Posted: 6/27/07

Team members from First Baptist in Memphis conducted Vacation Bible School at Sparks Colonia as part of KidsHeart El Paso. (Photos by Jenny Pope/Buckner)

KidsHeart volunteers say God worked
miracles with Kool-Aid and crafts

By Whitney Farr

Communications Intern

EL PASO—As Hubert Jones and his missions team entered the impoverished Sparks Colonia on the outskirts of El Paso, he questioned whether the church group could make an impact.

But as he mentally began to list all his inadequacies, a group of small children behind him started to sing, “My God is so big, so strong and so mighty, there’s nothing my God cannot do.”

The kids in colonias near Fort Hancock were all smiles as they recieved their new shoes, donated by Buckner International's Shoes for Orphan Souls, and ate hotdogs with the volunteers.

Jones stopped listing why he wasn’t good enough.

For Jones, it wasn’t about the weaknesses of the missions team from First Baptist Church in Memphis, a small town in the Texas Panhandle. It was about the strength of the God they served, he said.

“We are so limited, but God is unlimited. He took our Kool-Aid, candy and craft projects and worked miracles,” Jones said.

Volunteers served up to 40 children daily at Mision Bautista Tierra Prometida, a one-room church in the Sparks Colonia, through Vacation Bible School, sports camps, block parties and shoe donations.

First Baptist in Memphis joined First Baptist Church of Levelland, and Second Baptist Church in Lubbock as part of the first-ever KidsHeart mission week in El Paso, sponsored by Buckner and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

In just two weeks, workers from First Baptist of Levelland and Second Baptist of Lubbock constructed a 2,850-square-foot church in Fort Hancock, east of El Paso. The church will seat 225 people and serve as the central location for Buckner to continue operating community ministry.

“One year ago, I prayed for a building,” Pastor Ramiro Campos said. “And I thank God for answering my prayer.”

Two youth from First Baptist in Levelland add final touches to the fresh paint job on the newly constructed church, Iglesia Bautista Immanuel.

Campos explained that Fort Hancock in general—and his church in particular—had suffered many broken promises from mission teams in the past. So, when this 34-member team arrived and delivered what they had promised, it was extremely meaningful.

“To me, these people are angels,” Campos said. “Working so hard for people they don’t even know exhibits the love of God to everyone that passes by this new church. They are marvelous people who don’t look down on us, but instead, serve us.”

From painting little girl’s fingernails at the neighborhood block party to painting walls, the volunteers enjoyed every minute, even if they were munching on dirt and sand that the dry wind constantly blew their way.

Ty Talley, a high school student from Levelland, said the most meaningful part of the trip had been “talking with the Christian men when a few of us were on the roof. I learned a lot just listening to the older men from Second Baptist” in Lubbock.

Talley, who helped build houses in the Rio Grande Valley last summer through KidsHeart, said he expected great things from the trip and considered this week of hard work the high point of his summer vacation.

Volunteers from First Baptist Church in Levelland and Second Baptist Church in Lubbock provided the younger girls with a little pampering during a block party at KidsHeart El Paso.

“I will never forget the look on their faces last summer, when the family saw the house we built for them,” Talley said. “I came this year because I wanted to see that same reaction on the little kids’ faces.”

Talley’s wish came true as—one by one—children received brand-new shoes. He helped distribute the shoes, part of Buckner International’s Shoes for Orphan Souls Shoe Drive, under the roof of the new church that he and so many others had worked on during the week.

“These teens have been so valuable—working on the roof, painting, hammering. They have been tremendous workers,” LaVerne Love, a volunteer from Second Baptist in Lubbock said while hammering.

Jeff Scott, youth pastor at First Baptist in Levelland, said he regularly emphasizes the importance of missions to his teenagers.

“There are so many trips that go into Mexico and other parts of the world, while people right here in our state are being ignored,” he said. “We want our kids to realize that you don’t always have to leave your country to find people in need.”

Dusty streets lined with makeshift homes, outhouses, trash, and no running water emphasized his point. But their greatest need?

Hubert Jones of First Baptist in Memphis scoops up a small boy during a game of duck-duck-goose in the Sparks Colonia.

“Food,” said Tommy Speed, director of Buckner Children and Family Services in West Texas. “And ultimately, a purpose.”

He said the question constantly arises, “Are these people illegal immigrants?”

“I don’t ask, and I don’t care,” Speed said. “If we see a family in need, we help them.”

People have approached him, afraid of the legality of helping people who may not be citizens, but “churches don’t have to be afraid of helping people,” he said. “You don’t have to harbor immigrants, just help them.”

The example of selflessness these Christians provided even encouraged community members to serve.

“The block parties and construction of the church ended up being a community effort,” KidsHeart volunteer Ken Noles said.

A woman who lived next door to the church allowed the crew to tap into her electricity, and a man came from the county to provide free use of a land grader to the church builders from Levelland.

And, after seeing more than 650 people line up to receive a meal and new shoes at the Sparks block party, the mission team turned to a neighbor when they realized their one small grill would not suffice. She offered her own personal grill.

“I can’t describe the feeling of going over the hill and seeing a field of humanity in a place where all I had seen was a small group of women gathering for an aerobics class,” Noles said. “First thing I thought—We need more hot dogs!”

Brian Hill, a volunteer from Levelland who had built houses in the Valley during previous KidsHeart mission trips, kept reminding the team and himself that even though they were not seeing the immediate effects on a family, like they had seen when building homes, this was only the beginning of ministry.

And he was right. God already used the church to change hearts and lives. More than 20 professions of faith were made by new believers.

“I can’t express the joy in my heart,” Campos 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: 6/26/07

Religion, social issues prominent in GOP debate

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)—Evolution, abortion rights and other issues important to religious conservatives reared their heads once again in the third debate between Republican presidential candidates.

Following a question that made headlines at the first GOP debate a month earlier, one of the debate moderators asked specific candidates about their views on evolution. At the previous debate, three had raised their hands when asked if they did not believe in evolution.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee—a Southern Baptist minister—subsequently criticized the question. In the most recent forum, he attempted to illuminate his views.

“To me, it’s pretty simple: A person either believes that God created this process or believes that it was an accident and that it just happened all on its own,” he said. “And the basic question was an unfair question because it simply asks us in a simplistic manner whether or not we believed … there’s a God or not.”

Huckabee said he believes there’s a God who created the universe.

“Now how did he do it, and when did he do it, and how long did he take?” he said. “I don’t honestly know, and I don’t think knowing that would make me a better or worse president.”

Many Southern Baptists and other conservative Protestants believe evolution is inconsistent with Christianity and insist the Bible teaches that Earth was created thousands, not millions, of years ago in six 24-hour days.

When pressed on whether he agrees with that view, Huckabee echoed an interpretation of the Genesis creation stories that many moderate Protestants have long asserted.

“My point is, I don’t know. I wasn’t there,” he said, to laughter. “But I believe whether God did it in six days or whether he did it in six days that represented periods of time, he did it, and that’s what’s important.”

Arizona Sen. John McCain—who did not object to evolution in the first debate—said the governor’s explanation of his view was akin to his own position.

“I admire (Huckabee’s) description because I hold that view,” said McCain, who is listed in his biographical materials as an Episcopalian but reportedly attends a Southern Baptist church when in Phoenix. “There’s no doubt in my mind that the hand of God was in what we are today.”

Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, who joined Huckabee in expressing opposition to evolution in the first forum, also praised the Arkansan’s view. “I am fully convinced there’s a God of the universe that loves us very much and was involved in the (creation) process. How he did it, I don’t know,” the Methodist-turned-evangelical-turned-Catholic senator said.

Also, as in previous debates, attention turned to former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s support for abortion rights. Giuliani is the only GOP candidate who remains officially pro-choice.

While being asked about a Rhode Island Catholic bishop’s recent statement slamming Giuliani on abortion rights, a lightning strike disrupted the sound system of the auditorium where the debate was being held.

“Look, for someone who went to parochial schools all his life, this is a very frightening thing that’s happening right now,” a startled Giuliani said.

When asked about their views on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military, all 10 GOP candidates expressed support for continuing the so-called “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy now in place at the Pentagon.

Although the policy was designed in 1994 as a compromise between opponents of homosexuals serving in the military and those who wanted them to serve openly, gay-rights activists have lambasted it ever since.

Although Giuliani has been a strong supporter of gay rights in the past, he said he did not believe the policy should be changed “in a time of war.”

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who once expressed opposition to the policy and once campaigned as a strong gay-rights supporter, said he also had changed his mind.

Gays have served in the military forces of most of the United States’ closest allies—including the United Kingdom and Israel—for years. Recent polls have suggested a majority of the American public supports following suit.

The Republicans’ views were a strong contrast to a debate between Democratic candidates on the same stage two nights before. All of the Democrats agreed it was time to do away with “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

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

Posted: 6/26/07

Huckabee denounces influence
of cash, evolution queries in GOP race

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)—If conservative Christian voters want to know why a Baptist preacher is being bested in the GOP primary polls by three candidates who have had rocky relationships with the Religious Right, they need to look at the bottom line, Mike Huckabee said.

“Pure and simple, it’s money,” the former Arkansas governor and presidential hopeful said. “But the sad thing is that money is driving the media’s perception of it.”

Huckabee—who served as president of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention before he delved into secular politics—lamented the fact that his campaign and those of other strong social conservatives has been unable to get traction among primary voters.

Meanwhile, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Arizona Sen. John McCain, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney continue to lead in polls of announced Republican candidates.

All three have well-funded, well-staffed campaigns. But Giuliani is pro-abortion-rights and supports some gay-rights causes. Romney was pro-abortion-rights and pro-gay until recently. Plus, his Mormon faith arouses suspicion in many Christian conservatives. And despite McCain’s generally solid conservative voting record, he has had a rocky relationship with several of the Christian conservative movement’s elder statesmen.

“This whole process is being driven solely by money and not by message,” Huckabee said. “If we’re not careful, we’re moving this country not toward a presidency, but toward a plutocracy. I’m not sure that’s where we want to be.”

Huckabee, in a wide-ranging discussion with a group of Washington reporters assembled by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, also had words of warning for some of his ideological cohorts.

“Christian conservatives, I believe, are on the brink of becoming irrelevant in this election cycle if they do not remain active because they really believe something about their faith that drives them into the political arena,” he said. “If they say, ‘Well, those issues aren’t that important this time,’ … then quite frankly, they are just another Republican special-interest group.”

If Christian conservatives back away from stances that have defined their movement —opposition to abortion rights and same-sex marriage—in order to elect a Republican candidate, Huckabee said, “I think it is not only going to be the beginning of the end of relevancy for them, but I also, I believe, the Republican Party.”

Huckabee added that he has an agenda well beyond the issues most often associated with Christian conservatism.

“I don’t think we’re a perfect party. I don’t think we’ve captured the marketplace on great ideas,” he said. “I’m a conservative, that’s fine. But I’m not mad at anybody about it.”

Huckabee said Republicans should focus more on issues—such as “better stewardship of the environment” and improving education—that have traditionally been associated with Democrats.

“We have allowed politics in the country to become very divisive, and it’s almost like it’s an all-or-nothing proposition,” he said, noting that he had worked successfully with a heavily Democratic legislature during his time in the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion.

“I think people (who opposed his election) thought that I would spend all my time trying to stop abortion and … put Bible readings and prayer in schools, that that would be my focus as a governor,” he said. “Instead, I spent my time improving education.”

Huckabee also offered implicit criticisms of the current administration’s performance. He used his experience as governor of a state that took in 75,000 Hurricane Katrina evacuees in 2005 to decry the government’s handling of that crisis.

“One of the few times in my life when I was absolutely embarrassed and ashamed of my own government was in the response to Katrina,” he said. Speaking of seeing footage of people stranded on freeways in New Orleans days after the storm flooded the city, Huckabee added, “It just was beyond my comprehension that we could get TV cameras to those people, but we couldn’t get a boat or a bottle of water to them.”

On foreign affairs, he counseled greater humility for the United States. “We have frankly squandered a lot of our … international prestige” in recent years, he said. “There was a time in this world when America was everybody’s hero. And now we’re the bully that they resent.”

Despite his disappointing poll numbers, Huckabee has gotten generally high marks from pundits for his performance in the Republican debates so far. Nonetheless, he faulted debate organizers for asking questions about his support for evolution. He and two others out of the field of 10 GOP hopefuls raised their hand in a debate a month ago to say they did not believe in evolution.

He was asked directly about that in the June 5 debate and elaborated on his views. He said he didn’t know exactly how Earth was created but that God had done it.

To reporters the next day, he expressed frustration that one’s belief in evolution is even a topic for a political debate.

“I had to ask myself how many people sitting around their dinner tables asked themselves, ‘I wonder what the next president thinks about evolution?’“ Huckabee said. “At one point, I wasn’t sure if I was being interviewed to be president of the United States or chaplain of the Senate.”

Questioned following the discussion, Huckabee said he didn’t think his criticism about money driving the GOP nominating process vindicated a longstanding criticism of the Religious Right that wealthy fiscal conservatives were simply exploiting religious conservatives to win elections and get tax cuts.

“I think the faith conservatives had a role in the party and a strong voice—because there were certain things they so believed and didn’t deliver votes unless they got them—that kept the Republican Party, in essence, pretty pure on those issues,” Huckabee said. “And the fiscal conservatives sort of said, ‘Well, those aren’t our issues, but you know what, we’ll live with that to get what we want.’“

He continued: “Now, that’s real pure politics. Everybody gives up something in order to get something. That’s not wrong; that’s OK, as long as what you give up you can live with, and as long as what you get is what you want.”

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

Posted: 6/26/07

Democratic hopefuls respond to queries on faith

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)—On national television, John Edwards admitted that he sins every day, Barack Obama said there’s “a biblical injunction” to give prisoners the tools they need to rehabilitate themselves, and Hillary Clinton said the support of “prayer warriors” had helped her get through the most difficult times of her marriage and life.

It wasn’t a church service. It was a first-of-its-kind forum on faith, values and poverty for the top three contenders for the Democrats’ 2008 presidential nomination. It was also, some observers said, further evidence that the Democratic Party is trying to regain ground it has ceded to the Republicans among voters who are active Christians.

The event— sponsored by the Christian social-justice group Sojourners and broadcast in prime time on CNN—marked some of the most public and intense discussion of presidential candidates’ religious beliefs in American history.

“How can we, as people of faith, carve out a space that rejects both the secular left and its ideological twin, the Religious Right—one that recognizes our dual citizenship?” asked Rich Nathan, pastor of the Vineyard Church in Columbus, Ohio, who spoke prior to the forum to the estimated 1,300 attendees gathered in a George Washington University campus auditorium. “How can we create a society that sees itself as morally accountable to God and his kingdom?”

Edwards, the former North Carolina senator and 2004 vice presidential nominee, drew loud applause from the students and activists in the crowd for his focus on poverty issues, which he said owed to his faith.

“I have respect for my colleagues who are running for the presidency, but I would say … this is not an issue I just talk about when I come to you,” Edwards said. “It is an issue I talk about all over America to all kinds of audiences, because it’s a part of who I am.”

Edwards noted he had been raised Southern Baptist and baptized after a profession of faith when he was “very young.” But he also said he “strayed away from the Lord” for a period.

Nonetheless, Edwards continued— echoing a line he has used previously about his Christian journey—“my faith came roaring back during some crises that my own family endured.”

He and his wife, Elizabeth, lost their teenage son, Wade, to a car accident in 1996. Edwards said it was “the Lord that got me through that. It was the same thing when Elizabeth was diagnosed with cancer.”

The candidates also discussed how their personal faith affected their views on issues. Edwards has said that, while he personally opposes same-sex marriage, he believes the government ought to protect the rights of gay couples through civil unions. CNN anchor Soledad O’Brien, who moderated the forum, asked him if holding that view was “a dodge” for a Christian.

“No,” Edwards responded. “I think there’s a difference between my belief system and what the responsibilities of the president of the United States are. It’s the reason we have the separation of church and state.”

In a similar vein, Edwards also said he disagreed with the idea that the United States is “a Christian nation,” nor does he believe that the president should serve as a spiritual figurehead.

“I have a deep and abiding love of my Lord, Jesus Christ,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean that those who come from the Jewish faith, from the Muslim faith … that they don’t have the right to have their faith respected.”

Obama, the Illinois senator, was a familiar face to many in the crowd. He made national headlines last year with his groundbreaking speech on his faith. That speech, which like this year’s candidate forum was part of the Sojourners Pentecost conference, was one of the first times in recent years that a potential Democratic nominee has spoken so candidly about the details of his Christian faith.

However, at the June 4 event, he ended up speaking mostly about policy positions grounded in his moral outlook.

Asked by Jim Wallis, Sojourners’ founder, how he would bring his faith to bear on addressing poverty in the United States and around the globe, Obama cited a biblical concept.

“I think our starting point has to be … that I am my brother’s keeper, that I am my sister’s keeper, that we are connected as people,” Obama said. “Those responsibilities have to express themselves not only through our churches and synagogues and our mosques, … (but also) through our government.”

On the specific issue of finding ways to improve the nation’s criminal-justice system, Obama said providing real opportunities for rehabilitation as well as punishment of criminals is a moral imperative.

“There’s a biblical injunction that I see to make sure those young men and women have the opportunity to right their lives,” he said, noting that such would “require a government investment” in transitional employment for ex-cons as well as providing educational incentives to inmates.

“The notion that we take away educational programs in the prison to be tough on crime makes absolutely no sense,” Obama contended.

Clinton, a lifelong Methodist who represents New York in the Senate, acknowledged that she sometimes is not as comfortable speaking publicly about her faith as some of her competitors.

“I come from a tradition that is perhaps a little too suspicious of people who wear their faith on their sleeves. So a lot of the talking about and advertising about faith is not something that comes naturally to me,” she said. She noted such faith-talk on the campaign trail reminds her “about the Pharisees and all the Sunday school lessons and readings I had as a child.”

However, Clinton gave what was perhaps the night’s most intimate look into a candidate’s spiritual life. In response to a question from O’Brien about how her faith helped her through her husband’s very public infidelity, the former first lady said her faith—and especially knowing others were praying for her—helped her carry on.

“For me, because I’ve been tested in ways that are both publicly known and those that are not so well known or not known at all, my faith and the support of my extended faith family—people who I knew who were literally praying for me in prayer chains, who were prayer warriors for me … sustained me for a great time,” Clinton said.

“I am very grateful I had a grounding in faith that gave me the courage and the strength to do what I thought was right, regardless of what the world thought.” The comment drew enthusiastic applause.

Besides O’Brien and Wallis, a panel of Christian leaders questioned the candidates. Joel Hunter, pastor of an Orlando-based evangelical megachurch and the onetime choice to be head of the Christian Coalition, asked Clinton about her views on abortion rights.

Noting that he is pro-life and believes abortion “remains one of the most hurtful and divisive facts of our nation,” Hunter asked Clinton, “Could you see yourself, with millions of voters in the pro-life camp, creating a common ground with the goal ultimately in mind in reducing the decisions for abortion to zero?”

Clinton, quoting a phrase long used by abortion-rights advocates, said she really does want to make abortion “safe, legal and rare.” She emphasized, “I mean ‘rare.’“

Clinton said leaders of the pro-life and pro-choice camps have remained too far apart to cooperate on a goal they both support—alleviating the social ills that often contribute to women choosing abortion.

“What concerns me is that here’s been a real reluctance for anyone to make a move toward the other side for fear of being labeled as sort of turning one’s back to the moral dimensions of the decision from either direction,” she said, echoing comments she has made since a well-publicized 2005 speech.

After the forum, Wallis said he believed the conversation on faith and values in the 2008 election was “off to a good start tonight” and was much better than in the 2004 election cycle. “We’ve had a very narrow, restrictive conversation (in the past), as if there are only one or two religious issues,” he said.

The event drew attention to the differences between the current campaign and the 2004 presidential election cycle. Then, Democratic nominee John Kerry’s campaign sidelined its religious advisor and the candidate appeared very reluctant to talk about his Catholic faith. In the current campaign, both Clinton’s and Obama’s campaigns have hired experienced Washington political operatives as advisors on religious issues.

But to some ardent advocates of religious freedom, the Democrats’ new focus on religion risks cheapening a candidate’s personal faith by making it merely another political tool. That’s something they believe prominent Republicans have done in recent years.

“I felt it was a great opportunity for a discussion that needs to happen in this nation, but those present didn’t take advantage of the opportunity,” said Welton Gaddy, a Baptist minister who is president of the Interfaith Alliance. “They talked more about personal piety than they did the issues that have to be of concern to the president of the United States.”

Gaddy said a candidate should have the right not to discuss his or her private religious practices and beliefs, so long as they are open about how their faith affects what policies they embrace and how they govern.

“I think one of the most constructive developments that could have come out of that televised event would have been if one of the candidates would have responded to one of the questioners by saying, ‘Frankly, that’s none of your business,’“ Gaddy said. “Because perhaps that would make the point that a politician, like any person in this nation, has the right to hold his or her own private, religious views, to respect the Constitution’s mandate that there be no religious test for someone running for public office and force the discussion to move to the way in which religion impacts public policy and whether or not that’s constitutionally done.”

Supporters of the event said that such concerns, while valid, were overblown. Asked by a reporter following the forum if Democrats’ new openness to talking about faith in their campaigns risked cheapening it, Hunter responded, “I think there is a great deal of danger—but it’s worth the risk.”

Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, described the forum as “a helpful exercise” and said that the public needs “to know what makes candidates tick and how religious convictions will affect their leadership and policy decisions.”

However, he echoed some of Gaddy’s caution about Democrats using religion for political ends. Candidates “don’t shed their religion when they take office. But candidates should temper their appeal to religion with a dose of humility and understand they represent all Americans, not just those who share their religious beliefs,” 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: 6/26/07

Anti-Muslim bias skyrocketed
in U.S. in 2006, report claims

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)—Complaints of anti-Muslim bias in the United States shot up by 25 percent in 2006 as compared to the previous year, according to an annual report by an Islamic group.

The annual report of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, titled “Presumption of Guilt: the Status of Muslim Civil Rights in the United States,” said government acts accounted for much of the increase in reports of discrimination and bias.

The report, compiled annually since 1996 by the nation’s largest Islamic civil-rights group, said CAIR processed 2,467 bias complaints in 2006. That’s an increase of more than 25 percent over the 2005 figure of 1,972.

The number of anti-Muslim hate crime complaints in 2006 increased to 167 from 153 the previous year.

The highest proportion of complaints—36 percent of the total—came from Muslims who claimed they had experienced discrimination at the hands of a government agency. That’s a significant increase over the government-agency proportion of total complaints for each of the previous two years. Alleged bias at the hands of government agencies accounted for 19 percent of the complaints in 2004 and 2005, according to CAIR.

The report’s author, CAIR Attorney Arsalan Iftikhar, said the increase in government bias complaints was “most likely because of immigration/citizenship delay issues affecting hundreds of thousands of people in America today.”

However, the report noted, the proportion of anti-Muslim bias complaints arising in workplaces decreased significantly in 2006. While workplace complaints from Muslim constituted more than 25 percent of the total in 2005, that percentage was down to less than 16 percent in 2006.

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

Posted: 6/26/07

Arlington pastor resigns from
Southwestern Seminary board

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

ARLINGTON (ABP)—Dwight McKissic, the Southern Baptist pastor frequently at odds with fellow trustees at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, has resigned from the board of the Fort Worth school.

McKissic, pastor of the predominantly African-American Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, said he chose to step down in order to “return to the place I was prior to being a trustee.”

McKissic was the lone dissenter when trustees voted last October to forbid the seminary from employing professors who advocate speaking in tongues. Earlier, in a 2006 chapel sermon at Southwestern, McKissic said that since his days as a student at the seminary, he has used a “private prayer language,” considered by many a variation of tongues-speaking.

In March, trustees tried to expel him permanently from the board, a move McKissic called “nothing but a 21st-century lynching.” The trustee chairman said McKissic used confidential material inappropriately and expressed his disagreement poorly. Trustees later decided not to remove him.

“My involvement as a trustee has been a huge distraction from my ministry priorities for the past nine months,” McKissic said. “I’ve devoted too much mental, physical, emotional and even spiritual energy to matters resulting from the aftermath of my chapel sermon.”

While the seminary usually posts chapel sermons on its website, Southwestern Seminary President Paige Patterson declined to post McKissic’s sermon, reportedly in order to avoid appearances that the school endorses the practice of speaking in tongues.

McKissic said the controversy surprised him. He hadn’t thought Southern Baptists were uneasy with his views until intense opposition to his belief and practice emerged after the sermon, he said. He recently spoke on the floor of the annual Southern Baptist Convention in San Antonio urging pastors to avoid narrowing doctrinal boundaries regarding glossolalia, or speaking in tongues.

The debate over tongues “has taken a tremendous toll on my family and ministry, and my wife believes it has negatively impacted my health,” he said in a letter to Van McClain, chairman of the trustee board. He also said he has been “distracted and consumed” by the controversy and needs to refocus on his family and church.

Patterson, who was out of the country, said in a prepared statement that he has enjoyed a long and happy relationship with McKissic. He also commended the Arlington pastor on his “very kind letter” of resignation.

“I anticipate that that relationship will continue and that Brother McKissic will continue as a faithful supporter of the seminary,” Patterson said. “It is well known that we have not always agreed, but we are brothers in Christ, and I love this pastor.”

Despite the mutual goodwill, McKissic said his resignation was also prompted by concerns for future interactions between the seminary and his ministry.

“I don’t want any possible future relationships or involvements with other missions or ministry opportunities to in anywise be misconstrued as a conflict of interest with my role as a trustee” at the seminary, he said. “I do not want my exercise of freedom of speech or freedom of associations in any way to create conflicts of interest or violations of (seminary) …policies.”

Cornerstone Baptist will remain affiliated with the SBC as long as the convention moves “in what I consider to be the right direction,” McKissic 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: 6/26/07

Nation’s largest African-American
religious group tackles AIDS

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

ST. LOUIS (ABP)—For the first time, the nation’s largest African-American religious body corporately addressed the HIV/AIDS crisis.

AIDS awareness and prevention figured prominently on the agenda for the annual meeting of the National Baptist Convention USA, Inc. in St. Louis. Leaders of the 7.5 million-member group said 45,000 National Baptists participated in the gathering.

Nationwide, African-Americans constitute nearly half of new HIV/AIDS diagnosis. HIV infection is the United States’ leading cause of death for black women aged 25-34, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

“The numbers dictate we have to pay more attention and take ownership,” Evelyn Mason, a health organizer for the denomination, told the Associated Press. “This disease has taken ownership of us.”

Mason said the convention— like many other African-American church groups—previously had avoided the subject of AIDS because of its association with homosexuality and drug use.

In addition to discussing AIDS, a health fair featured workshops and information on hypertension, diabetes, obesity, prostate cancer and prescription drug costs.

Organizers also planned to hold a forum to address 3,000 black youths on the topic of HIV prevention.

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

Posted: 6/22/07

RIGHT or WRONG:
What belongs to Caesar?

Our pastor recently called for us to be model citizens. Then, the pastor said, “Be sure, though, you sacrifice your political party’s platform on the altar of the gospel, and not vice-versa.” I’m left with the question, “What can I do?” 

Several Scripture passages address the believer’s relationship to the government. When asked a question about paying taxes, Jesus said, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s” (Matthew 22:21). His disciples were to give the government and its leaders the honor, respect and payment they were due. At the same time, they were to give their ultimate worship and loyalty to God. All other passages on this subject reflect this teaching.

The Apostle Paul wrote about the Christian’s duty to the government (Romans 13:1-7). He said everyone should submit to governing authorities, because God had instituted them. The ruler was God’s servant to do good. The Apostle Peter said believers should submit themselves to governing authorities “for the Lord’s sake” (1 Peter 2:13-17).

But obedience to God qualified their obedience to the government. Jesus said they were to give God what was God’s. Their ultimate obedience belonged to the Lord. Acts 4:19 records that when ruling authorities commanded Peter and John not to speak or teach in the name of Jesus, they said, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God.” The entire book of Revelation is about the effort of the Roman government to enforce the worship of Caesar on its people. The book admonished believers to reserve their worship for God alone, even if it cost them their lives.

What does this mean to us today? Part of “giving to Caesar what is Caesar’s” is participating in the political process. Political parties are integral parts of our government, so if you want to be fully involved in the democratic process, you must be involved with one. This involvement can include voting, making financial contributions, working for candidates and even running for office yourself. But as your pastor suggested, you need to be careful that you don’t sacrifice the gospel on a political platform. Commitment to Christ and his message must come first.

What can you do? You can be a good citizen by submitting to governing authorities and obeying the law, as long as these duties don’t conflict with your obedience to God. You can participate in the political process by being involved in a political party. You can put Christ first in all things, and when Christ and your party conflict, side with Christ. No political party can claim the title “The Christian Party.” Sometimes parties use faith language to baptize their platforms. Be wary of efforts to co-opt Christianity in this way.

Finally, you can remember that the kingdom of God comes by the proclamation of the gospel, not by politics.

Robert Prince, pastor

First Baptist Church,

Waynesville, N.C.

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

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

Storylist for week of 6/11/07

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





• The recycle of clergy abuse


• Elder statesman Fletcher lauded as educator, writer

• DBU students reach out to orphans in Guatemala

• Buckner seeks supplies for international orphans

• Harral to begin term as CBF moderator

• East Texas cousins keep Bible Drill competition all in the family

• On the Move

• Around the State


Special Report: The Recycle of Clergy Abuse
• The recycle of clergy abuse

• What to do if a minister is accused of sexual misconduct

• Breaking the cycle

• Stepping over the line: Should sexually straying clergy be restored to ministry?

• Sexual predators often fly under the radar at church

• Sex-abuse victims speak up to help others & find healing themselves

• Ministers not immune from sexual addiction


• Baptist Briefs


• Faith Digest

• Immigration issues reveal disparity between views in pulpits and pews

• Are atheists now becoming the new fundamentalists?


• Book reviewed in this issue are:The AIDS Crisis, by Deborah Dortzbach and W. Meredith Long, Finding God Beyond Harvard: The Quest for Veritas, by Kelly Monroe Kullberg and The Election, by Jerome Teel.


• Classified Ads

• Cartoon

• On the Move

• Around the State

• Texas Baptist Forum


• EDITORIAL: Hold churches accountable for abuse

• DOWN HOME: Who knew 28 is the ‘water' anniversary?

• TOGETHER: Who's going to fill their huge shoes?

• 2nd Opinion: Called to witness Christ's peace

• RIGHT or WRONG? Censorship

• Texas Baptist Forum

• Cybercolumn by Berry D. Simpson: Drinking coffee



• BaptistWay Bible Series for June10: Authentic faith is not contingent on circumstance

• Bible Studies for Life Series for June 10: Practice obedience diligently

• Explore the Bible Series for June 10: Replacing selfishness with faith

• BaptistWay Bible Series for June17: Helpers who are no help

• Bible Studies for Life Series for June 17: Remember the Lord is God

• Explore the Bible Series for June 17: A call to remember who we are


Previously Posted
• Missionary & SBTC leader face off for SBC first VP

• Half of SBC pastors believe in ‘prayer languages,' study reveals

• BGCT posts registered sex offenders serving in Texas Baptist churches

• Three churches form ties that bind

• Barefoot sermon kicks off Buckner shoe drive

• Media bias? Not the way some might think

• Warren slated to speak at Texas Baptist annual meeting

• With 10 years under their belts, first Truett grads reflect on ministry

• Truett graduates 10 years after: Verbatim

• Clergy sexual abuse likely hot topic at SBC

• Pennington-Russell set to make history in Georgia

• Study suggests American Muslims more mainstream than in Europe

• African-American Fellowship president dies

• Reynolds lauded as 'friend of all true Baptists'

• TBM trains Mexico's top-ranking officials in disaster response

• Missouri fundamentalists organize against their former movement

• Huckabee cancels Covenant speech over Jimmy Carter's criticism of Bush

• Reynolds' funeral, memorial services set

• Drake won't repeat as SBC 2nd VP; won't rule out higher office

• Former Baylor President Reynolds dies


See a complete list of articles from our 5/28/07 issue here.

Posted: 6/22/07

CYBER COLUMN:
Hope radiates

By John Duncan

I’m sitting here under the old oak tree in July, pondering past events and thinking of our nation at grief in America—grieving families in the loss of soldiers, grieving church members who have lost loved one, and still feeling the grief of long-forgotten, at least by most, of the Virginia tech tragedy of last spring. How soon we forget, but grief never forgets.

Really, though, I find myself thinking about the power of the teacher-student relationship. My mind cannot even fathom the events of Virginia Tech—the horror, the funerals with sad songs, or the grief that like an ocean wave will not, for some, go away. It will roll in waves, ceaselessly. Walt Whitman wrote two magnificent lines in his poem, Memories of President Lincoln: “With the countless torches lit, with the silent sea of faces and unbared heads.”

John Duncan

I find myself on this hot summer day looking out beyond the old oak tree. The bluebonnets have sung their glory as spring has passed. Not too far from here new roads, construction and the yellow flashing lights of construction blink and signal progress. And school is out, for most, but summer school is in (my own daughters are attending summer school): teachers teaching students the basics, reading, writing and arithmetic. Socrates, Plato and Joseph T. McClain would be proud.

I have thought about the terrible tragedy of Virginia Tech—the blood, the pictures, the anger, the death, the vigils with countless torches lit, and the sea of faces, those who unnecessarily lost their lives, the grieving families on the journey of long lament and even the family of the killer who will live with a mark of the beast the rest of their lives. I think of pastors, speaking at funerals trying to explain the unexplainable with comforting words from the Shepherd’s Psalm with images in fields of green and stories of how Christ lost his Son in a bloodbath and how life takes a sudden turn and you do not know where to turn and so Christ turns to you in the sacred silence and mysterious mess of life unpredictable. What do people do without God? Christ? The Holy Spirit who hovers as a comforter? I hear the voices of pastors, “God was there. He is here now. The Lord is my Shepherd, valleys and a rod and a staff and light in the dark and countless torches lit amid a sea of faces.” In the sea of faces, mothers, fathers, students, they still weep, the countless torches reflecting glistening tears on running cheeks in the shadows of death unplanned.

I also hear the voices of skeptics: Where was your God? I agree with C. S. Lewis, “Atheism turns out to be too simple. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be a word without meaning.” I know, I do not always understand C. S. Lewis either, but he is right: If there is no God and no meaning how would you know there were no God and no meaning since part of the meaning we gather in life comes from the contrasts: dark, light; atheist, Christian; death, life; student, teacher; wicks on candles snuffed out, glowing candles in the wind, with countless torches lit in the sea of faces. If only the skeptics would look into the sea of faces. If only skeptics would peer into the torches lit and find light.

For one, I am thankful for the Shepherd in a moment like this time in history on planet earth. I believe in God more than ever. I need the grace of the Shepherd’s care in valleys deep and utter gratitude to the Shepherd’s love on the mountain. Two, I keep thinking of the students and teachers and the teacher-student relationship, especially the one student who lost her professor in the rampage and uttered, “I will miss my brilliant professor.” I even wonder what she is doing this summer. Summer school? Camp? Weeping with willows on long summer nights?

For all we like to take credit for, we are products of the teacher-student relationship: parent to child, boss to employer, trainer to trainee, teacher to student. Of all the crazy things I am thinking about, words bouncing back and forth in my mind like a ping pong ball, are those words, “I will miss my brilliant professor!”

I once had a professor who has since passed on whom I miss. His name was Dr. Joseph T. McClain. He taught Greek and Bible at Howard Payne University. He loved running and sports, especially any team from Oklahoma, boomer sooner and the pride of an Okie from Muskogee and all that. He also pastored a church in Shelby, North Carolina and wrote me letters and said things like, “Don’t get any tar on your heels.” He had strong opinions about politics, school, education, and even my own life. He once told me emphatically, “Don’t graduate from college in three years! Don’t do it!” I did it any way and thought later that maybe he was right. He once sent me on a mission trip to Wyoming and sent me to the hardest church, a new church start to preach a revival where on the first Sunday I preached to three people. The pastor apologized because only him, his wife and son showed up. He admitted later that his other son stayed home and slept.

Dr. McClain said he sent me there, “To see what you’re made of.” He loved Bible verses like, “He who humbles himself shall be exalted. He exalts himself shall be humbled.” He longed to teach me the way of Christ, the way of discipleship, and the way of Biblical study in Greek language which like a farmer he aimed to plant as seeds in my heart. His teaching seeds bore fruit and now some 25 years later I still hear his voice deep in my soul.

All told, he taught me Greek and how to interpret the Bible and he loved A. T. Robertson’s commentaries full of word pictures and he gave me books from his library, always signed, “To my Faithful and Most Able Co-Worker with Love, Joseph T. McClain 12/25/81.” A good teacher will guide students through a maze of discovery like walking a corridor and opening doors and windows full of new adventure. A good teacher makes learning electric, pulsating with lightning and thunder and heightening the senses like the warning from an approaching storm. A good teacher invokes discipline. “Study a little every day,” McClain would say. A good teacher helps you see what you often do not see in your inner self and calls out that self to be shared and cheers you to grand heights. A good Christian teacher offers insight into the way of Christ and into the way of developing the mind of Christ.

I miss my brilliant professor. Oh, how I miss him. He did all of that for me.

Matthew (8:19-27, NIV) records an exchange between teacher and student-disciple: 19 Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” 20 Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” 21 Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” 22 But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” 23 Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24 Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” 26 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. 27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

Here I am under this old oak tree. Summer sizzles. Fields of green offer praise. Countless torches glow in the sea of faces. And I am thinking of the teacher student relationship most vital: Jesus to his disciples, Jesus to his followers, Jesus to people in the twenty first century like me. So here is what I think: If we took more seriously the relationship between teacher-student and as disciples of Jesus allowed Christ to teach us as his students, maybe, just maybe there would be less violence, more peace; less darkness, more light; less wandering, more meaning; less hopelessness, more hope; less sadness, more joy.

Jesus had a rag-tag group of followers, sons of thunder and fishermen and women and bad people gone good under the grace of God and good apples made better under the glory of God’s goodness. Transformation took place one on one, face to face, heart to heart, soul to soul. I pray for the grieving and pray for the church of Jesus to cling to the heart of Christ, discipleship, reclaiming, in the words of Dallas Willard a church culture of discipleship because the church of America tends toward churches full of “undiscipled disciples.” 

Once in a children’s musical in our church, the recurring them in the musical was, “Stop! Look! Listen for Christmas!” My prayer is that in more recent events we will stop, look and listen for Christ, that we will see ‘the countless torches lit and the sea of faces” and look into Christ’s face to hear, in the words of Matt Redman in his book Facedown, “the intimate whispers of God.” Under this tree the wind rustles the leaves. A cool breeze blows. An ant crawls nearby. A bird catches the upward current of the wind.

And hope radiates, a Torch brighter than torches lit and one Face stands out amid the sea of faces, the Shepherd who stands in a field of green with arms open wide, speaking in an intimate whisper, “Come unto me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.” I stand. I speak. I move toward the Shepherd a field and say, “I am coming, Lord. I am coming.” I see beyond the Shepherd torches lit and the sea of faces and I fall facedown in awe. I weep. And I look up; Christ weeps and grieves for the sea of faces. And the wind blows. And the wind blows. And the wind keeps blowing.

John Duncan is pastor of Lakeside Baptist Church in Granbury, Texas, and the writer of numerous articles in various journals and magazines. You can respond to his column by e-mailing him at jduncan@lakesidebc.org.

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: 6/22/07

Volunteers from Pioneer Drive Baptist Church in Abilene renovate the family home of a boy who was disabled after a fight in the church’s parking lot one year ago. (Photos courtesy of Pioneer Drive Baptist Church)

REBUILDING LIVES:
Abilene church renovates home, touches family

By George Henson

Staff Writer

ABILENE—A home renovation cannot come close to repairing the damage done in a young boy’s life, but it has allowed his family to see the love of Christ through the kindness of members of Pioneer Drive Baptist Church in Abilene.

Last summer, a 12-year-old boy—small for his age—was challenged to fight by a much bigger boy late at night in the church’s parking lot. Other children who were present report the younger boy refused and turned away to leave. Reports say the larger boy spun him around and hit him one time in the chest.

That blow stopped the small boy’s heart. He had no vital signs when paramedics arrived minutes later, and he lost all vital signs twice more before reaching the hospital. He remained in a coma for months. He has awakened from that coma but still lacks all motor skills.

Paul Lenker and some other men from Pioneer Drive Baptist decided to build a wheelchair ramp for the boy’s grandparents, who provide care for him and his four younger siblings. But after seeing the family’s home, a bigger project began to develop.

“We could have built a ramp, but the house would have fallen down behind it,” Lenker said. “If they had moved out and someone had tried to move in, it would have been condemned by the city. There’s no way they would ever have gotten the utilities turned on.”

The house essentially was stripped away and totally rebuilt. Not one inch of wiring in the house remains from prior to the remodeling project. Every inch of the plumbing and every piece of sheetrock was removed and replaced. Every kitchen cabinet and all the appliances are new. The roof was replaced. From top to bottom, volunteers built a new house.

While the crew primarily stuck to the house’s former footprint, the dirt-floored garage was transformed into a bedroom, two bathrooms were added and a porch was transformed into a laundry room. About 400 square feet were added to the original size of the house, in addition to the parts of the house that were made into living space, like the garage and porch.

“It’s going to be the showcase for the neighborhood,” Lenker said.

The work began after permits were secured from the city in October, and the work continued through the spring.

More than 40 individuals, many—but not all—from Pioneer Drive, worked on the house. More than 30 Abilene-area companies also provided materials and crews for the effort. People were just drawn to the project, Lenker said.

“There were eight or nine guys who spent three to four days a week at the house for months,” he said.

A wheelchair-accessible van also was provided to the family by a local non-profit organization.

Lenker, who headed the effort, said it was a work of many people from several churches and some people with no church affiliation. Its scope was so great, only God could have orchestrated it, he stressed.

“It’s about a $60,000 house, and we did it for about $20,000,” he said.

The family lived in one of the church’s mission homes during the six months of reconstruction.

The effort had a far larger impact than just giving a family a new place to call home. The boy’s younger twin sisters had been attending one of Pioneer Drive’s mission points, Shining Star Fellowship, but the rest of the family had little if any connection to the church.

While they were pouring themselves into the building of the home, church members also began pouring themselves into the lives of the people who would live there. Molly Lenker and Emily Meador especially were diligent in befriending the family, Minister of Missions Randy Perkins said.

The grandfather, who suffered from alcoholism and had several skirmishes with the law, quit drinking and recently was baptized at Pioneer Drive Baptist Church.

The morning of his baptism, a couple of women also were baptized—one of whom credited the man with giving her the courage to come forward.

“That man’s why I’m here,” she told Lenker. “I’d been putting this off and putting this off, but when that man stepped into the aisle, I knew it was time.”

While this is probably Pioneer Drive’s longest continuing project, Perkins said the church seeks continually to be on mission, and it also seeks to work with Christian churches of multiple denominations on mission efforts.

Recently the church combined with other churches of various denominations for a “We Are the Sermon” project involving more than 300 people who repaired 22 homes across the city. Sheds were torn down, windows replaced, homes painted.

“We’re not involved in a works-based faith, but our theology demands an expression of our faith, and those outward expressions of our faith transform our faith,” said James Stone, associate minister of missions at Pioneer Drive Baptist Church.

“Our expression of who Christ is in us is expressed by the things we do and how we serve, and who Christ is in us is influenced by what we do and how we serve,” he continued.

The church also operates a food pantry staffed by the church’s senior adults and has a once-a-year holiday grocery store. At the grocery store, families get about $200 in food for $11, including a ham and turkey, Perkins said.

“And for some who $11 is too much, we don’t ask them for anything,” he added.

People who visit the store are referred by neighboring schools. About 60 percent of the families choose to leave more than the amount required as a gesture of thanks, Perkins noted.

Pioneer Drive intentionally offers multiple ministries that can involve every person who wishes to serve Christ, he said. Teams greet people in parking lots, minister in five different nursing homes, and provide educational meetings such as home safety tips for senior adults.

The church also runs a number of mission camps each summer for youth. Some are in Abilene, and others are at other locations where mission work is needed. Perkins said the camps hope to engender at an early age the desire to help others in Christ’s name.

It is not only Baptist churches who send their young people. One week is set aside for youth from the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), as well as Catholics, Methodists, Lutherans and others.

“At these camps we’re not just serving, but teaching why we serve,” Perkins said.

He has no problem with working with Christians of other denominations to serve others. “I mean, can’t we do some of this together? It is kingdom work we’re talking about,” he said.

Pioneer Drive doesn’t confine itself to Abilene but seeks to minister in many geographically diverse points.

“The idea is, ‘Let’s be the hands and feet of Jesus every chance we get, not just in our community, but also in our state, country and around the world,’” Perkins 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: 6/22/07

After Noelia and Allix Aguilar stood with 11-year-old Gabriel between them to make the “final vows” for adoption, Allix Aguilar leaned over and kissed the boy on the cheek as his wife wiped away tears.

Honduran boy ‘comes home’ to San Antonio family

By Craig Bird

Baptist Child & Family Services

AN ANTONIO—The judges dressed in neon-hued robes, mothers and children carried roses, and everybody wore smiles for the “mass adoption” at the Bexar County courthouse.

“Usually these are held in a courtroom, but we have so many adoptions to approve today that we had to borrow the jury selection room to get all of us in,” explained Judge Richard Garcia as he greeting several hundred people crowded into the basement room.

“This is my favorite day of the month,” Judge Charles Monte-mayor told several hundred people crowded into the basement room usually reserved for jury selection. “Today, 79 children are joining—and in some cases creating—47 families.”

Three of those families and four of those children were associated with Baptist Child & Family Services.

“We’re almost to our first anniversary of being licensed as an adoption agency, so many of the first wave of our families have completed the waiting period,” said Sarah McLornan, who heads the agency’s adoption service. “It is so exciting to share this final step with these great families and kids. And the good news is that we have lots of other adoptions nearing this last stage too.”

Allix and Noelia Aguilar and teenagers Noel and Nehemias hovered around Gabriel. The slim 11-year-old from Honduras seemed a little awed by the noise and excitement but comfortable with the family who had welcomed him into their lives.

“He came to the United States with his father, but his father didn’t take care of him, so the courts took away his parental rights,” McLornan said.

“The Aguilars, through our straight-adopt program, just fell in love with him, and he returned that love.”

The 47 adopting parents stood en masse to answer three questions affirmatively: Is the child you are adopting with you? Do you understand that you are becoming Mom and Dad just as if that child had been born to you? Do you understand that you are forever more responsible to love them and care for them?

The “yes” responses were reinforced by hugs all around.

Then each adoption was recognized individually, the named family standing to be introduced by name and congratulated both by the judge and vigorous applause. Laughter greeted Montemayor’s tongue-in-cheek reminder: “We have a no refund, no return policy. These are your children even when they turn into teenagers.”

When the Aguilars stood with Gabriel between them to make the “final vows,” the boy looked up at both and smiled.  After they were seated, Allix Aguilar leaned over to kiss him on the cheek as his wife wiped away tears. The big brothers just looked proud.

While the public perception of adoption is of young couples and an infant, “the reality is that there are 4,000 children in Texas without families—and most of them are 9 years old and older,” said Arabia Vargas, chair of the Bexar County Child Welfare Board and the attorney who handles most Baptist Child & Family Services adoptions.

“It is exciting that 24 of these older children are among the 79 children being adopted today, so tell your friends and relatives about the great kids that need loving homes so they can do what you are doing.”

After the ceremony, the family court judges posed with each new family for photos. Waiting their turn, the children helped themselves to the popcorn, coloring books, stuffed animals and candy provided by the Fire Fighters Auxiliary.

For information about Baptist Child & Family Services adoption or foster program, contact McLornan at (210) 208-5614, by e-mail at smclornan@bcfs.net or visit www.bcfs.net.

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