Posted: 7/06/07

Churches see themselves
as missions-sending entities

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

NOXVILLE, Tenn.—While Baptist missiologists and prognosticators are declaring church-based missions the future of global outreach, some pastors believe it’s the present, as their congregations serve around the world.

Although the evidence is largely anecdotal, many Baptists believe churches doing mission work overseas without the help of missions boards, agencies or parachurch organizations is on the rise. The trend began with congregations taking short-term mission trips, but it has shifted toward churches that send members to the mission field for longer periods of time.

First Baptist Church in Knoxville, Tenn., followed that pattern. It began with a partnership with Croatian Baptists focused on support, moved to taking short-term mission trips and now plans to send students to serve in Croatia for several months at a time.

The congregation is helping to “plug the holes in the dike” left by denominations in Croatia, Pastor Bill Shiell said.

“We cannot find another denominational entity that is willing to send missionaries to this part of the world because they have other priorities,” he said. “We wanted not only to send our own missionaries, but also be connected to the people there.”

The relational aspects of this kind of mission work are attractive to the churches doing it. Ministers want their congregations to feel connected to where the church is serving, which they argue requires more than sending money to a mission board.

“We’re sharing life with them,” said Ben Dudley, community minister at University Baptist Church in Waco, whose church works in Kenya. “We know these people. We know their names. We know their faces.”

University Baptist Church has partnered with Baylor University to minister in Kenya, particularly in an orphanage there. Once the church built relationships, it empowered students to serve there several months at a time.

First Baptist Church in Arlington and Cottonwood Baptist Church in Dublin have partnered to start Global Connection Partnership Network—a program to help congregations train and send missionaries.

Cindy Wiles, executive director of the network, believes her organization can help facilitate congregations who want to assist their members in fulfilling their mission calling.

“There are no rules,” she said. “Churches are looking to do what they feel God calling them to do.”

The increase in direct mission work is forcing many state and national conventions to re-evaluate their missions efforts. Critics of the increase in direct mission work argue that there is little coordination of efforts, which leads to unneeded duplication of ministry. They also say direct mission work takes money from traditional Baptist cooperative funding channels.

Wiles, Dudley, Shiell and others believe their churches direct efforts get more people involved in mission work and raises more mission funds. Individuals contribute above their normal giving to support direct missions.

Proponents of direct mission work also argue that their churches look for partnerships in the areas they serve. They learn what groups in a given area are doing and seek ways to coordinate efforts with them.

“I’ve never seen people respond to a project like this because there’s such ownership,” Shiell said of his church’s work in Croatia.

Several years ago, the Baptist General Convention of Texas started WorldconneX, a missions broker that connects churches in affinity groups and to needs around the world. WorldconneX helped Waco’s University Baptist Church work through the logistics of sending students to serve in Kenya. Dudley praised the group as a resource for churches.

Just as record companies had to adjust to digital music, denominations are having to adjust to churches sending missionaries, Dudley said.

“The WorldconneX idea is brilliant,” he said. “Instead of sending people to one place, let’s just connect people. I feel Baptists are leading the way in how to do missions in the 21st century.”

Whether or not denominations adapt their work, churches will continue helping their members fulfill God’s calling upon their lives—even on the mission field.

“When a church feels a calling to go somewhere, they’re going to do what it takes to go there,” Shiell 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: 7/06/07

Back to the future, as missionaries
raise their own financial support

By Jennifer Harris

Missouri Word & Way

Career missionaries may be cutting the middleman from the flow of missions dollars, say experts in the study of mission trends. While denominational agencies and missions partners will not be out of the picture, their roles may change—and perhaps already are.

Larry and Sarah Ballew serve in Macau as affiliates in the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship As You Go program. The Ballews raise their own financial support, relying on relationships with churches and individuals in the States to stay in Macau. The Ballews already had been in Macau several years before working with CBF.

“We were looking for a way to connect with CBF,” Ballew said. “They were just getting ready to introduce the As You Go program. We were one of the first to participate.”

The Ballews like the program because it enables more people to serve. “Many don’t see themselves as ‘missionaries,’ but can be people in business who offer a Christian witness,” he said.

Bill O’Brien, retired director of Samford University’s Global Center and former vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Foreign Mission Board—now International Mission Board—feels the move to a more societal brand of missions already is occurring.

“The local church is taking back the initiative,” he said. “Many still cooperate with missions agencies, but churches are discovering each other and cooperating with each other.”

He described the change as quasi-societal or functional associationalism. Churches with a similar missions goal are partnering to meet those goals. “Like the Cooperative Program, churches know they can do more together than they can separately, but due to all the problems the last 25 to 30 years, they are finding other ways.”

The change is part of the cycle of missions, Keith Parks said. Parks, who served as coordinator of CBF Global Missions and presi-dent of the SBC Foreign Mission Board, said it is pretty clear the national organizations are weakening. He attributes this to cultural trends. “Younger adults tend to be hands on. They want to be more involved,” he said. “We have to adapt and change our methods, or we will lose support or numbers.”

Many people believe the denomination method is the way missions always has been, Parks said.

But according to Harlan Spurgeon, retired CBF staff member and vice president of the FMB, “modern missions began with societies. William Carey was supported by a group of committed friends who shared his burden for the lost world. American Baptist foreign missions was an extension of this method, and has continued to this day. In fact, it would be fair to say that the majority of missions historically has been done in this way.”

Though the method can be beneficial to the local church and missionaries, it also can cause difficulties—especially in a world still linked to denominations. Churches sometimes assume that because a missionary is partnering with a missions agency, their funds are provided.

“Giving needs to be above and beyond—in addition to—money given to global missions funds,” Ballew said. “We have good months and bad months in terms of support. Some churches or individuals will give for a time, then they are done. We have to trust that the Lord will provide what we need.”

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

Posted: 7/06/07

Technology changes the way missionaries work

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

NEW YORK (ABP)—Most Baptist missions leaders agree technology has changed the face of missions. What they don’t agree on is what it has changed the most.

Some claim centralized integration of information has radically reshaped the mission process. Others think easier and expedited communication has changed the very nature of field work. Still others credit visual and audio media with changing the fund-raising, recruiting and promotional landscape forever.

They could all be right.

Telephone landlines, snail-mail and the quintessential missionary slideshows have been replaced by e-mail, voice-over-Internet protocol and video presentations. Extensive databases have taken the place of file cabinets crammed with paper information about field workers.

Jim Burdick, director of Evangelical Baptist Missions, said the integration of information has most affected his work. Founded in 1928, the Indianapolis-based agency used to store all personnel information in five scattered file cabinets. Now, Evangelical Baptist Missions keeps all information in one place—a huge step forward, Burdick said.

“We now have the ability to take everything from the application standpoint when somebody contacts us and says, ‘I’m interested in missions,’ now we can start to gather that information online, and that starts to accumulate in a database we have,” he said. Whether it’s a “person, a foundation or a church—if there’s any kind of relationship—it’s in one database.”

The database is managed by an outside vendor—the mission agency pays a subscription fee for the software—and took about a year to implement. Burdick said the database is part of his office’s five-year technology plan that will next work toward upgrading accounting and other office-based tasks.

John Burnette, director of Open Door Baptist Missions, appreciates the streamlined accounting practices and improved donor interface the technology fosters. But it’s the communication opportunities that really get him talking.

Burnette and his wife lived as missionaries in South America more than 20 years. Having worked in missions a total of 38 years, the greatest change since he started has come in communications, especially in the last 15 years, he said.

“When we started … it took usually 10 days for a letter to get from South America to our home office in Cleveland, Ohio, and then be distributed and returned over another 10 days. Now, for a request or question even in remote areas, people can get to a computer and send an e-mail, and they can get an answer in the same day,” he said.

Now stationed in the United States, Burnette uses a laptop and special cell phone to talk to his daughter and her family, who live on a boat in the Amazon River. And he talks to missionaries in Israel using a voice-over-Internet protocol phone.

Written communication with donors has changed, too. Since Burnette’s missionaries largely are supported by churches, e-mail attachments of financial statements let them know on a regular basis their donation status.

“What used to be something that took awhile to get in order, by the time we mailed it to them, they may get the statement for June by the end of July,” he said. “But presently, our accountant is pretty much able to close the books by the end of the month and send them a .pdf (graphic computer file) of their statement.”

Burnette said he also has seen a move away from the standard, hard-copy prayer letters. Instead, missionaries at Open Door send weekly e-mail updates with pictures, charts and other visual components.

Lonnie Richards knows the value of the visual. A video producer at Baptist Mid-Missions, Richards has a full video studio and two complete video editing suites at his disposal—and he makes full use of them.

During furloughs, missionaries visit the studio to create and edit video presentations for church visits, adding narration tracks and formatting it for DVDs. Right now, the shooting center production schedule is booked for months in advance, said Richards, who works in Cleveland, Ohio.

“We’ve recently completed a video presentation of our own to use for recruitment in Europe,” he said. “For Europe, the video was to say ‘when you think of the mission field, you think of Africa, you think of China, but you don’t always think of Europe.’ So we put together a video showing people in Europe.”

Production on the recruitment video took several months on the software-based suites. Originally, the suites were hardware-based and cost $60,000 to $70,000 total. Now a complete studio costs roughly $9,000, not including the cameras and lights, Richards said.

It’s well worth it, he said.

“If you affect hearts and lives, I guess that pays dividends,” he said. “You don’t do these kinds of videos to make money. That’s not what we’re here for.

“But if you can touch a life and call someone to the mission field … or make someone think they want to be involved or pray … then there are added gains.”

The proliferation of technology has brought down its price as well. Burnette said that several years ago, many congregations thought a laptop was an excessive luxury for a missionary. Now, it’s accepted as a necessary tool.

Price aside, the benefits of technology abound. Missionaries at Open Doors use specialized computer programs to work with Arabs in restricted countries. And they train nationals in closed countries using computer courses, chat rooms and question-and-answer sites.

Another benefit of technology is the ability-to-share capacity, Burdick said. His group has worked closely with other mission agencies, swapping best practices and dishing about the best software vendors.

There are down sides to technological advancement. It brings change to tactics and systems that have worked for decades—and Baptists are known for tendencies toward aversion to change. Sometimes mission supporters “struggle with the changes because they think ‘you guys are just playing with computers,’” Burdick said.

Burnette said there is a danger “in becoming so focused on technology that you forget your purpose, which is sharing the Lord Jesus Christ with individuals.”

Security always is a concern. Sensitive information sent to mission workers in Muslim or Communist countries can jeopardize their work. Even seemingly innocuous prayer requests could have serious ramifications. Burnette said encrypted messages and .pdf documents generally help shield sensitive material from prying eyes.

Burdick said computer data actually is safer than hard copies of records. His employee information is kept on a remote server and backed up by several other servers at different locations in the country.

Still, the benefits of e-mail access and an Internet connection outweigh the risks, even in simply letting field workers know they’re not alone.

“It also has provided a little bit the less of a feeling of being isolated because missionaries can communicate with their family and friends,” Burnette said.

“You can even conference with video and web cams. It does eliminate a little bit of the isolation in many respects.”

All told, missionaires agree technology is on the mission field to stay.

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

Posted: 7/06/07

What is the future of missions?

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

As churches and individual Christians demand more hands-on, practical connection to missions, some Baptists are questioning whether a missions-by-proxy approach—churches supporting professional career missionaries sent by large denominational agencies— has a future.

Count Ken Hall, president of Buckner International, among them.

Granted, God uses “imperfect instruments” to accomplish his work, and he blesses a variety of approaches to accomplish his mission—including big denominational bureaucracies, Hall said. But he generally doubts the wisdom of missions agencies sending cross-cultural career missionaries internationally as “surrogates” for other Christians.

“Is it the best use of our resources to train a handful of professionals to go in our place?” he asked.

For most of Christian history, the gospel spread across boundaries naturally as Christ’s followers shared their faith “in the normal course of life,” when their vocations took them to new places, he said. The Apostle Paul—usually cited as the model missionary—worked as a tentmaker and went on a series of relatively short-term missionary journeys.

“Career missionaries—by and large—are the exception to the biblical model, not the norm,” Hall said.

Mobilizing all Christians

Rather than delegating the missionary role to a relative handful of professionals supported by a denominational bureaucracy, churches could spread the gospel more effectively by engaging all of their members in a variety of local, national and international missions opportunities, he stressed.

“Our resources would be better spent mobilizing 30 million missionaries rather than supporting 4,000 or 5,000,” Hall said.

Sending cross-cultural career missionaries involves training, supervision and ongoing financial support for a proportionately small number of people, creating a system with a large overhead, he added.

“Too often, our missions emphasis has been more about raising money for the missionaries than raising money for missions,” Hall said.

Elena Korepanova, a Russian national who serves as follow-up team member for Buckner, plays with a child in Orphanage No. 15 during Vacation Bible School.  (Buckner photo)

But missions work performed almost exclusively by short-term volunteers also has its down side, said missiologist Ed Stetzer, director of research for LifeWay Christian Resources.

“I praise God for the volunteer mission work that is taking place, but if we’re not careful, it can be a double-edged sword,” Stetzer warned. “Too often, it turns into tourist missions and not genuine mission engagement.”

In many parts of the world, nothing can take the place of missionaries who make a lifetime commitment to a particular place or people group, he insisted.

“The reality is that in much of global missions, often engagement takes long-term incarnational missionaries living in context, understanding the language and culture, and planting biblical churches. You can’t do that when you have to go home on Thursday,” he said.

Church-based missions

Rob Nash, coordinator of Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Global Missions, and Bill Tinsley, leader of the WorldconneX missions network launched by the Baptist General Convention of Texas, agree the missions task is too big to be left only to career missionaries. But they remain convinced career missionaries continue to play an important role.

“Missions is primarily God’s work and only secondarily our work. It is not a calling that is restricted to a particular and select group of people. It is the task of the whole church and the calling of every single Christian person in the world,” Nash said.

Instead of “outsourcing” missions to an agency, many churches are beginning to reclaim their central role in global missions engagement, he stressed.

Claudia Leon, a Peruvian national and missions coordinator for Buckner Peru, places a pair of shoes on an orphan’s feet in Lima, part of Buckner International’s Shoes for Orphan Souls mission trip. Buckner employs indigenous Christian nationals as field personnel for their international ministries. (Buckner Photo)

“Churches should no longer be satisfied to be peripheral to the denominational engagement. Rather, they should insist on taking their rightful place at the very center and core of that engagement,” he said. “This is the pattern Christ intended from the earliest days of the church.”

Tinsley echoed that sentiment, saying, “Effective systems for the 21st century have to enhance and strengthen church-based missions.”

“In the 21st century, every believer is a missionary, and every church is a missionary,” he continued. “We can no longer delegate the missions task to someone else or another organization. We must become involved, both locally and globally.”

Role of career missionaries

That doesn’t mean the end of career missionaries, Nash explained.

“We must have people from congregations in the United States who are committed to living cross-culturally and to committing themselves to a place—either in the U.S. or abroad—for a lifetime,” he said.

The role of the professional career missionary must change, Tinsley stressed.

“Career missionaries in the 21st century must be missions strategists, cross-cultural strategists, cross-cultural specialists and equippers,” he said. “As we continue to discover that every believer is a missionary, we will increasingly need those who can train, teach and equip others for effective service in various cultural settings.”

Clyde Meador, executive vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention International Mission Board also emphasized career missionaries will continue to play a vital role in world evangelization. And he echoed Tinsley’s emphasis on their task as equippers and trainers.

“Cross-cultural missionaries are essential to take the gospel to places where it is not yet, or where there are not yet enough local believers to continue the spread of the gospel,” Meador said.

“At the same time, a major responsibility of every cross-cultural missionary is to train and equip local believers to reach their own people, as well as to go to near-culture groups whom they might best reach. No people group will be evangelized to a great extent by outsiders, but rather by those within that people, who are evangelized and then equipped to reach their people.”

Likewise, Stetzer stressed the continuing impor tance of career missionaries, and he rejected the idea that Christians must choose between either supporting a denominational missions agency or being involved in direct, hands-on missions.

Both the IMB and the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board, where Stetzer served until recently as director of the Center for Missional Research, “realize they exist to help churches accomplish the Great Commission,” he said. “Thus, they support church planters and missionaries … but also help local churches personally engage in church planting and people group ministry in North America and around the world.”

BGCT President Steve Vernon believes there “will always need to be some kind of mission-sending agency,” but he thinks the roles of those agencies will change in the future. Vernon recently assembled representatives from BGCT-related institutions and agencies, along with Executive Board staff who have missions assignments for a “missions exchange” event to explore ways to coordinate their efforts.

“There will need to be some missionaries on the field to support the mission activities of churches as they wish to travel,” Vernon said. “Those missionaries may be indigenous missionaries or people from missions agencies sent out to serve.”

Missionary Warren Hessling shares with a young Tuareg man in Niamey, Niger. As a Southern Baptist International Mission Board strategy coordinator, Warren is responsible for helping direct work to bring the gospel to the Tuareg people. (IMB photo)

Indigenous church leaders

Based on Buckner’s experience, Hall stressed the importance of Western Christians working as servants alongside national Christians in developing nations—not as outsiders who believe they have all the answers.

In some places, cross-cultural missionaries still may be needed, he conceded. But generally, instead of training Christians to invest their lives in a foreign culture, available funds could be spent better by helping indigenous, national Christians who already know the language and culture, Hall suggested.

Those nationals, in turn, can facilitate the work of short-term missions teams mobilized by their own churches, in partnership with ministries that have international connections.

That model works for Buck-ner because modern technology allows instant communication between administrators and the international field staff in eight countries, and—more to the point—because Buckner trusts Christians overseas to have the best understanding of their own culture and its needs, he noted.

“I think that a lot of models out there that rely on U.S. missionaries to take the message to other people groups have adopted that model because they don’t trust the Christians already there to get the message across,” Hall wrote in a blog earlier this year. “They can.”

The European Baptist Federation’s Indigenous Missionary Project offers another model, focused on helping Christians plant churches in their native countries. The project—supported financially by the BGCT, CBF and Baptist General Association of Virginia, American Baptists and many of the Baptist unions in Europe—provides initial support for each church starter for five years on a gradually diminishing scale, with the expectation that after that start-up period, outside support will be replaced by local funding. Currently, the project involves 65 church planters in 24 countries.

“We are not a sending agency,” said Daniel Trusiewicz, partnership coordinator for the project. “We always involve people who are local, who know the language, who know the culture and who are recommended by local Baptist unions or churches or associations. … Our role is to facilitate—to help them. … Some may be tentmakers—or have some other work—and our support allows them to focus on church planting.”

Cross-cultural missionaries may have an appropriate role, but church starting is not it, Trusiewicz insisted.

“If we speak about church planting, it has to be done by indigenous people, because they are the most effective and the cheapest. Some ministry (in other countries) may be done by expatriate missionaries, but not church planting,” he said.

Collaboration, not control

Sometimes, working with Christian nationals means crossing denominational lines, Hall noted.

“It’s not about indoctrinating people. It can’t be about control,” he said.

Nash likewise emphasized the importance of partnership and networking.

“This is a truly exciting time to be engaged with God all over the world. It is also a time in which we need to make sure that the focus is on God’s kingdom in the world and not upon any particular agencies, churches or other kinds of institutions,” he said. “True collaboration is essential. We have the opportunity together to truly share the gospel of Jesus Christ with the world. No one can own it. The work is God’s. The pattern for engagement will be God’s pattern.

“What is being shaped is a congregationally based and networking approach to global missions that just may be the greatest revolution in Christian history, because it occurs at a time when the world is smaller and when we are finally coming to grips with the obligation that every Christian has to be a missionary.”

Collaboration means recognizing the center of Christianity is shifting from the Western and Northern Hemisphere to the South and the East, Tinsley added.

Denominational missions-sending agencies “must create collaborative efforts with non-Western Christian leaders and multiple missions agencies. They must integrate church-based sending and participation into their strategies. (Western Christians) are no longer the only players—or even the dominant players—on the field.”

A missions model centered on national Christian leaders working with short-term volunteers from other cultures demands flexibility, Hall added.

“When you’re working with volunteers, it’s messy—just like church,” he acknowledged. But, he stressed, God gave the task of expanding his kingdom to churches—not denominations.

With additional reporting by Robert Dilday of the Virginia Religious Herald

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

Posted: 7/06/07

On the Move

• Lisa Bonnet to First Church in Evant as youth minister.

• Bob Elliott to Dogwood Hills Church in Woodville as intentional interim pastor.

• H.B. Graves to Barre, Vt., as missionary and seminary teacher.

• Martha Kate Hall to Northside Church in Corsicana as minister of preschool and children.

• Lillian Hinds to First Church in Evant as associate pastor for worship from Bruceville Church in Bruceville, where she was music minister.

• Russell Kersey to First Church in DeKalb as minister of music.

• Joe Lopez to First Church in Pearsall as minister of youth.

• Jeremy Newton to First Church in Wolfe City as minister of youth.

• Montie Martin to Southwestern Seminary as director of development for Houston and South Texas from Golden Triangle Association, where he was executive director.

• Johnny Moore to Bear Head Church in Gainesville as pastor.

• Barbie Reynolds to Trinity Church in Lubbock as music minister.

• Dan Reynolds to Trinity Church in Lubbock as pastor from First Church in Kress.

• Julie Pennington-Russell to First Church in Decatur, Ga., as pastor from Calvary Church in Waco.

• Royce Slough to First Church in Wolfe City as minister of music.

• Scotty Smith to Cowboy Fellowship of Atacosa County as youth pastor.

• Matt Webb to First Church in Plains as youth minister.

• Darin Wood to First Church in Frankston as pastor from Memorial Church in Corsicana.

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

Posted: 7/06/07

No holiday for Texas Baptist
disaster relief workers

By Barbara Bedrick

Texas Baptist Communications

WICHITA FALLS—A half-dozen Texas Baptist Men disaster relief crews restored homes and hope during the July 4 holiday as heavy rain and flooding continued to ravage the state.

The Baptist General Convention of Texas Disaster Response Team also began processing family aid requests as BGCT church strategists assessed family needs.

In North Texas, storms damaged more than 540 homes, and volunteers with the Wichita-Archer-Clay Baptist Association feeding unit began providing meals July 2 to 750 flood victims. The shower unit from Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas was set up at Allendale Baptist Church in Wichita Falls where volunteer crews were housed.  

For the previous two weeks, the same feeding unit served in Gainesville, providing nearly 14,000 meals.

TBM clean-out teams with the Collin Baptist Association—based at First Baptist Church in Gainesville—completed nearly two dozen operations. The Lamesa Baptist Association shower and laundry unit provided 386 showers and cleaned 367 loads of laundry. Volunteers staffing the state child care unit cared for 71 children.

The BGCT provided disaster family-unit assistance for five Gainesville families, and workers assessed needs in the Eastland area where floodwaters damaged more than 250 homes.

At least 12 families from First Baptist Church in Eastland watched as rising floodwaters caused significant damage to their homes around Lake Leon, according to church officials.

A clean-out crew from the San Antonio area arrived July 3 to begin initial assessments, and, according to unit commander Ernie Rice, as many as 60 TBM volunteers could be needed to help the families in flood-damaged homes.

In Central Texas, rain-swollen creeks in the Marble Falls area became a problem when downed trees and limbs exacerbated the flooding, TBM Disaster Relief Director Gary Smith said. A Burnet-Llano Baptist Association chainsaw crew worked to remove trees and debris.

In the Copperas Cove area, a tornado and rising floodwaters left at least 18 people homeless. TBM volunteers from Second Baptist Church in La Grange aided six families who had their homes damaged by floodwaters. Blue-tarp roofers and chainsaw crews from the Killeen and Fort Hood areas also served.  

A crew from Lubbock Baptist Association served in Sherman, and chainsaw crews from Paramount Baptist Church in Amarillo worked there, as well.

The Tarrant Baptist Association feeding unit provided more than 800 meals to Haltom City storm victims the last week in June.

To report Texas Baptist families who need assistance or to find out how to support BGCT Disaster Response effort, call (888) 244-9400 or www.bgct.org/disaster. 

To support Texas Baptist Men’s efforts, send checks marked “disaster relief” to Texas Baptist Men, 5351 Catron, Dallas 75227. To give via credit card, call (214 ) 828-5351.

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

Posted: 7/06/07

Texas Tidbits

Baylor School of Social Work named partner. For the first time, the Baylor University School of Social Work has been named a partner school by the national Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. The School of Social Work offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work. It also participates in a program to offer a master of social work/master of divinity degree with Baylor’s Truett Theological Seminary, which also is a CBF partner school.

Guajardo leads CBF Texas. Alcides Guajardo of Mineral, immediate past president of the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas, was elected moderator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Texas at the national CBF general assembly June 28. He takes the place of Ronald Edwards of Goliad, who died this spring. Other officers are Jorene Swift of Fort Worth, moderator-elect, and Ken Hugghins of Huntsville, recording secretary. New members of the CBF Texas coordinating council are Burt Burleson, Waco; Robert Cepeda, Los Fresnos; Sandra Cisneros, Victoria; Joe Fields, Lewisville; Charles Higgs, Stephenville; Fred Hobbs, Victoria; Judy Joy, Covington; Ella Prichard, Corpus Christi; Jesse Rincones, Lubbock; Taylor Sandlin, San Angelo; Ross Shelton, Castroville; Carolyn Strickland, Dallas; Andrew Villarreal, San Antonio; and Jorge Zapata, Harlingen. Texans elected to national CBF positions include Rodney McGlothlin of College Station, Janie Sellers of Abilene and Philip Wise of Lubbock, coordinating council; Debbie Ferrier of Houston, nominating committee; Tommy Hiebert of San Angelo, Church Benefits Board; and Patricia Ayres of Austin and Os Chrisman of Dallas, CBF Foundation.

Founder to leave My Father’s House. Shirley Madden, founder of My Father’s House Lubbock, will retire as the ministry’s executive director before the end of the year. After she steps down from the director’s role, she plans to work as a consultant to help other churches and groups establish not-for-profit ministries. Madden expanded the Woman’s Missionary Union’s Christian Women’s Job Corps program in Lubbock to include a residential component through My Father’s House Lubbock’s Living and Learning Center, where mothers-in-need could develop job skills and life skills, and their children could live with them in a safe, nurturing Christian environment. So far, 123 women have graduated from the center’s Christian Women’s Job Corps program, 12 of them currently attend college and 98 women made professions of faith in Christ. Madden and her husband, O.C., are members of First Baptist Church in Lubbock.

Staff moves noted at Baptist Building. Andre Punch, director of the congregational strategists team for the Baptist General Convention of Texas, is moving to a counseling role within the BGCT Executive Board staff. Punch, a licensed counselor, will focus on strengthening families and marriages through the BGCT congregational leadership team. Gus Reyes, director of the BGCT service center, will lead the congregational strategists, church starters and affinity group leaders, as well as the service center. Reyes’ new title will be director of congregational relationships. David Bush has been promoted to service center team leader. Paul Atkinson will continue leading the church-starting team, and Tim Randolph will lead the congregational strategists.

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

Posted: 7/06/07

TOGETHER:
Immigration ministries merit support

Texas has a long history of immigration. U.S. Anglos, led by Stephen F. Austin, entered the northern Mexican province of Texas in 1822. Many settlers came with Mexican authorization, but many more came on their own without legal papers.

Now, we are seeing many from Mexico and other nations come into Texas—both legally and illegally.

Executive Director BGCT Executive Board

There is no question the United States must secure its borders, and that is something for which the federal government has responsibility.

Baptist churches, on the other hand, have a responsibility to tell and to show people they are loved by God and he desires a personal relationship with them through his Son, Jesus Christ.

Out of this desire to minister in the name of our Lord, the Baptist General Convention of Texas and Buckner International have developed a ministry to immigrants that functions completely within our nation’s legal framework.

This new program is called ISAAC—Immigration Service and Aid Center. ISAAC is a ministry to help people legally meet their immigration needs in a convenient, cost-effective and trusted place—a local church.

In 2003, BGCT messengers passed a resolution encouraging “proactive involvement of ministry activity among immigrants, documented and undocumented, through prayer and action.” That resolution also reminded us, “It is not a violation of federal or state law to provide ministry to immigrants, documented or undocumented.”

Church-based immigration centers will offer accredited services and ministry to assist documented and undocumented immigrants of all nationalities. ISAAC will prepare immigration specialists, seek recognition of a church as a site for immigration services, and design a low-cost plan to legally prepare papers to meet the needs of immigrants.

Unscrupulous people posing as immigration advisers often take advantage of immigrants. ISAAC will help churches create alternative assistance with the Christian compassion only a church family can provide.

The majority of illegal immigrants in Texas are not eligible to gain citizenship, but ISAAC will help those who are eligible and others who need an adjustment in their immigration status.

ISAAC is not about helping people break the law or rewarding lawbreakers. It is about helping immigrants do what is right and legal.

Contact Richard Muñoz for help in starting an immigration ministry from your church. Call him at (888) 244-9400 or visit the web site at www.ISAACproject.com.

Other BGCT institutions are involved in ministry to immigrants, as well—most notably Baptist Child & Family Services, which is providing relocation for displaced children and families. ISAAC is yet another means to help our churches touch lives with compassionate, legal and timely ministry for immigrants.

Pray for these efforts and participate in these ministries as your church gives through the BGCT Cooperative Program. Together, we are touching lives in the name of Christ.

We are loved.

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

Posted: 7/06/07

Trust level in religion at near-record low

By Michelle Rindels

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Ameri-cans trust the military and the police significantly more than the church and organized religion, a new Gallup Poll reveals.

Only 46 percent of respondents said they had either a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in the church, compared with 69 percent who said they trusted the military and 54 percent who trust police officers.

The figures are among the lowest for institutionalized religion in the three and a half decades Gallup has conducted the poll. Peaking at 68 percent in May 1975, the numbers bottomed out at 45 percent in June of 2003.

But while confidence is waning for organized religion, the numbers are even bleaker for other American institutions. Just 25 percent expressed confidence in the presidency, while a mere 14 percent say they trust Congress.

Other findings suggest the nation is focused more on political issues than morality issues.

In the monthly pulse-check poll, Gallup asked Americans what they believed was the most important problem facing the country. An overwhelming 34 percent cited the war in Iraq, followed by illegal immigration at 15 percent. The nation’s religious and moral decline was fifth among the concerns, with 6 percent.

The poll was conducted by telephone from June 14 to 17. The margin of error is 3 percentage points.

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

Posted: 7/06/07

BaptistWay Bible Series for July 15

A life going absolutely nowhere

• Ecclesiastes 1:1-11

By Toby Castleberry

Hardin-Simmons University, Abilene

Several months ago, a good friend and I were talking. My friend told me he was tired and wondered if this is all there is to life. His job requires him to work 60 hours a week, and even then, he feels like he is just getting by. He described how his routine has turned into a treadmill of the same activities. He gets up, goes to work, returns home and repeats it all again. He cannot see that the years of labor have taken him anywhere.

Have you ever felt this way? With all of the activities of life, do you feel trapped in a routine? No matter where you search, do you feel life lacks meaning and is going nowhere?

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The Teacher in Ecclesiastes wants to help us in this dilemma. He wants us to see that lasting meaning and satisfaction are not available in the things of the world. In all of its trappings, the world is inept at providing this meaning.

The book of Ecclesiastes was written by Solomon as a testimony to where true meaning and satisfaction are found. Solomon wrote with a saddened heart, lamenting his own mistakes. He believed he would find satisfaction in riches, power, sensual pleasure and the things of the world. In Ecclesiastes, he testifies that these things brought emptiness. Solomon’s testimony is that true satisfaction comes only from following God and doing his work.

Ecclesiastes 1:1-11

In Ecclesiastes 1:1, Solomon makes his identity known without stating his name. There was, however, only one son of David, king in Jerusalem. He possibly refers to himself as “Teacher” as he wants to impart the wisdom gleaned from years of perspective. As he has grown older and is regretful of the choices he has made, the Teacher sees value for others in his hard learned lessons.

“All is vanity! All is meaningless!” the Teacher, in Ecclesiastes 1:2, declares emphatically the emptiness of the world. The world is unable to make us happy or to provide lasting satisfaction in all it offers. It is as if we hear him declare, “Believe me; I have tried it all and now can loudly declare, it all ends in emptiness.”

In Ecclesiastes 1:3, the Teacher asks why we strive so hard. What benefit is all our labor if, in the end, it nets nothing.

This same question could be echoed across our nation. Americans reportedly take fewer vacations, work more hours and yet have failed to find increased satisfaction and meaning in their lives.

Let’s look into Ecclesiastes 1:4-7 and see how this apparent despair continues. The Teacher now paints a picture of the endless cycles of life that begin, end and begin again, seemingly with no purpose.

One can picture a hamster in his running wheel. We see him running faster and faster, revolution after revolution, yet with no result except weariness.

After lamenting the wearisome cycles of life, the Teacher now makes the observation—man is not satisfied. In Ecclesiastes 1:8-11, he maintains true meaning has not been witnessed. At least he has not seen it. The world in all its marvels and possible conquests cannot fulfill all the desires of one’s heart.

This theme still resonates today. We clamor and search for meaning only to keep arriving at a dead end. Back in the ’60s, the Rolling Stones may have summed up the laments of the current generation as they wrote and sang, “I can’t get no satisfaction.”

Year in and year out, we are bombarded with images of people famous and wealthy for many different reasons. Some are entertainers. Some are athletes. Others are politicians or corporate CEOs. Some seem to be famous simply for being famous. Sadly, from time to time, we hear and read of their demise—sometimes from suicide. For these, all the fame, wealth and power proved worthless. Often, it is easy for us to think, believe or assume that only celebrities are vulnerable to the vanity about which we read in Ecclesiastes 1.

However, we would do well to apply this lesson to our own lives. Do you see the same dilemma playing out in your own life? How about in your friends and your acquaintances? It seems that we continue to seek satisfaction in the world’s fares. Materialism, self indulgence and sensual pleasures continue to produce the same results—vanity and emptiness.

The Teacher in Ecclesiastes 1 tells us: “Learn from my mistakes, see what I have done. The world is inept, unable to deliver on its lure and promises. All of the world’s goods will leave you longing for something else. True fulfillment and satisfaction is not found in it.”

Of course, as Christians we know that, as John 1:4 tells us, in Jesus, is “life and that life [is] the light of men.”

Discussion question

• What were some times you felt life lacked meaning and was going nowhere?

• How has Jesus’ presence in you given meaning and purpose to your life?

• How can/will you share this message of hope with those in despair around you?

Toby Castleberry is a master of divinity student at Hardin-Simmons University’s Logsdon Theological Seminary.

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

Posted: 7/06/07

Bible Studies for Life Series for July 15

Sharing Christ with all people

• Acts 6:1-7; 9:36-43; 11:29-30

By David Harp

First Baptist Church, Stanton

Our lesson this week emphasizes the need we all have to share our faith with others. When you think about it, Baptists have the methods and the organizations to share our faith with the world. We also have the institutions of higher learning to help with education. If we fail, it can only be in the area of dedication and obedience.

The past several weeks, we have studied from the book of Acts. Some form of the word “witness” is used more than 30 times in this book alone. The word means “to testify” or “to give evidence.” The word “witness” comes from the word “martyr,” and it carries with it the idea of being willing to stake your life on what you are saying.

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Do you have a message from God worth sharing?

Overcoming barriers (Acts 10:24-29)

God prepares the people to hear and to receive the message of the gospel. The verses preceding these in Acts 10 remind us that God is able to overcome any barrier to get through to us.

God worked to help Cornelius overcome his Gentile prejudices against the Jews. As he did, his faith grew and bore the fruit of love and care. Then God led him to send for Peter.

God had given Peter a vision that prepared him to overcome his own barriers and meet with Cornelius. Peter had a new understanding that God had made the Gentiles clean and accepted them. A Jewish preacher named Peter stands before a Gentile leader named Cornelius. A world watched and waited to see, and God overcame the barriers.

All of us are unclean before God, apart from the transforming work of Jesus Christ. When we place our faith in Jesus, he is able to overcome every barrier and fear.

Speak God’s message (Acts 10:34-36, 42-43)

Has a preacher ever had a more attentive audience than Simon Peter that day at Caesarea?

Peter presented Jesus as the peace of God. If you’ve ever wondered what to say as you share your faith, Peter gives us a clue. We should focus our message on Jesus Christ. All humanity is estranged from God. Jesus is the one to bring us back to him and reconcile us to God, bringing us the peace we desperately need.

Peter told Cornelius and his household that salvation comes through faith in Jesus and his name. Salvation is forgiveness of sins and a right relationship with God through what Jesus has done by his death and resurrection.

God’s good news is for us today. If you will admit you have sinned and believe that Jesus died and rose from the dead to pay the penalty for your sins, then God will forgive you of your sins. This is the good news from God for you—for everyone. Have you trusted Jesus and received God’s good news? Why not receive him today? If you have, is there someone in your circle of friends who needs to hear this message? Why not invite them to believe in Jesus?

Accept all who receive Christ (Acts 10:4-48)

When Cornelius and his household believed, God confirmed their salvation by giving them the Holy Spirit. The same Spirit the first believers received now came upon these Gentile believers. There was no difference between the Jews or Gentiles; all were saved by their faith in Jesus; all received the Holy Spirit.

Peter immediately accepted their faith and God’s work by calling for the Gentile converts to be baptized. Peter demonstrated the change God had made in him by being willing to accept all who received Jesus by faith.

Whenever people are willing to receive God’s way of salvation through faith in Jesus, we should be willing to accept them into our fellowship by baptism. Through baptism, believers are taking the first of many steps in following Jesus. Are you willing to accept those who have committed their lives by faith to Jesus Christ?

When someone comes to unite with your church by baptism, are you ready to receive them and welcome them to the family of faith?

A few years ago, I had the rare privilege of worshipping in the largest church in the world in Seoul, South Korea. We were there as a part of a missions team from our church in Stanton. Since we had friends there, they knew which service we should attend to listen with a translator. There was an orchestra. There was a choir. Yes, there also was a praise team and a band. In church that day, it was the 50th anniversary of the Korean “conflict”.

Pastor Cho asked some important questions in his message. What if Korea was reunified? Would we welcome our “neighbors” from the North? Could God overcome these barriers in our lives? Yes, God can overcome any and every barrier when we let him. Would we accept the believers from the North?

What about you? Are you willing to accept those who come into your church believing in Jesus?

Discussion questions

• What barriers need to be overcome in order for you to share your faith?

• What gives you a boldness to share your faith with others?

• How can we become more effective in welcoming new believers and members in our church?

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

Posted: 7/06/07

Explore the Bible Series for July 15

Zechariah calls us to repentance

• Zechariah 1:1-3:10

By Kathryn Aragon

First Baptist Church, Duncanville

“‘Return to me,’ declares the Lord Almighty, ‘and I will return to you’” (1:3). The harsh opening belies the gentleness of Zechariah’s message. Instead of condemning us for turning away from God, Zechariah reminds us that God remembers his people and his promises. It’s a fitting message from a man whose name means “The Lord Remembers.”

The blessings of returning to God won’t happen without the sorrow of repentance, Zechariah says. It’s a lesson we often hear without fully grasping it. God so hates being separated from us by our sin that he warns us repeatedly of the need to repent, and his warnings are drawn from the deep wells of his love.

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But God’s love is counterbalanced by his justice. All sin must be punished. Verse 6 establishes the truth that God will do what “our ways and practices deserve.” In other words, we are all sinners (Romans 6:23) and the consequence of our sin is death (Romans 6:23).

Zechariah then tells us to “be still before the Lord” (2:13), to consider his awesomeness. Then, we are reminded of our helplessness to overcome sin without the provision God makes for us. Just as Joshua stands before the angel of God in filthy clothes, we stand before God covered in the filth of sin. After removing Joshua’s clothes, God tells him, “See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you” (3:4). The story illustrates the exchange that takes place during salvation: our sin for Jesus’ sinlessness, our death for his life. As Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

The exchange is free, but still it costs us something. It requires repentance.

The two parts of repentance

There are two actions that take place during repentance. One looks back, while the other looks forward.

Repentance must begin with a backward look at our past. It requires honesty as we evaluate everything against the plumb line of Jesus. True repentance sees with clarity the ugliness of our past. It doesn’t try to justify or gloss over mistakes, but instead embraces them and accepts the pain of realizing we’ve fallen short of God’s expectations.

“Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. See what godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done” (2 Corinthians 7:10-11). Unless we are willing to see ourselves with God’s eyes, accepting the truth about ourselves and embracing the resulting pain, we will never experience godly repentance.

Having looked back, we must deal with our sin. We must confess it for what it is—blatant disobedience and disregard for God’s grace. Then we are ready to look forward.

The second action of repentance is to realize the past cannot be changed. Once confessed, it is forgiven, and all we can do is strive to change. Repentance not only involves sorrow over our past, but the resolve to change in the future. It looks forward to God, his mercy, love and judgment. It makes the choice to change our thinking so our behavior can line up with God’s expectations. “I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus” (Acts 26:20).

Not just an idea, but an action

Repentance is movement. It is the action of moving away from sin toward God. For godly repentance to occur, we must recognize that we sit in the filth of sin. Then we must submit to Jesus and let him remove our soiled garments, replacing them with clean clothes. We must let him place “a clean turban” (3:5) on our heads, clothing us for worship and protecting our minds with the “helmet of salvation” (Ephesians 6:17).

Repentance humbles us, a painful process that is necessary if we are going to be able to submit to God’s authority properly. And submission is the foundation out of which we learn obedience. Obedience, remember, is the goal. It is God’s call to each of us and the evidence that we belong to him. Not to change our behavior belies our repentance. “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” (Romans 6:1-2). True repentance feels such sorrow over past mistakes that it is ashamed to continue in them. It refuses to take advantage of God’s grace and chooses to change.

Faith, the backbone of repentance

Yet change is never easy. Upon committing to change, we discover just how entrenched we are in bad habits, poor attitudes and wrong thinking. These are the battles we must fight. But we should never assume we’ll win those battles without the power of the Holy Spirit. Spiritual battles require spiritual weapons.

First of all, our entire belief system depends on faith. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). Second, that faith is inspired by God himself. “God’s kindness leads you towards repentance” (Romans 2:4).

Furthermore, the weapons he gives us are spiritual weapons that only can be wielded with faith: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. … Stand firm, then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests” (Ephesians 6:10-11, 14-18).

Repentance is an uncomfortable business most of us would prefer to avoid. But God cares less for our immediate comfort than he does for our eternal security. “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord” (Acts 3:19).

The blessings are there. Let’s make sure we don’t miss them because of the hardness of our hearts.

Discussion questions

• Why does God demand repentance as a condition for salvation?

• How do you think it makes God feel for us to confess our sins and then return to them?

• Do you think we rely more on God’s power or his mercy?

• What are some of the blessings God promises to those who obey him?

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