Posted: 6/01/07

The inuagural class of students at Truett Seminary graduated in 1997.

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

By Marv Knox

Editor

WACO—Ten years past graduation, Truett Theological Seminary’s first students remain fascinated with—and challenged by—people who receive their ministry.

They’re also still committed to learning how to minister, and they believe new seminary graduates should embrace their calling, they said in reply to a survey reflecting on their decade out of seminary.

Baylor University’s seminary graduated its first class of 33 students in 1997. Almost a third of them replied to the questionnaire. Their answers crossed a spectrum of impressions and ideas, but relationships with people provided a recurrent theme.

Read students' complete responses to the survey here.

“What has surprised me most (in the past 10 years) is that the local church is the place where a pastor might see people at their worst, with all their warts and foibles, and yet it is the very same place where he or she would see people at their absolute best,” noted Brian Brewer, senior pastor at Northminster Baptist Church in Jackson, Miss., who will join the Truett Seminary faculty this summer.

“It is this polarity that has shown me the church (is) both human and divine,” Brewer noted.

“People are a challenge to work with at times,” added James Gardner, associate pastor at McClendon Baptist Church in West Monroe, La. “The best thing about ministry is working with people. The worst thing—if you can really say that—or maybe the most challenging thing about ministry is working with people.”

Acknowledging he wished he had learned “more about working with people” in seminary, Gardner also noted “relationships” was the most valuable lesson he learned in seminary.

“It doesn’t matter how great you preach or how well-educated you are. If people inside and outside the church don’t know you care about and love them, nothing else matters,” he said.

Brewer and Gardner joined Kirk Hatcher, minister to youth at South Main Baptist Church in Houston, in wishing they had learned more about conflict management or relationships in seminary.

Learning more about “dealing with different personalities and how that applies to working in a ministry setting” would have been very helpful, Hatcher said, noting young ministers need to know “how to deal with the overpowering person, the meek, the attention-getter, the refuser … .”

Bill Shiell, pastor of First Baptist Church in Knoxville, Tenn., credited Truett Seminary with helping him learn conflict resolution. And the pastor-church relationship provided the focal point for his advice to the latest crop of seminary graduates, following his footsteps by a decade.

“Know yourself, and know how you’re wired,” he urged, responding to a question about advice he would give to new seminary graduates. “Churches are like people because they are people.

“Every church has a DNA, just as every minister does, too. In your first church and/or staff experience, pay attention to how you live out your theology, how you lead and how you work. Then, as you talk to search committees, ask questions based on what you know about yourself and what you know about their DNA. Accept who they are, and minister from that position. …

“For instance, every church has a different definition of pastor and staff leadership. We were trained in seminary to lead one way but not trained how to adjust leadership needs based on the DNA of the congregation and/or staff. Churches could identify what they want and clarify that. You could substitute any issue here, but leadership is one example.”

Gardner offered new graduates a word of warning about relationships: “Sometimes, people will be ugly and nasty and downright mean. But regardless of that, treat them as Christ would—love. It’s easy to get so busy doing the ‘stuff’ of ministry that you can forget what we are sent here for—to reach and tell people of the love of Jesus Christ.”

Steve Wells echoed that theme as he delivered the message to graduates at Truett Seminary’s 2007 commencement.

“Relationships matter. … If you love people enough, eventually, they will hurt you or you will hurt them,” insisted Wells, pastor of South Main Baptist Church in Houston and a member of the Class of ‘97.

“If we have been forgiven, we must forgive others,” he said, noting forgiveness may seem like a quiet act and mundane, but it is a “profound miracle.”

How ministers dispense and accept forgiveness may be the most profound act of their entire ministry, he added, exhorting the new graduates: “Now is the time to take up the role of being heralds of the king, ambassadors of Christ and ministers of reconciliation.”

The ‘97 Truett grads emphasized the importance of deepening their faith and continually learning how to minister better.

“Truett placed a priority on spiritual formation,” recalled Andy Pittman, pastor of First Baptist Church in Lufkin. “I did not fully appreciate the importance of spiritual formation while I was a student.

“Once I was out of seminary, I started serving as a pastor and giving myself away to others. That was when spiritual formation became most important to me. I recognized that I had to have a growing spiritual life in order to be effective as a minister. Truett gave me the foundation and the tools to grow spiritually—and to help others to grow.”

Brewer echoed that sentiment in his response to a question about what he wishes laypeople know. “A pastor’s desk is in a ‘study,’ not an ‘office.’ He or she needs time to do just that, to study. Often, what is the most valuable part of the pastor’s work week is the time he spends in prayer and study.”

Coming to grips with that fact is what has surprised Wells the most during the past 10 years. “I am an extrovert by nature, yet I need 20 to 30 study hours every week for preparation.”

That need never stops, Hatcher said, telling recent grads they will learn from unlikely sources. “You don’t know everything. People you are going to be ministering to and with can help you know more. Let them teach you,” he said, advising, “Never stop learning.”

That’s a lesson the “old” Truett grads learned in Waco, recalled C.V. Hartline III, pastor of Vibrant Covenant Church in Portland, Ore.

The two most valuable lessons he learned in seminary were their late professor Bill Treadwell’s admonition to “remember who you are” and to “be a life-long learner.”

That stuck, Hartline said, crediting Truett Seminary with providing and education that was “a building block for growth” in faith and practical ministry.

Chris Nagel, a chaplain at Giddings State School in Giddings, even offered recent grads a specific area of learning that will strengthen their relationships. “Do a unit of Clinical Pastoral Education,” he advised. “It will help you integrate your personal issues and your seminary education in a real-world setting.”

Chad Prevost, assistant professor of creative writing at Lee University in Cleveland, Tenn., urged the new grads to innovate and seek relevance.

“We have enough status quo in the ministry—and to some extent, at least, this plays into why the church continues to fade in significance to the culture. Be innovative,” Prevost explained. “I have to agree with the prophetic voice of Tony Campolo: If the church doesn’t find ways to become socially engaged, it will continue to lose relevance.”

Chris Spinks, assistant to the dean and an adjunct professor of New Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., urged the ‘07 graduates to stretch themselves and continue to think deeply.

“Even the ‘heady’ stuff matters,” noted Spinks, who will become an acquisitions editor at Wipf & Stock Publishing in Eugene, Ore., this summer. “It makes you a deeper, more thoughtful person, which in turn makes you a better minister.”

And Wells advised them to lean on their call to ministry as they go about serving God’s people.

“Be mystical about church call,” he said. “Go where you feel led. Work like you will be there the rest of your life. Stay until you have a clear sense of call to another place. If you wish you were in another place; know that God knows where you are and when and where you will go next.”

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

Posted: 6/01/07

Truett graduates 10 years after: Verbatim

Truett Theological Seminary's first students graduated in 1997. These are their full replies to a survey reflecting on their decade out of seminary.

The students who responded are Brian Brewer, James Gardner, C.V. Hartline III, Kirk Hatcher, Chris Nagel, Andy Pittman, Chad Prevost, Bill Shiell, Chris Spinks and Steve Wells. Click on the name to go directly to that person's response.

Brian Brewer

Senior pastor, Northminster Baptist Church, Jackson, Miss.; joining Truett Seminary as assistant professor of Christian theology in June

What has surprised you most about ministry in the past 10 years?

The local church is the place where a pastor might see people at their worst, with all their warts and foibles, and yet it is the very same place where he or she would see people at their absolute best, with great selflessness and sacrifice. It is this polarity that has shown me the church to be both human and divine.

 

What do you wish you had learned in seminary that you didn’t learn?

I wish I had learned more conflict management skills, for both group and personal management; more about the calling and pastor-search committee process; and opportunity to rehearse the practical mechanics of baptisms and communion.

 

What was the most valuable lesson you learned in seminary?

The substance of ministry is leading a congregation to a good theology and subsequent theological appropriation of the gospel in its own community. The value of theology is inextricably linked to the practical ministry of the church.

 

What piece of advice would you give to the 2007 graduates?

Remember that some of the greatest hardships of ministry will yield some of the greatest rewards. Fight then the good fight.

 

What do you wish laypeople knew that they don’t seem to know?

A pastor’s desk is in a “study,” not an “office.” He or she needs time then to do just that, to study. Often what is the most valuable part of the pastor’s work week is the time he spends alone in prayer and study. Please learn to respect this.

Back to the Top

James Gardner

Associate pastor, McClendon Baptist Church, West Monroe, La.

What has surprised you most about ministry in the past 10 years?

Those things that should be most important are sometimes pushed aside for the sake of being right or a specific agenda.

 

What do you wish you had learned in seminary that you didn’t learn?

More about working with people. I really don’t know if it could have been taught, but people are a challenge to work with at times! The best thing about ministry is working with people. The worst thing (if you can really say that in ministry) or maybe the most challenging thing about ministry is working with people.

 

What was the most valuable lesson you learned in seminary?

Relationships. It doesn’t matter how great you can preach or how well-educated you are, if people inside and outside the church don’t know that you care about and love them, nothing else matters.

 

What piece of advice would you give to the 2007 graduates? 

Regardless of what position you serve or where you serve, two things to remember—maintaining a personal study/devotional time amidst a busy and hectic schedule is vital to your spiritual health and to the health of your church/ministry, and people are important! Sometimes people will be ugly and nasty and downright mean, but regardless of that, treat them as Christ would—love. It’s easy to get so busy doing the “stuff” of ministry that you forget what we are sent here for—to reach and tell people of the love of Jesus Christ. One more thing: Remember it was God that called you. He is bigger than any problem or situation you might encounter. His grace is sufficient. He is sovereign.

 

What do you wish laypeople knew that they don’t seem to know?

Ministry can be a lonely place. It shouldn’t be, but it is. Their words of encouragement mean more than they know.

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C.V. Hartline III

Pastor/planter, Vibrant Covenant Church, Portland, Ore.

What has surprised you most about ministry in the past 10 years?

Post-modernity is deeply rooted in our culture, and people are becoming less interested in evangelical christianity.

 

What do you wish you had learned in seminary that you didn’t learn?

The education I received from Truett was a building block for growth in faith and praxis.

 

What was the most valuable lesson you learned in seminary?

“Remember who you are” (Bill Treadwell) and be a life-long learner.

 

What piece of advice would you give to the 2007 graduates?

Give up on competency and embrace faith.

 

What do you wish laypeople knew that they don’t seem to know?

Following Jesus is simple, but not easy. Jesus is not a product “the church” is “selling.” The act of discipleship is a deliberate, intentional, conscious decision to allow Christ to transform us.

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Kirk Hatcher

Minister to youth, South Main Baptist Church, Houston

What has surprised you most about ministry in the past 10 years?

I’m never finished. Something else is always waiting.

What do you wish you had learned in seminary that you didn’t learn?

More about dealing with different personalities and how that applies to working in a ministry setting. Things like how to deal with the overpowering person, the meek, the attention-getter, the refuser, etc. would have been great. Some of the more practical aspects of ministerial life would’ve been great—how to be a minister and a parent at the same time, how to balance a checkbook when there’s nothing to balance, and signs that your ego has taken over.

What was the most valuable lesson you learned in seminary?

Never stop learning.

What piece of advice would you give to the 2007 graduates?

You don’t know everything. People you are going to be ministering to and with can help you know more. Let them teach you!

What do you wish laypeople knew that they don’t seem to know?

All ministers do not have leather skin. We have families we need to spend time with. Constructive criticism is much more productive than anger-driven criticism. We love them, regardless.

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Chris Nagel

Chaplain, Giddings State School, Giddings

What has surprised you most about ministry in the past 10 years?

I always thought I’d be a pastor, but my path was in chaplaincy outside the church.

What do you wish you had learned in seminary that you didn’t learn?

I could have used some courses in world religions. As a chaplain, I am responsible for meeting the spiritual needs of a diverse population.

What was the most valuable lesson you learned in seminary?

I learned how much I don’t know about theology and the Scriptures.

What piece of advice would you give to the 2007 graduates?

Do a unit of Clinical Pastoral Education. It will help you integrate your personal issues and your seminary education in a real-world setting.

What do you wish laypeople knew that they don’t seem to know?

Their pastors need a Sabbath beyond Sunday for self-care.

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Andy Pittman

Pastor, First Baptist Church, Lufkin

What has surprised you most about ministry in the past 10 years?

I did not think I would become a pastor. I started out in youth ministry and moved into university ministry. I did not feel called to serve as a pastor until I graduated from seminary in 1997.

What do you wish you had learned in seminary that you didn’t learn?

I am proud of my seminary education and think Truett does the best job of preparing ministers to serve in local churches. I had formal training in Bible, theology, biblical languages and ministry. I did not have classes on all of the daily responsibilities of ministry, but I had to fulfill “mentoring” requirements with an experienced pastor. That is where I learned how to perform the “behind the scenes” responsibilities of ministry.

What was the most valuable lesson you learned in seminary?

Truett placed a priority on spiritual formation. I did not fully appreciate the importance of spiritual formation while I was a student. Once I was out of seminary I started serving as a pastor and giving myself away to others. That was when spiritual formation became most important to me. I recognized I had to have a growing spiritual life in order to be effective as a minister. Truett gave me the foundation and the tools to grow spiritually—and to help others to grow.

What piece of advice would you give to the 2007 graduates?

Don’t sell your books! You won’t realize how good they are until you leave the seminary and re-read them a second and third time.

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Chad Prevost

Assistant professor of creative writing and rhetoric, Lee University, Cleveland, Tenn.

What has surprised you most about ministry in the past 10 years?

People’s need to believe in something.

 

What do you wish you had learned in seminary that you didn’t learn?

I wish we had placed much more emphasis on “calling.” I would have loved to have had some kind of seminar or “lifelong learning credits” or something that authentically explored this concept. In line with that, we can serve young seminarians well by assisting them in seeing ministry in a far more open-ended way. I came into Truett ready to apply myself to serious studies and to explore my call to minister—also to thoroughly debunk the myth of biblical inerrancy. That’s about all I knew. I also knew I always wanted to be a writer and was more inclined to mission work of one kind or another than being a pastor—though my faith had never expressed itself in an evangelical way (and never did). It took two years out of seminary to get back on a more “true” path for me and the ways that I could serve and “follow my bliss.” I’m not sure what Truett does now along these lines. We were on the front lines from 1994-97—”guinea pigs” we were often called.

 

What was the most valuable lesson you learned in seminary?

No single lesson. Of course, I saw the “dark” side of human behavior, even in the church, and how the church is often (always?) run as a business. But this is a rather small lesson, really. I’m not sure I can boil it down to a single lesson. I learned you don’t need seminary to be a good minister: How academic and intellectual does it need to be vs. the pragmatics. The solution has been to continually hybridize both models, and the next thing you find is a three year master’s degree. Seems unecessary.

 

What piece of advice would you give to the 2007 graduates?

We have enough status quo in the ministry. To some extent, at least, this plays into why the church continues to fade in significance to the culture. Be innovative. I have to agree with the prophetic voice of Tony Campolo: If the church doesn’t find ways to become socially engaged, it will continue to lose relevance. The church needs to be seen as fighting for more than some right-wing political bumper sticker motto. Bono’s leadership is a powerful example of this on a global scale.

 

What do you wish laypeople knew that they don’t seem to know?

Ministers are people too. But (1) that’s really impossible; it’s similar to asking a child to see his/her parent as a “person” or any authority figure, and (2) part of the professional ministerial concept is that the people want the figurehead “set apart.” They want to believe in his/her belief and leadership. But I always had trouble with that.

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Bill Shiell

Senior pastor, First Baptist Church, Knoxville, Tenn.

What has surprised you most about ministry in the past 10 years?

How little help there is for ministers. When we graduated, I thought we would be greeted with open arms by other ministers and the seminary. Instead, we had to fend ourselves to find a church job, network and resources. The greatest help came from non-pastor/church staff ministers and mentors and retired ministers and professors who encouraged me and met with me over the phone or in person as needed.

What do you wish you had learned in seminary that you didn’t learn?

Personnel and staff recruitment, training, and accountability. Writing; I was not fully prepared for the writing load at the doctoral level.

What was the most valuable lesson you learned in seminary?

Conflict resolution. Baptist history roots, heritage, principles.

What piece of advice would you give to the 2007 graduates?

Know yourself and know how you’re wired.

• Churches are like people, because they are people. Every church has a DNA, just as every minister does too. In your first church and/or staff experience, pay attention to how you live out your theology, how you lead and how you work.

• Then, as you talk to search committees, ask questions based on what you know about yourself and what you know about their DNA. Accept who they are, and minister from that position.

• As you interview staff and pastors, communicate about each other’s DNA and discuss openly the written and unwritten expectations the church has. For instance, every church has a different definition of pastor and staff leadership. We were trained in seminary to lead one way but not trained how to adjust leadership needs based on the DNA of the congregation and/or staff. Churches could identify what they want and clarify that. You could substitute any issue here, but leadership is one example.

What do you wish laypeople knew that they don’t seem to know?

Ministers do not naturally make friends. They are nomads. So, the search committees need to know that the work is not over when they hire the minister. They need to think holistically about:

• Setting up social networks

• Being there during personal and family crises. Many churches assume that “someone else is handling ____” but have no effective system to ensure the minister is cared for.

• Providing ongoing mentoring in the first few years of ministry. Most of us need a coach or assistance outside the personnel committee to bounce ideas around and provide an outlet for stress.

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Chris Spinks

Assistant to the dean and adjunct assistant professor of New Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary; joining Wipf & Stock Publishing in Eugene, Ore., as acquisitions editor in June

What has surprised you most about ministry in the past 10 years?

I have not been in church ministry since 1998, just one year after graduating from Truett.

What do you wish you had learned in seminary that you didn’t learn?

There is more to the Body of Christ than Baptists.

What was the most valuable lesson you learned in seminary?

Greek is fun!

What piece of advice would you give to the 2007 graduates?

Even the “heady” stuff matters. It makes you a deeper, more thoughtful person, which in turn makes you a better minister. A course need not have explicit or immediate “practical” application to be practical.

What do you wish laypeople knew that they don’t seem to know?

The Bible was written and is read within particular contexts. We ought to be keenly aware of both.

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Steve Wells

Pastor, South Main Baptist Church, Houston

What has surprised you most about ministry in the past 10 years?

How much time I need to spend in solitude in order to be effective. I am an extrovert by nature, yet I need 20 to 30 study hours every week for preparation and study. Administration, busy work and pastoral needs make getting that kind of time very difficult—and I am in a nearly ideal situation, with a full compliment of very competent and committed colleagues and a brilliant and committed congregation.

What do you wish you had learned in seminary that you didn’t learn?

How to read a balance sheet.

What was the most valuable lesson you learned in seminary?

To think theologically

What piece of advice would you give to the 2007 graduates?

Be mystical about church call. Go where you feel led. Work like you will be there the rest of your life. Stay until you have a clear sense of call to another place. If you wish you were in another place; know that God knows where you are and when and where you will go next.

Back to the Top

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

Posted: 6/01/07

Clergy sexual abuse likely hot topic at SBC

By Robert Marus & Charlie Warren

Associated Baptist Press & Arkansas Baptist Newsmagazine

SAN ANTONIO (ABP)—The upcoming Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting may not, like last year’s, feature a contested and unpredictable presidential election. But it is likely to air other contentious issues, including a call to action regarding clergy sexual abuse, according to some observers.

Nonetheless, SBC President Frank Page said prayer for revival and spiritual awakening is the intended emphasis for the June 12-13 SBC annual meeting, scheduled for San Antonio’s Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center.

The theme, “Lord, Send Your Holy Spirit,” will frame each of the five plenary sessions. They will include prayer times led by Southern Baptists known for their focus on prayer and will include several minutes for messengers to pray in groups of two or three for revival in the SBC.

“The central focus for my presidency and therefore for this meeting is to seek from the Lord spiritual awakening—his Holy Spirit’s revival,” said Page, pastor of First Baptist Church of Taylors, S.C. “And that is always prefaced by and enabled by and empowered by prayer.”

Page is expected to stand for re-election to a traditional second one-year term as president. He won as an outsider candidate in a contest last year that featured two other pastors with close ties to the SBC’s conservative power structure. Although those candidates led churches larger than Page’s and were endorsed by some of the biggest names in the denomination’s fundamentalist elite, many reform-minded Southern Baptists criticized them for their churches’ tepid support of the Cooperative Program, SBC’s unified budget.

Many younger Southern Baptist pastors disgruntled with the SBC’s ruling party campaigned enthusiastically for Page. They—and other dissatisfied Southern Baptists—used blogs to stir up support for what has become something of a reform movement in the denomination.

Advocates of that movement have promised to present several items of business—some of which may prove controversial—for consideration this year.

In response to recent exposure the SBC has received concerning clergy sexual abuse, Oklahoma pastor Wade Burleson and Texas pastor Benjamin Cole intend to ask the denomination to address the issue.

“Southern Baptists must be proactive when it comes to protecting children under our ministerial care. Our convention cannot retreat behind claims of ecclesiastic polity, and we are encouraged by SBC President Frank Page’s tough stance on clergy sexual abuse,” Cole said.

Burleson is pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Enid, Okla. Cole is pastor of Parkview Baptist Church in Arlington.

Burleson, a former Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma president and a current trustee of the SBC’s International Mission Board, intends to bring a motion calling for the SBC Executive Committee to conduct “a feasibility study concerning the development of a database of Southern Baptist ministers who have been convicted of sexual harassment and abuse,” make that database available to all churches, and report its action at the 2008 meeting in Indianapolis.

“There is no credible reason why Southern Baptist churches cannot look to our convention headquarters for assistance in scrutinizing candidates for ministry positions,” Burleson said. “What was once believed to consist of a few isolated cases has emerged as a more serious threat to our convention’s ministries and our churches’ health.”

Cole will introduce the resolution, “On Clergy Sexual Abuse,” saying, “Southern Baptists must spare no effort to preserve the integrity of our witness and the security of our children from the tragic consequence of our own potential neglect.”

Tom Ascol, director of Founders Ministries and a prominent Southern Baptist advocate for Calvinism, will again submit a resolution calling on churches to exercise stricter discipline over their members. The resolution states that “the ideal of a regenerate church membership has long been and remains a cherished Baptist principle” and cites statistics showing that barely one-third of the 16 million people the Southern Baptist Convention counts as members attend at least one weekly worship service at their home church.

Georgia pastor and blogger Marty Duren said he submitted two proposals to the SBC Resolutions Committee. His first, “concerning pastoral longevity and local-church ministry,” calls on Southern Baptists to embrace “a more biblical understanding of shepherd-to-flock commitment” than is often seen in denominational life.

Duren’s second resolution is on the resolution process itself. It calls on Southern Baptists to, in any annual meeting, refrain from passing a “greater number of resolutions which speak to the sins of society than address the sins and shortcomings in our own midst.”

Cole also said he had submitted a resolution “on gluttony” that is modeled after—and intended to be an implicit critique of—a resolution messengers passed last year that categorically condemned the sale and use of alcoholic beverages.

Two controversial resolutions from a source outside the reform group are likely to stir discussion as well.

Voddie Baucham and Bruce Shortt have submitted a proposal urging messengers to give full support to expanding private Christian education within the SBC, according to Christian Newswire.

Baucham is an author, Bible teacher, professor and pastor at Grace Family Baptist Church of Spring. Shortt is a Houston attorney and a board member for a group encouraging Christians to leave public schools. He wrote The Harsh Truth About Public Schools.

If approved, the resolutions would come in the fourth consecutive year of the convention backing private Christian schools and home schooling. However, Shortt and other advocates of removing Christian children from public schools—a strategy called the “Exodus Mandate”—have failed repeatedly to get the SBC to pass a resolution explicitly endorsing their cause.

Oklahoma pastor Robin Foster, meanwhile, said on his blog that he has submitted a resolution denouncing the practice of speaking in tongues—even in private—and calling on Southern Baptist agencies not to hire employees who engage in such practices. The issue of SBC missionaries speaking in tongues has been a matter of concern in recent years.

There also may be other motions that inspire controversy during miscellaneous business. Cole said some messengers might raise specific questions after the heads of certain convention agencies present their reports.

“I’ve heard of several people who want to ask a number of questions,” he said.

In addition, Cole said messengers could raise questions about the convention’s Cooperative Program budget. He declined to say what specific issues would come up, but said the “time of the adoption of the budget could be a very contentious moment.”

Cole also said that North Carolina pastor Les Puryear would present a motion requiring all SBC entities “to publish the voting and attendance records of every institutional trustee.” Many SBC reformers have complained about the secrecy of SBC trustee boards. Cole said the motion would create something like a “Congressional Record for SBC trustees.”

For convention officers, a challenge to Page’s re-election would be unusual but not unprecedented, but no other candidates for president have been announced.

There were also no announced candidates for the SBC first vice president office. For second vice president, two nominees had been announced as of press time for this story. They are evangelist Bill Britt of Gallatin, Tenn.; and Eric Redmond, pastor of Hillcrest Baptist Church in Temple Hills, Md.

The convention will also feature the unveiling of a 10-year SBC evangelistic strategy.

Geoff Hammond, the SBC North American Mission Board’s newly elected president, has been part of the planning process, Page said, of a “strategy (that) brings associations, state conventions, NAMB and other entities into a true focus in calling churches not just to win souls but better showing them how.”

The evangelistic strategy will be “flexible, multifaceted,” Page said. It will encompass “the more traditional people within our convention and the more contemporary or non-traditional people, old and young, various styles and philosophies of evangelism and church planting, Calvinists, non-Calvinists, various people groups ethnically and various groups from the geographical areas across our country.”

The convention will also feature a ceremony recognizing the 300th anniversary of local Baptist associations in the United States. Tom Biles, president of the SBC Associational Directors of Missions and director of missions for the Tampa Bay (Fla.) Baptist Association, will lead the tribute. The Philadelphia Baptist Association, founded in 1707, was the first entity of its kind.

Prior to the convention, the denomination will hold its annual local-evangelism blitz. In “Crossover San Antonio,” hundreds of Southern Baptists will hit the streets of the metropolitan area June 9 to share the gospel via door-to-door visits, block parties and an international festival featuring dozens of ethnic groups showcasing their cultures, food, dress, music, dance and art.

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

Posted: 6/01/07

Pennington-Russell set to make history in Georgia

By Robert Marus

Associated Baptist Press

DECATUR, Ga. (ABP)—A female pastor who broke the “stained-glass ceiling” in Texas Baptist life is expected to move to a historic church near Atlanta, making it by far the largest Southern Baptist church led by a woman.

A search committee of the 2,696-member First Baptist Church of Decatur, Ga., presented Julie Pennington-Russell’s name May 27 as its recommendation to fill the open office of pastor. Since 1998 Pennington-Russell has been pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Waco.

According to a Decatur church member familiar with the process, the congregation reacted to the announcement with “solid approval.” Pennington-Russell, 46, is scheduled to preach June 17 in anticipation of election the same day.

First Baptist of Decatur—a 141-year-old church in suburban Atlanta—undoubtedly will become a centerpiece in the effort to elevate and celebrate women in pastoral roles. But the congregation is not seeking that notoriety, said one church leader.

“Calling Julie was definitely not about ‘making a statement,’” the longtime member said. “Our committee and the deacon council really felt the leadership of the Holy Spirit as we navigated this decision-making process. And to have our entire congregation—minus five or six folks who are not happy about this—stand at the close of the service … and applaud our committee was overwhelming to us.”

Calvary Baptist in Waco was the first church in the Baptist General Convention of Texas to call a woman as senior pastor. At the time, it also reportedly was the largest congregation of Southern Baptist heritage to be shepherded by a woman.

First Baptist of Decatur is affiliated with the moderate Cooperative Baptist Fellowship but also maintains ties with the Southern Baptist Convention.

In the past 30 years, the Southern Baptist Convention has taken an increasingly hard line on women in leadership. That move—which happened as part of an overall rightward shift in the denomination—culminated in 2000, when the denomination added a clause to its official confession of faith that said the Bible restricts the office of pastor to males.

However, the confession is not binding on local churches, and many congregations affiliated with the SBC have ordained women as ministers and deacons for years.

Nonetheless, several local associations and a handful of state conventions have dismissed churches that have called a woman as a pastor in recent years.

The Decatur congregation would be the third that Pennington-Russell has led. Prior to her tenure at Calvary, she served for five years as pastor of Nineteenth Avenue Baptist Church in San Francisco. She also served that church previously as an associate pastor.

During her time in San Francisco, fundamentalists in the California Southern Baptist Convention tried three times, unsuccessfully, to get the convention to withdraw fellowship from the Nineteenth Avenue congregation.

Pennington-Russell also faced protesters when she went to Waco. However, Calvary has—according to multiple accounts—experienced a significant renaissance under her leadership. What had been an aging, shrinking congregation in a troubled neighborhood has grown numerically and attracted many young adults, as well as faculty and students from nearby Baylor University and its Truett Theological Seminary.

While records on Baptist women in ministry are hard to track, experts in the field said the Decatur congregation would likely be by far the largest church of Southern Baptist heritage ever led by a woman.

“I can’t think of any other church that would have been bigger,” said Pam Durso, a Baptist historian who serves as an officer with Baptist Women in Ministry.

Her group is finishing work on a new study that, its leaders say, will be the most comprehensive survey of the extent of women’s ordination in modern-day Baptist life in the South. Durso said the study has identified female senior pastors in 117 congregations that either are affiliated with the SBC or trace their roots to the denomination. She said the study has documented 1,825 women who have been ordained as ministers in such congregations.

The vast majority of those churches are affiliated with moderate splinter groups, such as the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and Alliance of Baptists, that grew out of the conflict in the SBC. However, while such groups are officially supportive of women in ministry, few large moderate churches have called women as senior pastors. A 2006 report from Durso’s group said only 5.5 percent of churches that are affiliated with CBF had female pastors.

In comparison, 2005 figures from the American Baptist Churches USA showed more than 400 congregations in that denomination had women either as senior pastors or as co-pastors alongside a man.

Pennington-Russell’s resume might mark a turning point in that regard, Durso said.

“We’ve found that women are getting more jobs as pastors, but they’re not moving from one job to another very easily; they can’t get that second pastorate,” she said. “But this is her third (senior pastor position), which makes her very unique, I think.”

Sarah Frances Anders, a sociology professor at Baptist-affiliated Louisiana College, has tracked Baptist women in ministry for decades. She said that she thinks the actual number of ordained women of Southern Baptist heritage is “pushing toward 2,000” and that the number of ordained Baptist women in the former SBC “has jumped rather phenomenally in the last seven years even.”

Decatur is adjacent to Atlanta, but is an independent city encompassing wealthy and gentrifying areas as well as pockets of poverty. The church is located near Emory University, Agnes Scott College and Columbia Theological Seminary.

If elected, Pennington-Russell would succeed Gary Parker, who resigned from the Decatur pastorate a year ago.

Pennington-Russell is a graduate of the University of Central Florida in Orlando and Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in Mill Valley, Calif. According to a biography provided to members of the Decatur church, she is “in the final phase of completing” a doctoral degree in ministry at Truett Seminary. She and her husband, Tim, have two children.

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

Posted: 6/01/07

Study suggests American Muslims more mainstream than in Europe

By Robert Marus

Associated Baptist Press

WASHINGTON (ABP)—One of the most comprehensive studies of its kind suggests Muslims in the United States are far better assimilated into the nation's culture—and far less likely to espouse extremist beliefs—than their counterparts in Europe.

The stark contrasts between the two groups may have something to do with the American traditions of religious freedom and church-state separation, according to experts in the field.

However, the Pew Research Center survey also found that some subgroups of America's Islamic community—specifically, younger Muslims and African-American Muslims—are somewhat more likely than the group as a whole to be open to extremism. African-American Muslims also were far more likely to feel alienated from the culture and suspicious of the government.

And a majority of all American Muslims surveyed believe it has become harder to be a Muslim in the United States since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Overall, the study of more than 1,000 Muslims living in the United States found that 78 percent of adult Muslims think suicide bombings are “never justified” in defense of Islam—a far higher percentage than among European Muslims. Nearly two-thirds of Muslim Americans believe there is no conflict between being a devout Muslim and living in a modern society.

While only 13 percent of all American Muslims believe that suicide bombings could be occasionally justified in defense of Islam, that figure was 25 percent among those under 30. In addition, native-born African-American Muslims are far more likely than the general Muslim population to have a favorable view of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network.

And while American Muslims are more likely than the population as a whole to believe that most Americans can be successful if they work hard enough, African-American Muslims are much less likely to agree with that proposition.

Nonetheless, American Muslims' tolerance of suicide bombers is much lower than corresponding figures for European Muslims, according to Pew surveys conducted last year. In the United Kingdom and Spain, about one-fourth of all Muslims said suicide bombings could be justified, while a third of French Muslims agreed.

One significant difference between American Muslims and the population as a whole is their support for the U.S.-led “war on terrorism.” A 55-percent majority of interviewees believes the battle is not “a sincere effort to reduce international terrorism,” while only 26 percent believe it is.

In a similar vein, less than 50 percent of American Muslims believe the United States made the right decision to use force to remove the Taliban from power in Afghanistan. A wide majority of the overall U.S. population believes attacking Afghanistan was justified.

Overall, however, the survey suggests Muslims are integrating into society as rapidly as did previous waves of immigrants, while their European counterparts have encountered much more difficulty in integrating into society.

Diana Butler Bass, a religion scholar who writes for a religion-and-politics blog jointly sponsored by Beliefnet and Sojourners magazine, said the American tradition of religious liberty explains the vast difference between Muslim life in parts of the world that are otherwise culturally similar.

“With its contrast between the U.S. and Europe, the Pew study suggests that the separation of church and state works to create a more generous, open, and safer society in regard to terrorism,” Bass wrote in a May 23 entry on the “God's Politics” blog.

“At its best, America has a heritage of Christian liberality, intellectually influenced by Christianity but open to a wide range of ideas and peoples through the practice of religious toleration,” she said.

“The path to peace between Christians and Muslims is that of religious freedom, separation of church and state, and appreciative toleration in the best traditions of liberality.”

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

Posted: 5/31/07

BaptistWay Bible Series for June 10

Authentic faith is not contingent on circumstance

• Job 3

By Adam Grubb

Hardin-Simmons University, Abilene

Broken, battered, boiled and bloody, Job stayed faithful. He suffering more than anyone could understand without experiencing it themselves. Job was a righteous man who should have been granted many blessings, but Satan was convinced he could get Job to curse the name of God.

Job 2:11-13 introduces friends who comforted Job in his suffering by simply being a presence in a time of turmoil. The pains of suffering pushed Job to a breaking point where he felt as if he had nowhere to turn.

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

He began to respond to the suffering by cursing the day he was born. His wish was to return to birth and perish immediately to escape the pain he was facing.

Experiencing pains this severe would push most to a point where blame must be put on someone or something, and God is the convenient target. Life is hard and suffering is real, but is it more than we can overcome?

Job remained faithful throughout the suffering, never falling under Satan’s grasp and never cursing the name of God. Scripture says throughout this process Job remained faithful and without sin. This is the true picture of authentic faith.

We are taught by careers, society, and in most cases, the church to have a faith that is conditional and contingent on life’s circumstances. This conditionality forces us to resort to desperation and question our faith or the motives of God. Faith exists, for most people, when it is convenient or when there is a drastic situation. We are taught to believe the most popular idea present at the time and therefore are pushed into developing a whimsical faith that cannot sustain through suffering.

Authenticity penetrates the core of who you are and what you believe, while conditionality skims the surface and simply pushes for survival. Authentic faith will seek to thrive in the midst of suffering. It is not enough to just survive.

When we are in the depths of suffering, conditional faith causes us to be overcome by despair at what is happening and question why. Questions are a natural response to situations that seem to overwhelm. When control is not attainable, doubt and worry creep in. The question is not if we are going to experience suffering; it is when.

When we are faced with tough times throughout life, how will we respond to that suffering? Job responded out of despair because he was being physically attacked within an inch of his life. His curse was not at the God whom he served, but at himself and his insignificant life. His cry for the taking of his life was a response to an almost unbearable pain.

Our pain and suffering usually comes down to our not having enough money or a close relative dying. Our tendency, out of prior guidance, would be to escape into despair and self-loathing, in order to combat the suffering. Our suffering is shallow and usually superficial, but we are extremely quick to blame God for letting “bad things happen to good people.” If we can not pay an electric bill, our selfish conditionality begins to question the fact that God promised we will have everything we ask, if we ask in God’s name (John 15). Suffering causes us to make rash decisions and take Scripture out of context in order to once again make us feel comfortable and to appease the shallow cries of a life that is so unfair.

In chapter 3, Job understandably pleads for his life to be taken so he could escape the suffering he was experiencing. We tend to plead to be spared from the “suffering” we face, in order to make life comfortable again.

We must transition our faith from a conditional to an authentic faith. Authentic faith understands suffering is real, and we were never promised to be rescued from suffering by simply becoming a believer. Our conditional mindsets force us to believe God is going to rid his people of all suffering, when all he commanded is our lives be spared.

This faith we are developing is not a faith contingent on the question of how much we suffer for this life we are called to live. Authentic faith is held in the midst of unbearable circumstances. It extends through times where despair is the only logical feeling or response. Authentic faith is the faith Job possessed and so adamantly portrayed with his devotion to God, and his response to suffering. How will you respond? When suffering comes, what will you do?

Discussion question

• How has God used your faith to strengthen you in the midst of your own suffering?

• When we are suffering, how might Romans 8:37-39 help us fight despair?

Adam Grubb is pursuing a master’s degree in family ministry at Hardin-Simmons University’s Logsdon 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: 5/30/07

Reynolds lauded as 'friend of all true Baptists'

By Marv Knox

Editor

WACO—More than 1,300 family and friends flooded First Baptist Church in Waco May 30, bidding farewell to Herbert H. Reynolds, the 11th president of Baylor University, lauded as “a friend to all true Baptists.”

Reynolds died of an apparent heart attack May 25, a day after he and his wife, Joy, arrived at their summer home in Angel Fire, N.M. He was 77.

"A great leader has fallen, and he has left an empty space in our hearts, in our lives, in our community," Paul Powell, dean of Baylor's George W. Truett Theological Seminary and a friend of Reynolds' for 26 years, told the crowd.

Herbert H. Reynolds speaking at the inauguration of Baylor President John Lilley in April 2006. (Photo by Robert Rogers/Baylor Photography)

Reynolds loved Christ and the church, his country, Baylor and his family, said Powell, who retires as dean of the seminary June 1. Those great loves marked Reynolds' life, he added.

Reynolds committed himself to Christ at age 9 in Frankston. More than 40 years later, he suffered a heart attack not long after he became president of Baylor, Powell recalled. When Powell asked him what he thought about as he lay in the hospital intensive-care unit, Reynolds replied: "My mind went back to the things I learned at my mother's knee in Frankston, ‘Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.'"

"He was a sinner saved by grace, and he never pretended to be anything different," Powell said.

"Herb loved the church and gave himself to it," he declared, noting Reynolds was a faithful longtime member of First Baptist Church in Waco—a deacon, Sunday school teacher and steward.

Reynolds particularly expressed his love for his country through his 20-year career in the U.S. Air Force, Powell said. In that capacity, he first arrived at Baylor to teach in the Air Force Reserved Officer Training Corps. At Baylor, he earned master's and doctor's degrees in psychology and served as an assistant professor of aerospace studies and a teaching fellow in psychology.

With the Air Force, he was director of research for the Aeromedical Research Laboratories at Alamogordo, N.M., and worked with NASA in the space program.

Reynolds returned to Baylor as executive vice president in 1969. He became president in 1981, then providing 14 years as a "visionary leader and brilliant administrator," Powell said.

He cited a litany of Reynolds' achievements as president—$180 million in new and renovated facilities, quadrupled endowment, tripled assets, no increase in indebtedness, and numerous academic advancements. Also during Reynolds' tenure, Baylor joined the Big 12 as the only private university in one of the nation's major athletic conferences.

"Those achievements mark his greatness. He is one of the greatest presidents in Baylor history," Powell insisted, noting Reynolds later served as president emeritus and chancellor.

Reynolds left two key legacies, Powell claimed.

First came Baylor's charter change in 1990, which enabled the university to select three-quarters of its regents and freed the school from control of the Baptist General Convention of Texas at a time when Southern Baptist Convention fundamentalists were taking control of SBC seminaries.

"Herb had no desire to separate from Baptists. He was a Baptist through-and-through," Powell said. "But he wanted to preserve Baylor. He did not want Baylor to become a fundamentalist Bible school. He took a lot of heat, a lot of heat to accomplish what was right."

Reynolds' second legacy is Baylor's George W. Truett Theological Seminary, Powell declared.

"To start a seminary before it was needed. To name it after the greatest pastor/preacher to come out of Texas and maybe the United States" were marks of Reynolds' brilliance, he added. "Today, George W. Truett Seminary is the premier Baptist seminary in the world. We are where we are today more due to Herbert H. Reynolds than to any other person."

Reynolds also deeply loved his wife, Joy, three children and seven grandchildren, Powell added, noting the Reynoldses had been married almost 57 years.

Reynolds represented and defended distinctive Baptist doctrines such as freedom in Christ, religious liberty, the priesthood of the Christian believer and academic freedom, Powell said.

"Herb knew there were dangers (inherent in freedom), but he was convinced the right was worth the risk," he added. "Because of his courageous stand, he became a hero among all true Baptists and our greatest leader."

Reynolds' three children paid tribute to their father.

Rhonda Reynolds Winslett read the two Scripture passages that had been read when he was inaugurated president—Romans 8:35-39 and Isaiah 40:28-31.

"Dad is one who believed talk is cheap. He did not wear his faith on his sleeve," Kent Reynolds reported, calling his father a smart, well-read man of action.

The elder Reynolds' favorite Scripture passage was Mark 12:30-31, Kent Reynolds said: "You shall love the Lord your God with all you heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind and with all your strength. Ö You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

His favorite quote is a line from St. Francis of Assisi: "Preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words," Kent Reynolds recalled.

Kevin Reynolds said one word summed up his father—"integrity."

Although giving lip service to integrity is easy, his father lived a life that manifest integrity, even at great personal cost, he said, adding, "Dad taught us faith and intellect are not mutually exclusive."

"I thought we might have him a few more years," Kevin Reynolds said. "And perhaps we would have if he had stopped caring and giving himself away."

"His primary focus in life was upon God," First Baptist Pastor Scott Walker said of Reynolds.

Powell recalled the last time he talked with Reynolds about his funeral service. It happened in a car after a long funeral of a mutual friend.

"Paul, don't go on and on and on," Reynolds instructed. "You just tell them I was a pretty good guy most of the time" and end the service quickly.

"Herbert Reynolds was a good guy most of the time," Powell told the crowd. "And he was my friend all the time, and he was a friend of all true Baptists all the time.

"He never lost the wonder of this profound truth: ‘Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.'"

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

Posted: 5/29/07

Huckabee cancels Covenant speech
over Jimmy Carter’s criticism of Bush

By Greg Warner

Associated Baptist Press

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (ABP)—Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has cancelled plans to speak at the New Baptist Covenant Celebration next January because of organizer Jimmy Carter’s recent criticism of President Bush.

Carter criticized Bush’s foreign policy in a May 19 interview with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. “I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history,” Carter said.

A Huckabee spokesperson confirmed May 21 that the candidate and former Baptist pastor is withdrawing from the unprecedented Jan. 30-Feb. 1 Baptist gathering, organized by Carter and Mercer University President Bill Underwood to promote unity among the continent’s Baptists.

“While I continue to have great respect for President Carter as a fellow Christian believer and Baptist, I’m deeply disappointed by the unusually harsh comments made in my state this past weekend regarding President Bush and feel that it represents an unprecedented personal attack on a sitting president by a former president, which is unbecoming the office as well as unbecoming to one whose conference is supposed to be about civility and bringing people together,” Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas, told the Florida Baptist Witness, a conservative newspaper affiliated with the Florida Baptist Convention.

Carter did not respond to a request to comment on Huckabee’s decision. But other organizers downplayed the candidate’s decision and emphasized the non-partisan goals of the Covenant meeting.

Huckabee was one of three prominent Republican politicians added to the New Baptist Covenant lineup May 17 in an announcement by Carter and other organizers. The other Republicans are Senators Lindsay Graham (S.C.) and Charles Grassley (Iowa). Among those already on board to speak are Carter, former President Bill Clinton, former vice president Al Gore, and journalist and author Bill Moyers.

Organizers hope to attract 20,000 people to the Atlanta gathering, billed as the broadest Baptist meeting in America since Baptists split over slavery before the Civil War. But the largest Baptist denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention has declined to participate.

Organizers acknowledged Huckabee did not contact them directly before announcing his withdrawal through a Southern Baptist-affiliated newspaper.

“While we are disappointed to learn of Governor Huckabee’s withdrawal through a Baptist state paper, we are enthusiastic about the excellent program that is shaping up for next year’s New Baptist Covenant Celebration in Atlanta,” program chairman Jimmy Allen said in a prepared statement.

“We are looking forward to celebrating our traditional Baptist values, including sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ and its implications for public and private morality. The speakers who have committed to the program will be exploring our obligation as Christians to spread the gospel, to promote peace with justice, to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, care for the sick and the marginalized, welcome the strangers among us, and promote religious liberty and respect for religious diversity.”

Other participants said Huckabee is misreading the Covenant’s intentions.

“It is unfortunate that Mike Huckabee is letting comments made in the political arena determine his participation in a purely Christian event designed to bring Baptists together across racial, geographic, economic and social barriers,” said Alan Stanford, executive director of the North American Baptist Fellowship, a network of 40 Baptist denominations and organizations.

“Democrats Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton and Republicans Charles Grassley and Lindsey Graham are rising above their profession as politicians to join together in their common Christian commitment to alleviate poverty, AIDS, racism and other grave problems that confront both our nation and our world. That kind of Christian commitment that places doing the right thing above party politics is the key to us coming together to make a real difference in our nation and across the world.”

“The [New] Baptist Covenant meeting has never been about politics but about Jesus and unity,” said David Currie, executive director of Texas Baptists Committed. “The fact is, if we have a meeting and only preachers preach, the national press will not cover our message. If prominent politicians of both parties speak, the national press will cover it. I am sorry Gov. Huckabee withdrew, as I have been impressed with him on TV several times. But I’m sure the Religious Right put great pressure upon him. I wish him well.”

The Covenant roster features four Baptist preachers, including two African-Americans— Charles Adams, pastor of Hartford Baptist Church in Detroit and past president of the Progressive National Baptist Convention, and William Shaw, pastor of White Rock Baptist Church in Philadelphia and president of the National Baptist Convention USA Inc., largest of the four main black Baptist denominations—a female pastor, Julie Pennington-Russell, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Waco; and preaching professor Joel Gregory of Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor University and former pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas.

Two social activists will address the gathering—Tony Campolo, professor emeritus at Eastern University, an American Baptist school, and founder of the Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education, and Marian Wright Edelman, civil-rights veteran and founder of the Children’s Defense Fund in Washington, D.C., who is a lawyer and Baptist pastor’s daughter.

Huckabee cited the “very, very liberal” Edelman as an example of the left-leaning character of the meeting. He told the Witness he “tentatively” agreed to participate in the meeting “with the understanding that it was a celebration of faith and not a political convocation.” He withdrew so he would not appear “to be giving approval to what could be a political, rather than spiritual agenda,” he said.

Allen said May 17 that Huckabee, who is trailing the field of Republican candidates, had agreed to speak whether or not he is still in the race in January.

Although the meeting will occur in the heat of the presidential-nomination season, Carter eschewed any political intention for the gathering. Clinton’s involvement sparked criticism the event would become a campaign rally for wife Hillary, the Democratic presidential frontrunner.

“Ironically, by dropping out of the celebration because of political comments with which he disagreed, Huckabee demonstrated why the celebration is so desperately needed. Baptists are tragically divided and polarized,” said Brian Kaylor of the Baptist General Convention of Missouri, one of the organizers.

“We must come together to show that our unified faith and values are more important than political, racial, or other differences. The compassionate gospel of Christ is what our divided world needs. I hope that Huckabee will reconsider.”

Carter acknowledged May 17 the Covenant effort was slowed initially by criticism the group was dominated by Democrats. But the group’s effort to enlist Republican speakers was “completely successful,” Carter said.

In Carter’s interview with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, he also said Bush’s efforts to expand government funding of churches and other religious organizations that provide social services—the so-called faith-based initiatives—violate the former president’s religious principles.

“As a traditional Baptist, I’ve always believed in separation of church and state and honored that premise when I was president,” he said, adding, “And so have all other presidents, I might say, except this one.”

Carter was in Arkansas to promote “Sunday Mornings in Plains,” a collection of audio recordings of the famous Sunday school lessons he teaches weekly at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown of Plains, Ga.

The White House, asked May 20 about Carter’s criticism, dismissed the former president as “increasingly irrelevant.” The brush-off from Bush spokesman Tony Fratto came during a regular press briefing at Bush’s ranch in Crawford, where he was on vacation.

Robert Marus of Associated Baptist Press contributed to this story.

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

Posted: 5/29/07

Missouri fundamentalists organize
against their former movement

By Bill Webb

Missouri Word & Way

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (ABP)—Eleven ministers who supported fundamentalists’ efforts to take control of the Missouri Baptist Convention now say that the people they put in power have taken conservatism too far.

The group voiced its concerns publicly in a “Save Our Convention” information session May 15 at First Baptist Church of Harvester in St. Charles, Mo. The meeting drew about 175 people.

The ministers were among some of the most prominent in Missouri in helping implement the “Project 1000” plan devised by Roger Moran, a layman who struggled for several years before turning the formerly moderate-controlled state body sharply to the right.

The 11 have identified Moran as being most responsible for overly tight control of representation on MBC boards and excluding qualified conservatives from trustee service. The “Project 1000” name came from Moran’s strategy of getting 1,000 conservative messengers to turn out at state convention annual meetings to defeat moderate candidates for office.

The disgruntled ministers also expressed dissatisfaction with Moran’s Missouri Baptist Laymen’s Association, the Missouri Baptist Convention nominating committee, Missouri Baptists’ Executive Board and the official convention newspaper, The Pathway.

Organizers urged attendees to get out the vote at the Missouri Baptist Convention annual meeting Oct. 29-31 in Osage Beach, Mo., to bring about needed changes.

They are urging others who are concerned about the convention’s direction and its current elected leadership to submit names to the convention’s nominating committee. They are asking for people who come from churches that are strong supporters of the Cooperative Program, the Southern Baptist Convention’s unified budget.

They also plan to challenge the nominating committee’s report at the convention meeting if it doesn’t reflect a broad diversity of conservative Missouri Baptists.

Finally, they hope to elect a slate of officers for convention offices, although the officers elected by for the past several years have all had Moran’s endorsement.

“If we do these … things, it will immediately bring the convention back,” David Sheppard, pastor of First Baptist Church in St. Charles, Mo., predicted.

Sheppard referred to a four-page handout that identified the group’s two primary concerns with current convention leadership.

The first is the “continued power control of certain Project 1000 leaders and the Missouri Baptist Laymen’s Association that has led to the micro-management of the Missouri Baptist Convention staff and the exclusion of many fine Missouri Baptists.” The laymen’s association is made up of Moran and four others and purports to identify and rid out liberalism from Missouri Baptist life.

The second concern is the “spirit of legalism that refuses to cooperate with those who are not in total agreement and sets parameters that exceed the Baptist Faith & Message.

“We are concerned that these two forces—a political powerbroker machine and a spirit of legalism—will lead to the destruction of the Missouri Baptist Convention and more specifically Southwest Baptist University and Hannibal-LaGrange College,” the handout summarized.

Sheppard said that many pastors and churches in the state are frustrated and are ready to walk away from the Missouri Baptist Convention.

Besides Sheppard, the ministers who organized the campaign and the St. Louis-area gathering are John Marshall, pastor, Second Baptist Church, Springfield; Mitch Jackson, pastor, Miner Baptist Church, Sikeston; Jim Breeden, director of missions, St. Louis Metro Baptist Association; Dwight Blankenship, pastor, Parkway Baptist Church, St. Louis; Kenny Qualls, pastor, First Baptist Church, Arnold; Wes Hammond, pastor, First Baptist Church, Paris; Tom Willoughby, pastor, First Church, Eldorado Springs; David McAlpin, pastor, First Baptist Church of Harvester, St. Charles; Wayne Isgriggs, pastor, First Baptist Church, Lincoln; and Lee Sanders, minister of education, First Baptist Church, O’Fallon.

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

Posted: 5/29/07

TBM trains Mexico’s top-ranking
officials in disaster response

By Barbara Bedrick

Texas Baptist Communications

JUAREZ, Mexico—The ongoing partnership between Baptists in Texas and Mexico led to an opportunity to provide disaster response training for top-ranking Mexican government officials.

Texas Baptist Men volunteers also helped equip Mexican leaders and pastors for future emergencies through the help of three Baptist churches in Juarez.

TBM Director of Disaster Relief Gary Smith and Hispanic Consultant Ed Alvarado led the first training event in Juarez, May 15-18, for high-ranking Mexican government officials, pastors and church leaders. Last year, TBM and the Baptist General Convention of Texas helped establish a similar disaster relief program in Brazil.

“The pastor of one of the Baptist churches had a vision,” Smith said. “After he saw how the Texas Baptist Men volunteers responded to flooding in his community last year, he realized the need for disaster relief training.”

The training event in Juarez was part of an ongoing and growing Texas-Mexico relationship that also involves water purification projects begun in previous years. Dexton Shores, director of BGCT border/Mexico missions, who assisted TBM volunteers in delivering more than 250 ceramic water filters to pastors and residents in Mexico, will continue working with the country’s leaders.

“This time we’re trying to do a command communications center, whereby if there’s any disaster in Mexico, first responders and officials would call the Juarez center, and it would communicate with Dallas TBM leaders, and deploy disaster relief crews where they are needed,” Alvarado said.

The TBM effort to help improve coordination and response to catastrophic events like the deadly Piedras Negras tornado could strengthen the role of Christians and save the government thousands of dollars, he noted.

BGCT Missions Team Leader Josué Valerio stressed the mission “will open doors in Mexico” and emphasized it’s not just “a Texas outreach, but a national Baptist” ministry effort.

“It validates the pastor’s ministry and position in the community,” Valerio said. “The government is acknowledging the Baptist ministry in its city. This opens the door for a greater ministry and lifts up the name of Christ.”

By developing a disaster relief organization, the group could not only strengthen the work of Mexican Christians, but also bring together congregations to help people in need, he added. The team also believes that disaster relief training would supplement Mexico’s emergency responders.

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

Posted: 5/27/07

Reynolds' funeral, memorial services set

Memorial services have been set for former Baylor University President Herbert H. Reynolds.

Reynolds died Friday of an apparent heart attack while on vacation in Angel Fire, N.M. He was 77.

Reynolds served as Baylor‚s 11th president from 1981, when he replaced Abner McCall, until he retired from the office in 1995, becoming Baylor chancellor the next day. In 2000, a year in which he received the Baylor Founders Medal, Reynolds stepped down as chancellor and became president emeritus.

Though no formal visitation is planned, anyone wishing to pay respect at Reynolds‚ casket can do so Monday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Tuesday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey Funeral Home, 6101 Bosque Blvd., and Tuesday from 4 to 9 p.m. in the Paul W. Powell Chapel at the George W. Truett Theological Seminary on the Baylor campus, according to funeral home officials.

Reynolds‚ funeral is set for 11 a.m. Wednesday at the First Baptist Church of Waco, 500 Webster Ave. Burial will follow at Oakwood Cemetery, 2124 S. Fifth St. According to the funeral home, Reynolds' family requests instead of flowers, memorials be made to the Baylor University Alumni Association.

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

Posted: 5/25/07

RIGHT or WRONG?
Responding to tragedy

In light of the recent events at Virginia Tech, how can my church respond to this tragedy—and others like it? And what can my congregation do to prevent alienation, hostility and anger around us?

Many of us have been asking the same questions in the aftermath of the shootings. Nothing seems to unite us a people as much as this senseless taking of human life. The immediate response by churches was to pray and offer comfort and encouragement. People around the world prayed for the injured, the survivors and the first responders to the emergency—police and medical workers—who personally witnessed the devastation. Continue to do so.

Promoting God’s peace is an appropriate—perhaps the most appropriate—response God’s people can offer. Understand the peace that comes from God is much more than absence of conflict. Peace suggests well-being and wholeness that we receive as God’s gift to us. Pray that God will comfort and restore the lives of those affected by the shooting. Pray for the family of the shooter as they grieve for their loss. Pray also that our society may allow them the space to rebuild their lives.

Get involved in your community. Hear Jeremiah’s words to an exiled people: “Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare” (Jeremiah 29:7).

Recognize the extent of anger and hostility in our society. Address these issues in your own life. Remember that inappropriate public expressions of anger often arise from inner turmoil.

Reflect Christ’s hope and offer hope as an alternative to anger. Establish lasting relationships with people. Volunteer to work with children and teenagers. Demonstrate Christ’s love and your concern to them.

Accept ambiguity. Despite what we can do to overcome anger and alienation, we can offer no guarantees that this will never happen again. Evil exists in our world, and nothing can fully eliminate it.

Pray for students and staffs at your local schools. Realize the rampage at Virginia Tech has local effects. Educational institutions across the United States reviewed security plans in the aftermath of the shooting.

Mental illness often lies behind perpetrators of violence. Encourage government leaders to provide funding for identifying and treating mental illness.

Most of us have wondered if we could become victims of such attacks. It may sound trite, but live each moment fully and completely. We have no promises for tomorrow. Life is fragile.

Offer the world hope. Remind those with whom you have influence that God is working through Christians to make this world a better place.

David Morgan, pastor

Trinity Baptist Church

Harker Heights

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.

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