual situations. We must, however, be ready for God to answer us in a way that is inconsistent with our own ideas of justice.

In questioning God, we do not doubt his ability to be God, we do not doubt his work or his involvement in our lives. But in fact, we are recognizing he is in control and has the ability to comfort us in time of struggle. The dialogue we find in Habakkuk encourages us that doubt could be used as a tool to strengthen our faith.

Habakkuk questioned God in a search for justice in his nation’s time of struggle. So might we. There is evil around us just as Habakkuk observed in his day. God’s answer to Habakkuk was one that applies to us also: God is just and his standards of justice apply to all—to us as well as our enemies.

Jesus made a similar point in Matthew 7:1-3: “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?”

Perhaps an honest conversation with God will afford us a similar benefit to what it did for Habakkuk. We may not receive the answers we want, but God would respond with what we need to hear. Yes, ultimate and Godly justice will be done. But God will also, as always, call us to love, grace and forgiveness.

Discussion question

• How often do we resist honest dialogue with God in fear that doubt is not appropriate?

• What is our response as Christians when God’s answer is not consistent with our views of justice?

• How is living non-judgmentally an act of faith?

Kade Curry is a master of divinity student at Hardin-Simmons University’s Logsdon Theological Seminary in Abilene.

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

Posted: 7/26/07

Bible Studies for Life Series for August 5

When overwhelmed by responsibilities

• 1 Kings 3:1-15

By David Harp

First Baptist Church, Stanton

One of the classic causes of burnout is “taking on too much responsibility.” There are warning signs for all of us here. Are you taking on too much responsibility? Family, job/career, finances, personal issues and even church can be areas where we feel overwhelmed by responsibilities. If we aren’t careful, life can get us down. We might even become cynical.

Here’s a more helpful response: Seek God’s help! When life gets us down, we can look up and find help in a compassionate and a powerful God.

For a printer-friendly version, click on the printer icon at bottom of page.

We begin a new study theme for the month of August. Our theme will focus on the books of 1 and 2 Kings about Solomon’s request for wisdom, Elijah’s encounter with God at Horeb, Namaan’s healing and Josiah’s reforms.

In our study for this week, we want to find God’s help when we are facing overwhelming circumstances.

Think about the ways we most often respond when we face overwhelming circumstances. Ask some questions about how humans have handled overwhelming times. Feel free to use some tragedies of recent years to describe how some humans have handled or mishandled overwhelming circumstances. You may know of people near you who have handled overwhelming circumstances in a positive and biblical way. If given permission, use their good examples.

Turn to the Lord (1 Kings 3:1-4)

Solomon’s reign was marked by building cities, palaces, the temple, public infrastructure, great literary workmanship and splendors still marveled at the time of Jesus. In West Texas, you often hear the phrase, “We can make it happen.” Solomon could “make it happen,” yet he began to feel the heavy weight of responsibility over his life.

When having it all was not enough for Solomon, he began to turn to the Lord. Human and political alliances could not fulfill the deep longing in his soul. The powerful declaration in this text tells us what was in Solomon’s heart, “Solomon loved the Lord and walked in the statutes of David his father …” (1 Kings 3:3).

The first step in managing responsibilities is to turn to the Lord for help. Solomon was ready to travel to Gibeon to turn to the Lord and make things right with God. A man is never taller than when he is on his knees.

Focus on what’s important (1 Kings 3:5-9)

God appears to Solomon in a dream one night at Gibeon. Solomon asks God for what will help him most in his hour of great responsibility. Solomon asks God for wisdom. Solomon wants a heart to judge and to discern not in the ways of man but in the ways of God.

Positions of responsibility require discernment and wisdom. Solomon acknowledges his own limitations in this passage. He also recognizes the greatness of the leadership qualities in his father David. Solomon focused on what’s important when he felt overwhelmed.

Solomon has reached a point in his life where he is ready to seek God’s higher good than his own personal gain. My Mom had a favorite phrase she often quoted to me when I was growing up: “When we get to the end of ourselves, we get to the beginning of God.” I know that when I have faced some overwhelming responsibilities I have thought about my parents. They loved the Lord and sought to focus on him first.

Solomon seems to be coming to the end of his own understanding and wisdom. Life’s responsibilities have overwhelmed him. He is ready to focus on what’s important. He is ready to ask God for an understanding and a discernment that comes from God.

There is good news as we apply the Bible to life. We can ask God for wisdom. James 1:5 calls us to seek God’s wisdom for decisions we consider daily.

Walk in God’s ways (1 Kings 3:10-15)

God was pleased with Solomon’s request and agreed to grant his desires for wisdom and discernment. The Lord reminded Solomon of his responsibility to walk in his ways if he wanted to enjoy God’s fullest blessing. Solomon publicly marked his commitment and determination to keep it by giving offerings to the Lord.

The words leap off the page of Scripture: “It pleased the Lord” (3:10).

Every believer wants to hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” We want to please the Lord. God is pleased when our desires are in line with his desires.

This study teaches us God supplies every believer with what we need to carry out our responsibilities. God does not promise riches to those who follow him. He does, however, give us what we need if we put his kingdom first.

Discussion questions

• In what ways are you turning to God?

• If given a “special” request, what would you ask God for?

• What are some ways that we can please the Lord?

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

Posted: 7/19/07

Explore the Bible Series for August 5

Zechariah calls us to joy

• Zechariah 9:1-14:21

By Kathryn Aragon

First Baptist Church, Duncanville

This week’s lesson is a reminder of God’s promises— those available through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, as well as those coming on the day we will meet him again. It is a message of hope and a call to live a life of joy.

In the words of Zechariah, “Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!” (9:9).

Oddly, the call to joy is one of the most misunderstood of God’s callings. How can we be joyful in the midst of life’s difficulties? We must first understand what joy is, and then we must realize how much we have to be thankful for.

For a printer-friendly version, click on the printer icon at bottom of page.

Joy vs. happiness

We tend to think of joy as a synonym for happiness. The dictionary defines joy as a feeling of great pleasure or happiness. It then defines happiness as being “characterized by good luck.”

The Bible suggests there is a difference between happiness and joy. Paul, in 1 Thessalonians 5:16, tells us to “be joyful always.” If joy and happiness were the same thing, Paul would be telling us we should be blessed with good luck always. But we know this is not what Paul means. Instead, we are told to be joyful in spite of our circumstances.

Whereas happiness is momentary delight, joy is the steady overflow of a thankful heart. Whereas happiness is delight in our physical circumstances, joy is delight in God and his presence in our lives. Joy doesn’t come from good luck; instead, it springs from faith and hope. Because of this, we can live a life of joy in even the direst of circumstances.

Joy grows out of faith

Real joy grows out of the knowledge of God’s loving presence. Obviously, then, joy is developed in faith. This week’s reading reminds us of the source of our faith, Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.

Zechariah’s prophecies about Jesus, made approximately 500 years before Jesus’ birth, give credence to our faith. He tells how God generously pours a spirit of grace and supplication over his children, despite our unworthiness (12:10). Then he tells how God purifies us—“On that day a fountain will be opened” to cleanse us from “sin and impurity” (13:1).

Joy cannot exist outside this cleansing. Neither can it flourish without full understanding of the cleansing’s value. But it is far too easy to treat salvation as an event in time, experienced in a moment and remembered only as evidence that we no longer need to fear eternity. This kind of faith will not give rise to joy.

Joy comes from the realization of God’s heartbreak because sin separates us from him. It comes from the understanding that separation from God is nothing less than death, yet God is willing to pay that penalty himself in order to restore us to him. Our greatest source of joy is the reality of our salvation.

Joy grows out of hope

Zechariah rightly calls us “prisoners of hope” (9:12). Faith is the doorway to salvation, but hope is our daily bread. Faith allows us to accept the gift of salvation, but hope gives us courage us to walk in it, regardless of our circumstances.

Hope also can lead us astray, however, if it isn’t anchored in truth. Initially we might be misled by the promises of salvation, taking them as solutions to life’s problems rather than solutions to our eternal problems. Although we are promised many things, we never are promised an easy life.

In fact, Jesus tells his followers: “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’” (Matthew 10:34-35).

God doesn’t intend to be divisive, however. His purpose is two-fold. He wants to strengthen our faith and purify us. He wants us to reflect his glory and be filled with the fruit of his Spirit. God knows an easy life can make us lazy. He also knows our problems teach us to lean on him.

As Helen Keller said, “We could never learn to be brave and patient, if there were only joy in the world.”

Furthermore, our difficulties can have a purifying effect on us, working out such impurities as pride and selfishness—“I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are my people’ and they will say, ‘the Lord is our God.’” (13:9)

Finding joy in the midst of life

Faith and hope are supposed to be foundational concepts to the Christian life. Why, then, is joy so difficult to grasp? Perhaps we’re looking for it in the wrong places.

First of all, joy is not eternal happiness. Although it can feel like happiness, it may simply be the ability to smile in the midst of calamity. As Mother Teresa said: “Joy is prayer. Joy is strength. Joy is love. Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.”

Furthermore, the easy faith we casually talk about, being little more than head-knowledge, is often too shallow to produce joy. The kind of faith that produces joy is heart-knowledge. It isn’t composed of memorized facts and verses. Instead, it has been tested, tried and learned through experience.

And finally, wrong expectations can cause us to miss out on joy altogether. It’s easy to fall into the trap of measuring God’s love by the number and size of our blessings. But God never promised an easy life. He only promised peace and grace to endure the hardships as well as the good times.

So how do we find joy? We must follow Zechariah’s example and focus on the promises of God rather than our present circumstances. Life may be hard. It has its knocks and doesn’t always make sense. But we can rest assured that God has a plan and is in complete control.

Discussion questions

• How does joy differ from happiness?

• Have you ever experienced joy during a time of crisis?

• How can faith and hope inspire joy?

• What do you expect to receive from salvation? Have your expectations been met?

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

Posted: 7/27/07

Ministry sheds light on
international sex trafficking

By Whitney Farr

Communications Intern

BANGKOK, Thailand—Lina stood drenched and bleeding in the middle of the street after a woman selling fruit threw a bucket of water on her and proceeded to beat her with a plastic ice cooler.

“She’s not a human being!” the street vendor screamed. “She sells her body!”

Lina felt the pain of the blows and the blood gushing from her hands. She heard the laughter of male onlookers. But she also heard the comforting voice of a Christian woman.

“Lina, I know. I understand about the Uzbek women coming to Bangkok,” said NightLight Director and Founder Annie Dieselberg. “We want to help you.”

Dieselberg has made it her life’s calling to care for women like Lina—victims of Bangkok’s booming international sex trade.

Recently, Asha Sanchu of NightLight Bangkok challenged 450 Baptist delegates from more than 50 countries gathered at the Baptist World Alliance annual meeting to do everything in their power to end sexual slavery.

NightLight Bangkok is a ministry in urban Bangkok that reaches out to women and children working in and around local bars. Located in a neighborhood with a growing sex trade, Nightlight’s vision is to share “the Light of the world” in both word and deed to women and children who live in darkness.

The ministry provides economic and educational opportunities, life-skills training, public awareness and involvement and relational evangelism.

Sex trafficking is not happening only in Thailand. According to a CIA report cited by the New York Times, as many as 50,000 women and children are brought to the United States under false pretenses each year and forced to work as prostitutes, abused laborers or servants.

Trafficking in human beings is now the third-largest moneymaking venture in the world, after illegal weapons and drugs. In fact, the United Nations estimates that the trade nets organized crime more than $12 billion a year.

Voluntarily or involuntarily, these women are victims, representatives of the NightLight ministry insist.

Prostitutes experience repeated sexual assaults, domination, battering and terror, according to a recent study done by NightLight.

The ministry takes its name from Isaiah 9:2—“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”

The radiance of NightLight is penetrating dark corners of Bangkok, and the ministry reports overwhelming numbers of professions of faith in Christ, representatives of the ministry told the Baptist World Alliance meeting.

Forty people attended the first worship service NightLight sponsored. They included not only women and staff, but also husbands, children and relatives. Seventy-two women had been employed at NightLight making handcrafted jewelry as of June, and new ones are applying for work nearly every day, Dielselbeg said.

NightLight has become well-known in the bars of Bangkok, and women involved in prostitution from all around have come to seek better employment—so much so that NightLight is outgrowing its facility and continually needs more staff members and volunteers.

“One of the new applicants last week was literally trembling and on the verge of tears as she applied (for a job at NightLight making jewelry). She finally broke down crying as she shared how she ended up in the bars and just couldn't handle the thought of going back. Inside I wanted to cry. ‘How can we say no? How could we possibly send her back to the lion's den?’ We couldn't say no and now she is happily learning to make jewelry, and her face is peaceful,” Dieselberg said.

Purchasing NightLight Design jewelry helps provide employment for former sex workers and will help to maintain the company’s registered status as a legally operating company in Thailand.

Jewelry is showcased and may be purchased on the website, www.nightlightbangkok.com . People interested in volunteering with NightLight should contact nightlightbkk@yahoo.com.

“They deserve a good normal life and I feel it is our responsibility, the church’s responsibility to help them. Just because somewhere in their journey of life they made a wrong choice, we can’t keep on degrading them,” Sanchu said.

“Moreover, until they are given a choice, how can we expect them to make the right choice?”

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

Posted: 7/27/07

Using Bible as his guide,
man searches for oil in Israel

By Matt Kennedy

Associated Baptist Press

DALLAS (ABP)—As much of the world continues to wait for signs of peace in Israel, John Brown continues to wait for signs of oil beneath it.

Brown is the chairman and founder of Zion Oil and Gas, Inc., a company searching for significant petroleum deposits in northern Israel. Brown says he believes Scripture points to the discovery of oil in the region.

The latest break for the Dallas-based company came June 10, when it received the Asher-Menashe License from the Israeli petroleum commissioner. The license permits Zion to drill across approximately 78,000 acres of land until June 9, 2010. The newly licensed area sits just north of a 98,100-acre stretch of land on which Zion currently drills.

Brown says he is sure Zion Oil will provide an end to his personal “mission by faith,” although its wells haven’t produced any oil yet.

Israel currently uses domestic gas deposits from off-shoring drilling and also depends on foreign oil, importing barrels from Egypt, Russia and the Caspian Region countries.

But for all the political tumult, Brown said Zion Oil doesn’t concern itself with the politics of any particular country. And he welcomes anybody, including Palestinians, interested in investing in the company.

According to a company Web site, Zion Oil wants to make the people of Israel “politically and economically independent.” The state of Israel is “not only a refuge for Jews but is the answer to the prayers of many generations of the Jewish people,” it says.

Brown also has pledged that if his company finds oil, Israel will receive 12.5 percent of gross profits and two charitable trusts that Brown set up—one in Israel and one in the U.S.—will each earn 3 percent of total revenues.

The idea that the Bible has specific directions for finding oil in Israel is a controversial one. With what he sees as a mandate for drilling in such a sensitive region, Brown is used to criticism. Critics decry the improbability of an oil company claiming to have motivations for drilling beyond that of financial gain, but Brown will not be deterred.

Brown’s mission is rooted in a speech he heard soon after he became a Christian. Evangelist James Spillman, now deceased, delivered the sermon, which included many elements in his book The Great Treasure Hunt.

In the presentation, Spillman showed scriptures he said pertained to the discovery of oil in Israel. Then Spillman attempted to connect the scripture to a map of the 12 tribes in Canaan.

Spillman focused on Deuteronomy 33:24 where Moses said, “Let Asher be blessed with children … and let him dip his foot in oil.” Spillman said the tribe of Asher was located in a geographic location shaped like a foot and that the passage referenced to the northern region of the tribe of Manasseh.

Another passage Spillman referenced was Genesis 49:22-26, which mentions “a well,” and “blessings of the deep that crouch beneath” that “shall be on the head of Joseph.” Spillman believed “blessing of the deep” is a reference to oil, and “the head of Joseph” refers to the head-like boundary of ancient Manasseh.

Brown said he was skeptical of Spillman’s message at first, but he began to subscribe to it during his first trip to Israel. There, he said, he realized that God wanted him to look for the oil in what was once the northern region of Manasseh. Since then, Brown has never doubted Spillman’s message.

“I’ll never deny it because that would almost be like saying that Jesus is not my savior,” Brown said. “It’s going to happen. There’s no doubt in my mind—not because I want it to happen, but because God has ordained it.”

Many biblical scholars have a different interpretation of the Deuteronomy passage. John Hilber, associate professor of Old Testament at Dallas Theological Seminary, said there is no doubt the reference to oil in Deuteronomy 33:24 describes olive oil.

And Hibler’s colleague Eugene Merrill, distinguished professor of Old Testament studies, said he hopes Brown finds oil and lots of it. However, he said, it would only be a coincidence and would not change the linguistic interpretation of the passage. He said no one could make shemen, the original Hebrew word referenced in the passage, mean anything but olive oil. The region just below ancient Asher was and is still a land ripe with olive trees, Merrill noted.

Ishwaran Muldliar, assistant professor of Old Testament studies at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, said the phrase “dip his foot in oil,” when used in context, describes fertility and abundance of crops in Israel, not petroleum.

Regarding the Genesis passage, Muldliar said “blessing of the deep,” or tehom in ancient Hebrew, refers to water.

Philip Mandelker distinctly disagrees with Muldiar’s interpretation. Zion Oil’s executive vice president and secretary, Mandelker has said his general familiarity with biblical literature is his guide for interpreting certain texts. He has written a paper refuting the critics.

Mandelker said that in Hebrew, shemen is a generic term used for many types of oil. He said the etymology of the word is such that it could refer to petroleum.

“I can’t say that it definitely means petroleum or rock oil, but I can say that it doesn’t definitely mean olive oil,” Mandelker said.

Dallas Seminary’s Merrill said Mandelker’s use of modern Hebrew does not apply when interpreting the context of the passage. Today’s Hebrew-speaking cultures use ancient words to refer to all kinds of modern things, he said.

Four years after Brown became a Christian, he quit his job in Michigan and moved to Houston to start an oil company. His first wife had divorced him shortly after he became a born-again Christian. John met and married his current wife, Joan Gray, before the move to Houston in 1986.

Brown said what came next were 10 of the hardest years of his life.

“I suffered greatly,” Brown said. “I spent every dollar I had and had no income. Then God showed me what true faith was, and it wasn’t what I was taught.”

The breaking point came while Brown was cleaning toilets for $4 an hour at Houston’s Metropolitan Baptist Church. Brown said he finally realized there was nothing left for him in Houston, so he decided to accept an offer from his son to work at his concrete company in Michigan. Brown sold his couch for gas money to make the drive back to Michigan.

Brown said what happened next was all God’s doing. A newly developed laser screed, or concrete plane, helped M&B Concrete and Construction, Inc., win contracts with major companies like Wal-Mart and K-Mart. In 1995, the company went from earning $60,000 to earning $9.5 million 24 months later.

Despite the new wealth, Brown didn’t buy a house for his new wife, Joan, and himself—God was “calling him” to Israel, he said. Instead, with the funding needed to seek out private investors, he flew overseas to start Zion Oil.

Brown founded Zion Oil in 2000, began deepening an exploratory well in 2005, and listed the company on the American Stock Exchange Jan. 3 of this year. Its initial public offering was $12.5 million—not a huge sum of money, considering the expense involved with operating an oil and gas company.

In the short time Zion Oil has been on the market, its share price has declined fairly steadily, from a high of $14.05 per share Jan. 4 to a low of $4.30 per share June 22. But CEO Richard Rinberg said he’s not concerned about the falling price.

“I don’t care what the short-term price is—I don’t even look at it,” Rinberg said. “I know that if we make the right decisions that we will build value into the company for the long-term. And I know that if we have a bit of success that the share price will eventually go up.”

Rinberg said Zion Oil may get a secondary offering from the market when it requires more money. Right now, it is focusing on drilling in the Permian, which is a deep stratum of the Earth that has yielded some of the best deposits of oil and gas worldwide.

“There have been approximately 420 wells drilled in the [Israeli] land north of Jerusalem,” Rinberg said. “The trouble is that around 410 of those wells were not deep enough.”

Rinberg said it’s much easier and cheaper to drill a shallow oil well, but he thinks it would have been better for those companies to save their money. The area is practically virgin territory, since only 10 or 11 of those wells were drilled to a level where they even had a chance of success, he said.

Now in its seventh year, Zion Oil and Gas will never drill outside of Israel, Brown said.

“God never called us to any place other than Israel, and that’s why we’re there,” Brown said.

Time will tell whether he finds oil, but Brown is certain it will happen. And his determination has made quite an impression on his colleagues.

“The fact that John had the character and determination to take all the criticism and see it through to where we are today is incredible,” Rinberg said. “It’s unbelievable that anyone could take that sort of battering over the years without giving up.”

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

Posted: 7/27/07

Mission workers jittery over passport backlogs

By Michelle Rindels

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)—In the wake of tighter passport restrictions, thousands of jittery missionaries-to-be added something new to their prayer lists—passport delays.

Passport offices have experienced a deluge of applications since new rules went into effect in January that require passports for re-entry after flights from Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean and Bermuda. For churches, delays that can exceed 12 weeks have added more headaches at the height of mission trip season.

Jeremy Horneck was among the stressed. A recent graduate of Maranatha Baptist Bible College in Watertown, Wisc., Horneck learned in April that he landed his dream job—teaching English in the steamy tropics of Saipan, an island in the South Pacific.

Only two months from his June departure date, Horneck assumed he would be able to receive his passport within the normal six-week processing timeframe. This year, however, normal time estimates don’t apply. Between October 2006 and April 2007, the State Department issued 8.6 million passports—more passports than were issued in any single full year before 2003.

Just one week before his flight to Saipan was scheduled to depart, a passport-less Horneck phoned the Passport Information Center to ask about the document’s whereabouts. When it didn’t arrive as promised, he got worried.

A flurry of fruitless calls to the swamped Passport Information Center ensued, followed by urgent calls to his congressman. Four days before he left, he arrived at a Chicago passport office at 5 a.m. Nearly 10 hours later, a relieved Horneck had the little blue booklet in his hands.

“The worst thing would be delaying my trip, which would have cost hundreds of dollars which I didn’t have,” Horneck said. “I knew that God had called me to Saipan, and he would get me there in plenty of time for his work.”

Horneck isn’t alone. Thousands of anxious travelers are keeping the phones ringing at congressional offices.

“Since the rules have been relaxed, it’s been about 25 (calls) a week,” said Andy Stone, a spokesman for Rep. Jerry McNerny (D-Calif.), noting the situation was even more intense before the House voted June 8 to delay the passport stipulation on air travel to Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean and Bermuda.

At Rep. Dennis Cardoza’s (D-Calif.) office, the total number of calls from concerned travelers has exceeded 1,000.

Mission organizations have also been hearing an earful. Lisa Countiss, an administrator for Adventures in Missions, fields calls from anxious parents and travelers that participate in the agency’s numerous trips overseas. This year the number of calls to her office has spiked.

A few mission trip participants were forced to stay home, Countiss said. Some missionaries received their passports just days before their trips. Others chose to fly to passport offices in New Orleans or Chicago, where they stood in line with hundreds of others.

Although the delays have complicated religious travel and increased costs, at least one pastor believes that the obstacles won’t affect the number of missionaries who serve.

John Bowersox, youth pastor at Spanish River Church in Boca Raton, Fla., said it would take more than passport issues to discourage the church’s annual trips to the poor areas of Cancun, Mexico.

The service trips to Cancun are very important to the youth group, he said: “People that go on those trips are by far more connected (with each other) than those that don’t.”

During this year’s service trip, 37 people traveled to minister to children and help construct walls for an open-air church. The church, which has planned such trips for years, is particularly travel-savvy.

Even before the State Department required travelers to carry passports when they went south of the border, Spanish River had that requirement.

Bowersox said the additional $60-$125 cost for a passport is something his teens are prepared for. He believes the new restrictions will have a minimal effect on Spanish River’s ministry—only those teens who are late to apply might run into problems, he said.

While passport lines continue to stretch for blocks, the nightmare ended well for many missionaries. Horneck wrote from Saipan to say the passport situation was resolved—he’s already hard at work teaching English to 20 Korean-speaking students.

“I am so thankful (God) worked everything out so I could get here,” he 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: 7/27/07

Reformers blog wins endorsement
from some SBC leaders

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

NEW YORK (ABP)—In a ringing show of support, several prominent Baptist leaders have publicly endorsed a groundbreaking blog operated by reform-minded pastors within the Southern Baptist Convention.

The endorsers include the presidents of three SBC entities and a college president—Morris Chapman, president of the SBC’s Executive Committee; Thom Rainer, president of LifeWay Christian Resources; Jerry Rankin, president of the SBC’s International Mission Board; and David Dockery, president of Union University.

All have posted messages of support for SBCOutpost.com. The weblog, previously run by Georgia pastor Marty Duren, relaunched in June as a collaborative site with the goal of becoming the “premier site for Southern Baptist news and commentary.”

Participating writers include several well-known bloggers who recently announced they would quit writing about the SBC on their respective personal weblogs.

All of the bloggers are conservatives and have been involved in efforts to reform the Southern Baptist Convention, which most say has become too narrow and moribund under the leadership of an older generation of biblical inerrantists.

The endorsements from Chapman and Rankin are especially notable. Chapman, the SBC’s chief executive, has repeatedly called for more openness and less bickering among SBC leaders.

And a controversy over new International Mission Board trustee policies triggered the Baptist blogging revolution in 2006. Some of those policies were widely believed to be targeted at Rankin by his own trustees. Blogging by Oklahoma pastor Wade Burleson, an IMB trustee and Rankin supporter, prompted other trustees unsuccessfully to seek to remove Burleson—who is not among the SBCOutpost contributors.

In his statement, Rankin said he appreciated the “vision for the new direction” of the site and called the blog a “significant channel of communication [that] can serve Southern Baptists….”

Rankin also praised “candid exposure of denominational policies and developments” that hold leaders to accountability and integrity.

“Informed people are better equipped to respond appropriately to contemporary issues,” Rankin said. “Most channels of communication are controlled by editors, boards and organizations, but the blogesphere [sic] opens the door to a comprehensive, free flow of ideas that is mutually beneficial to contributors and readers.”

Chapman noted the benefits of “open” writing as well. In his endorsement, he said he is “encouraged” by the SBCOutpost contributors’ stated intentions to “tone down personal criticisms of those who have differing views.” If they achieve that, the site will become a “model of Christian decorum,” he said.

“Whether you agree or disagree with any particular opinion expressed by Outpost bloggers, their open and straightforward style of writing gives insight into their own thinking while often challenging the reader with views that otherwise might remain unspoken and thus unheard,” Chapman said.

Dockery and Rainer also emphasized that the site should be a “positive” outlet and “tool … to open doors of communication.”

The site is noteworthy not because the articles and comments are always right, Dockery said, but because “significant issues are addressed in a well-informed, and often challenging, manner.”

For their part, regular contributors to SBCOutpost.com have said they are pleased with the results of their endeavor, which has received more than 72,500 viewers to date.

“We have enjoyed watching as we have encouraged dialogue from individuals on every inhabited continent on this globe,” they wrote on the blog. “We have been more than satisfied as discussion has occurred in earnest concerning some of the more significant issues which the SBC is facing currently.”

Contributors to the blog include Duren, Benjamin Cole, Alan Cross, Art Rogers, Darren Casper, John Stickley, Micah Fries, Paul Littleton, Sam Storms, Tim Sweatman, and Todd Littleton. Many of them are pastors, while others are laymen or leaders involved in Baptist organizations.

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

Posted: 7/27/07

Supporters defend seminary homemaking class

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

FORT WORTH (ABP)—Recent criticism of a homemaking degree at a Southern Baptist seminary has brought some conservatives out swinging, calling the critics “sanctimonious liberals.”

The tiff emerged after a guest opinion piece by Baptist ethicist Robert Parham appeared in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. In the essay, Parham criticized a new homemaking course program at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth. Parham is the executive director of the Baptist Center for Ethics.

Parham called the program an “absurd aberration” and said that, while strengthening families by teaching homemaking skills and conflict management is a good thing, the course’s overall emphasis is misplaced.

“What is dangerous about Christian homemaking programs is that they diminish the Christian faith and deceive naïve Christians,” he said. “Water boils, spoons stack in kitchen drawers and sewing machines sew the same way for Christians and non-Christians. For Christians to think otherwise is a frightening split from reality.”

He also cited Texas pastor Benjamin Cole’s blog response to hearing about the venture: “A seminary degree in cookie-baking is about as useful as an M.Div. (master of divinity degree) in automotive repair.”

Cole, a Southern Baptist who has critiqued the seminary’s current administration, has parodied the “Mrs. degree” in several posts on his personal blog, Baptist Blogger (baptistblog.wordpress.com).

On June 28, program supporters shot back. In a scathing radio review, Ingrid Schlueter of the Crosstalk America Christian radio show and Terri Stovall, dean of women’s studies at the seminary, lambasted critics of the homemaking courses.

“How pitiful that we have pastors such as Benjamin Cole willing to sneeringly deride the efforts of Dr. Stovall and others and … attempting to undergird the understanding of young people who are growing into adulthood and who are looking forward to a ministry and a life in a Christian family,” Schleuter said.

Southwestern Seminary President Paige Patterson announced the new program during the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting in San Antonio. It follows such moves as a 1998 addition to the SBC’s confessional statement that said wives should “graciously submit” to their husbands and a 2000 addition that declared female pastors unbiblical.

“It is homemaking for the sake of the church and the ministry and for the sake of our society,” Patterson said, in announcing the program. “If we do not do something to salvage the future of the home, both our denomination and our nation will be destroyed.”

Slated to start this fall, the 23-hour curriculum includes three hours of general homemaking classes; three hours of classes on “the value of a child;” seven class hours in “design and apparel;” seven class hours on nutrition and meal preparation; and a three-hour course on biblical models for the family.

Southwestern isn’t the only SBC school with classes designed to teach women traditional roles. In its Seminary Wives Institute, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., offers a 13-hour certificate of ministry via classes on marriage, child-rearing and shopping on a budget.

Stovall, in her interview with Schleuter, echoed Patterson’s refrain. The homemaking concentration is grounded in a passage in Titus that she said directs Christians to train women how to be good homemakers.

Working at home is a woman’s most important job, she told Schleuter. And women are “just dying for information and skills to be the very best they can be in their home, because the heart truly is the home,” she added.

In response to Schleuter, Cole said he maintains his initial position that the degree is “frivolous and foolish.”

“The seminary administration has misappropriated Southern Baptists’ Cooperative Program dollars in developing this degree concentration, and they will waste the seminary resources should they continue to pursue it,” Cole said. “Women who follow God’s call to the noble vocation of homemaker do not need courses in sewing and interior design any more than men who follow God’s call to the pastorate need instruction in tying neckties or shining dress shoes.”

Like Cole, Parham said Schleuter’s show confirmed his opinion piece that “questioned the fundamentalist worldview that there is a ‘Christian way’ to cook and clean, shop and make salads.”

“Christian education needs to major on moral values, not to minor on the non-essentials such as using zip lock bags,” he said via email. “It’s OK for men and women to learn about organizing a closet, just don’t claim there is a Christian way to do so.”

For his part, Cole said he had not previously heard of Schleuter’s radio program and learned about the Stovall interview after the fact. He said her message “revealed very clearly that the nature of her anticipated dialogue was as ignorant of the genesis of my critique as it was the substance of my concerns.”

“We ought not complain that we are the laughingstock of the world if we can’t manage to keep a straight face ourselves when talking about such academic nonsense,” he 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: 7/27/07

Church corruption, financial
scandals live on long past Bakkers

By Matt Kennedy

Associated Baptist Press

DALLAS (ABP)—For some, Tammy Faye Messner’s death July 20 stirred fond memories of a joyful Christian TV personality, and for others, painful memories of the sex-and-money scandal that destroyed her former husband’s popular Christian television network. Her death also reminds Christians that financial scandals are still very much alive in the church.

In 1989, Jim Bakker was convicted of 24 counts of fraud and conspiracy and sentenced to 45 years in prison (he served five). Messner—known as Tammy Faye Bakker before her remarriage—was not included in the indictment, which accused Jim Bakker of conspiring to defraud partners of his PTL cable TV network out of $158 million.

The story of how Bakker stole from those he led in Christ’s name captivated the nation’s attention and epitomized a decade of televangelist scandals. Eventually they all faded from the headlines. But, while televangelists are no longer the focus, stories about clergy theft in general have not disappeared.

In fact, 20 percent of American congregations lose money to people entrusted with church finances, according to a 2005 Newsday article.

• Last July, two executives from the Baptist Foundation of Arizona were convicted of fraud and racketeering after more than 11,000 investors lost more than $550 million—perhaps the largest case of Christian fraud in American history. William Crotts and Thomas Grabinski were accused of publishing favorable financial statements to retain investments while they shifted bad assets to “off-the-books” companies to hide the foundation’s extensive losses from auditors.

• In Kentucky, Larry Davis pleaded guilty to stealing $730,000 from his now-former congregation, First Baptist Church of Cold Spring. The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that as part of the plea agreement, prosecutors dropped three counts of income-tax evasion and two counts of transferring stolen church money across state lines.

• In Washington, D.C., a watchdog group called Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics recently filed two complaints with the IRS against Living Word Christian Center in Minneapolis and its pastor, Mac Hammond. The second complaint was based on documents obtained by the Minnesota Monitor that claim Hammond bought a plane from the church and then leased it back to the church for almost $900,000 a year.

• And for over a year, the Kansas City Star has been researching First Family Church, a Southern Baptist Church in Overland Park, Kan., and its pastor Jerry Johnston, after former members of the church expressed concerns about the church’s financial accountability. The Star reported detailed accounts involving nepotism, broken promises, delayed spending and an unexplained land deal.

The worst cases make headlines. But experts say some instances of misappropriation of church funds occur for reasons other than theft and deception.

Dalen Jackson, associate professor of biblical studies at the Baptist Seminary of Kentucky, said many instances of financial misappropriation are unintentional, due instead to laziness or lack of understanding about tax laws.

Steve Clifford is a financial planner who specializes in clergy tax returns. He said that of the more than 10,000 tax returns he’s filed involving clergy, he has found only one misappropriation of funds. And in that case, Clifford said, it was clear the minister was guilty only of being sloppy, not doing wrong.

“Greed is a temptation for anyone but not for most of the pastors I work with,” Clifford said. “Most of them are self-sacrificing.”

Clifford said pastors tend to get in trouble when they focus all their energy on ministering duties. He said the business aspect of managing a church sometimes gets pushed aside because pastors usually don’t have formal training in the areas of sales and finance.

“There is a need for more financial education for pastors and church treasurers,” Clifford said.

Bob Baker, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Lexington, Ky., said his church has a system of financial checks and balances. Baker said he doesn’t want any control of church finances—that’s not his area of expertise—so he consults with church staffers hired specifically to deal with areas of finance.

“As pastors, we should set up a financial system where we can be true to God and accountable to members of the congregation,” he said.

Clifford agreed, saying that knowledgeable church members willing to volunteer to help the pastor with financial issues can be helpful, especially in smaller churches that don’t have enough money to pay a treasurer.

Gifts are another area where pastors should tread carefully, experts say. Congregations often feel a close connection with their pastors. But when congregants try to express their appreciation to pastors by giving gifts, it can put a pastor in an uncomfortable position.

According to Clifford, tax regulations state that unsolicited gifts from one person to another out of love and affection are non-taxable, non-reportable and non-deductible. But when the value of such gifts becomes a regular or substantial part of the pastor’s or any employee’s income, then a line has been crossed.

“This is a tough area of ethics to discern,” Clifford said. “It remains an area of subjective judgment with few clearly demarcated lines.”

Gary Fearn, a pastor from Pueblo, Colo., and part-time tax appraiser, said it’s often difficult for pastors to turn down gifts because they don’t want to offend congregants. But many congregants are just trying to practice Jesus’ message to “bear the burden of your brother,” Fearn said.

Don Loomer, pastor of First Baptist Church of Elk Grove, Calif., said he can understand the tension of being presented with a pastoral gift. A congregant once offered him a new car.

“I turned it down,” Loomer said. The “kind of car he was offering was [worth] about as much as the (annual) living standard of the congregation. I didn’t want it to be a hindrance to my ministry.”

Fearn said the best way for pastors to increase accountability with their congregations is to increase the financial transparency of the church, since the practice builds trust and credibility.

Most churches could stand to improve that transparency. For instance, Fearn said, board meetings should be more a matter of public record than of secrecy. Inviting guests to board meetings or publishing transcripts of the discussions can help, Fearn said. And quarterly financial statements should be published and broken down into specific terms so everybody knows exactly where the money goes.

Sometimes, even with all precautions, mismanagement happens in churches. And ultimately, say experts like Baker, all cases involving outright corruption have one thing in common—in the end, everyone losses.

“Whenever a pastor falls I’m saddened because it really hurts all of us,” he 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: 7/27/07

Baugh family challenge nets about
$1.2 million in two weeks for agency

By Robert Marus

Associated Baptist Press

WASHINGTON (ABP)—A Texas Baptist family’s spontaneous challenge to jump-start a Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty capital campaign netted the organization nearly $1.2 million dollars in just a couple of weeks.

Brent Walker, executive director of the Washington-based advocacy group, announced in a July 24 e-mail to supporters that a matching-funds challenge from the Baugh family of San Antonio has been wildly successful. In little more than two weeks, donors gave or pledged a total of $688,372 in response. According to Walker, an unnamed benefactor who gave a $200,000 gift requested it not be matched, meaning the challenge raised $1,176,745.46.

With the gift and the original half-million-dollar donation, Walker said, the capital campaign total to date stands at slightly over $2.5 million, or half of the final goal.

The matching-funds challenge started during the BJC’s annual luncheon, held June 29 in conjunction with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly and American Baptist Churches USA Biennial in Washington, D.C. There, Walker noted that the Baugh family had given $500,000 to boost the group’s campaign to build the Center for Religious Liberty on Capitol Hill.

Family representative Babs Baugh then, in a surprise announcement, said her family would match any other pledges or gifts made to the campaign between June 29 and July 15.

The center is part of a capital campaign begun in conjunction with the BJC’s 70th anniversary. It will help purchase, renovate and endow a house on Capitol Hill that will become the organization’s offices. The facility will also contain working space for BJC partner organizations and visiting scholars.

BJC leaders, who advocate for church-state separation, have said they hope such a building will establish a highly visible presence for the Baptist conception of religious freedom near the Capitol. For most of its existence, the organization has rented space in the Washington offices of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

“I am so moved by the incredible generosity of Babs, the Baugh family and all of you who took up the challenge,” Walker wrote. “The BJC is now closer to having the funds required to build the center … a little over halfway there. Thank you! With the continued support of friends like you, we will surely meet our goal of $5 million dollars.”

Babs Baugh is the daughter of Eula Mae and John Baugh, who founded the Sysco Corporation. Over the years, the Baughs have donated large sums to many Baptist causes, including the BJC, Baylor University, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and Associated Baptist Press. John Baugh died in March at age 91.

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