Posted: 4/27/07

Relationships key to helping
immigrants, Baptist workers say

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. (ABP)—Every afternoon, Felicitas does something she thought might never happen. She meets the school bus near her Virginia apartment complex to pick up her son, Carlos, as he returns from another day of elementary school.

Carlos has spina bifida, which prevents him from walking. When Felicitas first came to the United States, she spoke little English and had neither a job nor transportation. Her husband had difficulty maintaining a steady job, and Child Protective Services was preparing to take Carlos away from them because of his low weight and poor health.

Then Felicitas met Greg and Sue Smith, who helped connect her with Spanish-speaking doctors and lawyers. They gave her food and encouraged her to start a business in her home. And they worked with the school system to ensure Carlos’ needs were met in the classroom.

The Smiths are co-founders of LUCHA Ministries, an organization in Fredericksburg, Va., created to help Latinos cope with a new life in the United States. “Lucha” means “struggle” in Spanish, but LUCHA also is an acronym for the Spanish equivalent of “Latinos United through Christ in Brotherhood and Support.”

LUCHA exists to empower Latino immigrants to confront situations that are beyond their control, Sue Smith said. “Latinos face many struggles when they come to the United States—struggles with family, with language, with cultural acquisition, with earning enough money to send back home to help their families,” Greg Smith said.

“And, whether it’s helping someone with translation, taking someone to the doctor … or even by helping non-Latinos understand the Latino culture, we want to communicate the love of God in Jesus Christ and salvation through him.”

The Smiths, who are volunteer missionaries of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, also work to connect people—like prospective employers—with resources.

LUCHA staffers build relationships with government and social-service agencies, property managers, churches, schools and law-enforcement officers in order to connect Latino immigrants with the community at large.

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

Posted: 4/27/07

Immigration laws have an impact on who
a church can call as pastor or hire as staff

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

SAN ANTONIO—Claudia Munoz feels called to serve on church staff and is doing everything she can to prepare herself to fulfill that calling. She received a student visa and traveled from her home country of Chile to enroll at Baptist University of the Americas. She went on to graduate and began optional career training, working as a graphic artist at the school, the same position she hopes to hold one day on a church staff in Chile.

Months before her student visa expired, she applied for a religious visa so she could work on a church staff in the United States while her husband finished his master’s degree. Months after it expired, she continues waiting. Munoz remains in the country legally, but she can’t legally hold a job. She and her husband, who also is on a student visa, are living off the support they receive from their parents.

“I’m still waiting, hoping and praying I receive it soon because I need to work,” she said.

Her situation is not unique. The U.S. immigration system affects who churches can call as ministers. Immigrants and churches generally do not understand the intricacies of immigration law or how to access immigration officials to obtain more information. And the situation has been exacerbated by a government report that indicated a 33 percent fraud rate in the country’s religious visa program, which allows individuals to immigrate into the United States in order to work in churches. The study led to increased scrutiny of religious visa applications.

One Midwest director of missions has waited nearly a year for his Southern Baptist Convention North American Mission Board-appointed church starter to arrive because of the immigration system. The pastor-to-be has not received final approval for his religious visa despite already being in the country legally on a student visa.

Baptist University of the Americas in San Antonio, where 20 percent of its student population is in the country on a student visa, has high interest in the visa situation. Many who enter the country on student visas apply for religious visas through a church that hires them.

Krista Gregory, consultant with the Baptist Immigration Services Network of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, encourages congregations to ask potential staff members about their citizenship status to determine if an individual is not a citizen or is in the country on a visa. “The only time they need to ask that question is if they are thinking about hiring them as a full-time status,” she said.

A religious visa is connected to a specific church. If a person with a religious visa becomes employed by another congregation, that individual and church must apply to get the religious visa changed to that congregation. A person with a religious visa also cannot hold another job, meaning the church would need to support that individual. People who hold student visas are not supposed to earn money outside of a work-study job through the school they are attending. Congregations cannot legally pay a person with a student visa to be a permanent staff member.

Students can take the option to hold full-time jobs while they are in college if the school requires it as part of career training. But that position cannot last longer than two consecutive semesters. Students also have the option to devote the year after they graduate to a full-time job as part of optional career training. At the end of the year, they must leave the country, apply for citizenship or apply for a different visa.

Mary Ranjel, BUA director of admissions, said most of the time requests for visas go right through, but the government is taking a harder look at this situation. Recently a student told her a government agent visited him, taking pictures of the building where the student wanted to work. “Basically all the information is pretty standard,” she said. “But after 9-11 it’s been much more rigid.”

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

Posted: 4/27/07

Almost any immigration reform
better than nothing, advocates say

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)—As Congress begins to take up immigration-reform proposals, some Christian immigration activists say there is no perfect legislation in the pipeline. But time is of the essence in getting something passed, nonetheless, they insist.

A reform bill with broad bipartisan support already has been introduced in the House. The Senate is likely to begin its consideration of the issue in May.

The House bill, H.R. 1645, is known as the Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy Act of 2007, or the STRIVE Act. Its chief sponsors are Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill.

A similar bill passed the Senate last year with broad support. However, the Republican leaders then in charge of the House pushed through a competing measure that took a hard line on immigration. The two chambers couldn’t reconcile their differences, and the bill died with the end of the 109th Congress.

With the House’s new Democratic leaders more amenable to broader immigration reform, immigrant advocates are hoping a compromise bill can pass both chambers and gain President Bush’s signature. Bush broke with many immigration hard-liners in his own party last year by signaling White House support for aspects of reform sought by advocates for the millions of undocumented laborers already working in the United States.

Bush has begun to outline his own proposal for passing immigration reform in this session of Congress. However, according to the Kevin Appleby of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bush’s proposal “is just a non-starter as far as we are concerned.”

Appleby, who serves as director of immigration policy for American Catholics, said Bush’s proposals include enforcement provisions that are too harsh for many immigrants. For example, he noted, like the STRIVE Act, it would assess a penalty for workers who have been breaking the law by living and working in the United States illegally. However, he said, the Bush plan’s fines would be “exorbitant”—$64,000 and 25 years for a family of five to obtain green cards, for instance.

The White House plan “eviscerates family provisions,” harming the family fabric of many immigrant families, for whom living with extended family members is much more a part of their culture than in Anglo societies, Appleby maintained.

Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., was the chief sponsor of last year’s Senate version of immigration reform. A spokesperson in his Senate office said she couldn’t give details of what he would propose this time around because Kennedy and his colleagues still were hammering out details. However, she noted Kennedy was “very supportive of the STRIVE Act in the House.”

The Catholic bishops’ conference’s Appleby said the STRIVE Act has “some enforcement provisions that give us some heartburn”—such as passport-fraud provisions that he said could hurt asylum-seekers from troubled countries.

But, he continued, it was a better bill. “Overall, though, we can hopefully get some changes in those things as we move forward and get a good bill,” he said.

The time is ripe to pass immigration reform this year, Appleby said. As the 2008 elections begin to loom, he noted, “the conventional wisdom” is that political pressures will prevent Congress from moving aggressively on such a volatile issue in the heat of the campaign season.

Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, in a recent press statement, said he was dissatisfied with the options.

“Each of the bills falls short in some critical areas,” he said.

“Senate measures have been too lenient and have not adequately addressed border security. (Last year’s) House bill … was inadequate in that it focused almost exclusively on border security and failed to position the government to deal ‘realistically with the immigration crisis in a way that would restore trust among the citizenry,’” Land continued, quoting language from a resolution on immigration reform that messengers to the 2006 SBC annual meeting passed.

However, Land appeared at a March 29 Capitol Hill press conference with Kennedy, the sponsors of the STRIVE Act and Latino Christian leaders to push for reform.

Suzii Paynter, director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Christian Life Commission, believes the bills proposed in the House provide hope immigration reform can happen. The legislation proposed in the House is closer to what the Senate proposed last year, she said.

“Even though the solutions proposed in the House and Senate legislation are not the same, at least the House and Senate bills are talking about the same issues,” she said.

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

Posted: 4/27/07

Texas Baptist Forum

God & Allah

My wife and I served as International Mission Board missionaries in the Middle East for almost 30 years. Baptists in each country in the area call God “Allah.” It is the generic Arabic name for God.

Christians and Muslims agree on some of the characteristics of God/Allah. We agree he is the one and only Supreme Being; he created all things, including human beings. He is a moral God, so those who “do good” are assured a place in heaven and those who disobey are assured of punishment in hell.

• Jump to online-only letters below

Letters are welcomed. Send them to marvknox@baptiststandard.com; 250 words maximum.

“If I make exceptions to following God’s rule, even if it is only once, there will be more exceptions that will follow.” Elliot Huck Fourteen-year-old who made it to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in 2005 and 2006, but refused to compete in the Bloomington, Ind., regional bee this year because it was scheduled on a Sunday (World/RNS) “Evangelical Christians are the most incompetently portrayed group in America—in TV, in fiction, in the news. When Christians say the media gets them wrong, Christians are absolutely right.” Ira Glass Host of Public Radio International's This American Life (The Forward/RNS) “I’m afraid that people have gotten to the point where they are worshipping America. I want to be loyal to America as a nation, but my loyalty ultimately belongs to Jesus. I respect America and want to serve American interests, but if those interests run contrary to serving Jesus Christ, then in fact I must stand against my nation.” Tony Campolo Evangelical author (The Washington Times/RNS)

After that, our view of the basic character of God/Allah varies greatly. Christians believe in one God expressed in the Holy Trinity. Muslims believe in one Allah expressed only as Supreme power and will.

The Muslim view of Allah is more nearly like the Old Testament concept of God as Creator of everything, sometimes even of evil. He is a warrior God who always is victorious and wants his people to be victorious by whatever means it takes.

Of course, the Christian view of a loving God—who desires a personal relationship with sinful people through the atonement of Jesus, the forgiveness of sins, the power of the resurrection and the indwelling Holy Spirit—is completely foreign to Islam.

Arab Christians believe and preach Allah is the Father of our Lord Jesus, and he loves us, wants to save us and will, if we trust him.

We must respectfully disagree with our Muslim friends about the true nature of God/Allah.

David King

Marshall

There is one way to tell if a person worships the one and only living God: If he acknowledges that Jesus is Lord. 

Call God whatever you like—YHWH, Allah, God, Gott, Jehovah—but if a person rejects Jesus, he does not worship God. Muslims, Jews, even Baptists can be saved by receiving Jesus as Lord and Savior, but anyone who rejects Jesus as being God rejects God (John 14:6). 

The Muslims and the Jews believe that Jesus was a prophet, but they reject him as being divine. They may think they worship the one true God, and some Baptists may think the same,  but on the day of judgment, Jesus will say to them, “Depart from me; I never knew you.”

Jerl Watkins

Sweeny

Executive director

The Baptist General Convention of Texas stands at a critical crossroads with the announced retirement of Charles Wade. Over his tenure, we have navigated through a storm of fundamentalism and change. As he steps aside, we still have storm clouds on the horizon; these clouds reek with apathy, controversy and uncertainty. To weather this storm, we don’t just need a manager or an administrator; we need a leader.

In his book Good to Great, Jim Collins identified through insightful research that leadership emerges as one of the keys to great Fortune 500 companies. He coined the term “Level 5” leaders to describe these men and women who “channel their ego needs away from themselves and into the larger goal of building a great company… . They are incredibly ambitious—but their ambition is first and foremost for the institution, not themselves.”

I believe Jesus called these leaders “servants of all,” and the best place to find them will be either sitting at the back, or better yet, serving the tables.

David L. Lowrie Jr.

Canyon

The BGCT executive director needs to retire now, not in 2008. The Executive Board needs to immediately bring in an “intentional” interim executive director. This person would be charged with three tasks—dispel the toxic fumes of mistrust, lack of integrity and discouragement that have permeated the Baptist Building; reset the standards of financial integrity and transparency for which the BGCT was once known; and provide a healthy break between what has tragically been and what hopefully will be.

This administration has nothing to teach the next one. For directors of the Executive Board to do otherwise is simply to allow the folks who carted off the family jewels to come back and get the silver service as well!

If this last year is indicative of the leadership of our new Executive Board directors, the future is both clouded and for some of us profoundly sad.

Michael R. Chancellor

Abilene

I’ve read about the retirement of Charles Wade as executive director of the BGCT Executive Board.

As a lifetime Texas Baptist, I would like to request that the search begin for someone, first and foremost, who can bring inspiration to those of us still laboring in the vineyard.

Charles Wade has his strengths, and he used them well, but it is urgent that the search committee bring some freshness to the BGCT. I request that the search committee not ask, “Who will organize us well?” but instead ask, “Who would I drive across the state to spend five minutes with?”

Randy Wallace

Killeen

Faithful servant

On April 9, a pastor-friend of mine died and went to be with the Lord. Carlos Paredes will long be remembered by many Texas Baptists for his many contributions to the cause of Christ and to Baptists.

His accomplishments and contributions during a 67-year ministry are too many to mention. He was a pastor, an evangelist, executive-director of the Mexican Baptist Convention of Texas, president of the Mexican Baptist Convention of Texas, vice president of the BGCT, staff associate in the BGCT evangelism division, a statesman and a gentleman. 

Perhaps Carlos Paredes’ greatest contribution in ministry was to pastor Primera Iglesia Bautista of Austin for almost 28 years and to be interim pastor of Primera Iglesia Bautista of Dallas when the church most needed his leadership and wisdom.

When all the words about his contribution to the cause of Christ and Texas Baptists are said and long forgotten, he will continue to be remembered by the many members and former members of these two churches that were blessed by his pastor/preaching ministry. Carlos Paredes’ life and ministry reminds us that at the end of a person’s life, his or her greatest mark in ministry is faithful service to the Lord in a Baptist church.

I salute him today and thank the Lord, because Texas Baptists are a better people as a result of his ministry.

Jimmy Garcia

Duncanville

Intentional

I became aware of the Intentional Interim Ministry about 15 years ago, when I visited a church in Georgia that was involved in one.

In a nation where the population is growing daily, churches are facing alarming decline. It is estimated that churches declining range from 50 percent to 85 percent. Either number is far too high! The Intentional Interim Ministry is an opportunity to reverse this trend.

The purpose is not to reinvent the church or to build a large church, but to find God’s plan and purpose for the local congregation.

We must learn how to continue the good things we are doing while discovering new methods to improve our involvement in the community, develop relationships and find opportunity to witness.

Dream with me as we seek a church for a new century, where Jesus is Lord, the Holy Spirit controls, loving care meets needs, evangelism is relational, leaders are multiplying, lay people do ministry and God’s truth is lived out in everyday life.

J.B. Word

Corpus Christi

Differing viewpoints

“A distinct Baptist witness” apparently is absent from the New Baptist Covenant, according to Chuck Pace (April 16). How does he reach this conclusion?

Very simply: Anyone’s viewpoint other than his is defective. His implied assertion that Baptists have all the answers should have insulted every thinking Baptist.

Why should a Baptist viewpoint have any more validity than a Mormon’s or a Muslim’s? Viewpoints are individual. What gives anyone the right to claim theirs is “right”?

Our nation is filled with denominational groups with unique interpretations of Scripture. Is any one of them more right than the others? Such arrogance is why Baptists are considering the New Baptist Covenant. These Baptists want to be seen as problem solvers rather than fault finders.

Scott Presnall

Waxahachie

Question & data

Morris Chapman, president of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, recently asked, “Is our our convention any better spiritually because biblical conservatives are leading?” 

“Americans who said they had no religious identity at all” increased “from 8 percent of the U.S. population in 1990 to 14 percent in 2001” (April 2).

Interesting bit of data.

Bob Scarborough

Fort Worth

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

Posted: 4/27/07

Ministers rank high in job satisfaction

By Marcia Nelson

Religion News Service

CHICAGO (RNS)—If you want to be rich, get an MBA. If you want to be happy, go for an M.Div.

Members of the clergy rank highest in job satisfaction, according to a report released by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. More than 87 percent of clergy said they were satisfied with their jobs, followed by firefighters (80 percent) and physical therapists (78 percent).

Cynthia Lindner, director of ministry studies at the university’s divinity school, said the findings rang true to her. People come to the field with no expectation of getting rich and every expectation of being able to make some difference in the world, she said.

“People are not going into the profession out of some sense of ‘I want a lot of power and prestige,’” she said. “Most of all, my students would say, ‘We want to help heal the world.’”

Because work plays such an important role in people’s lives, workers who are more satisfied also tend to be happier. So, clergy also topped the list as happiest, with 67 percent of them describing themselves as generally happy.

Tom Smith, director of the General Social Survey at the university research center, said he was surprised clergy led the list.

Many “helping” occupations, such as doctors and nurses, also experience stress, which can affect their overall happiness, he said.

“Apparently the rewards of spiritual guidance and leadership outweigh the burdens of being a religious leader,” he said.

At the bottom of the job satisfaction scale were workers normally on top of things. Roofers were least satisfied with their jobs, followed by waiters. Roofers also were the second unhappiest occupation; garage and service station attendants ranked as unhappiest.

Researchers noted the jobs people were most satisfied by tend to involve helping others or expressing creativity. Education administrators and teachers, psychologists, authors, painters and sculptors all expressed high degrees of satisfaction.

The least satisfying jobs were low-skill or customer-service jobs. Waiters, cashiers, laborers, and clothing and furniture salespeople were among the least satisfied with their jobs.

The rankings are based on information collected in the research center’s General Social Survey over almost two decades from more than 27,000 people.

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

Posted: 4/27/07

On the Move

• Josh Adair has resigned as youth minister at First Church in Tom Bean.

• Larry Ashley has resigned as pastor of First Church in Centerville.

• Calvin Bell to Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church in Whitney as pastor.

• Paul Briggs to Axtell Church in Axtell as pastor.

• Gary Colburn to Bazette Church in Kerens as pastor.

• Shane Greer to Shady Shores Church in Shady Shores as youth minister worship evangelist.

• Charles Higgs will resign as pastor of Cowboy Church of Erath County, effective May 30, to become director of the western heritage ministry of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, a position he has held on a part-time basis since 2003.

• Matt Hollingsworth to First Church in Belton as youth minister.

• Simon Keizer to Fairview Church in Sherman as youth minister.

• Zach Kouns to Shady Shores Church in Shady Shores as youth minister intern.

• Ronnie Lambert to First Church in Paducah as pastor from First Church in Texline.

• Leslie Mills has resigned as pastor of North Church in Greenville.

• Jason Miller to First Church in Longview as minister to students from North West Church in Houston.

• David Nash to First Church in Westbrook as pastor.

• Charissa Reeves to First Church in Edna as children’s minister.

• Gene Rice has resigned as pastor of Baptist Temple in Victoria.

• David Ritsema to Woodlawn Church in Austin as pastor from Oak Knoll Church in Fort Worth.

• James Roberts to First Church in Temple as minister to students.

• Kelly Russell to First Church in Olney as pastor.

• Mike Tisdal to First Church in El Paso as family ministries pastor, where he was students and recreation minister.

• Michael Tollison has resigned as youth minister at North Park Church in Sherman.

• Matt Walton to Southland Church in San Angelo as minister to students from Baptist Temple in Houston.

• Steve Weeks to Fairview Church in Sherman as music minister.

• Tim White to First Church in Desdemona as pastor.

• Ricky Woodall to Navarro Mills Church in Purdon as pastor.

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

Posted: 4/27/07

Most physicians will agree:
Religion does a body good

By Melissa Stee

Religion News Service

CHICAGO (RNS)—Most physicians say religion and spirituality have a significant impact on health, according to a new study, while just 6 percent of doctors believe religion or spirituality changed “hard” medical outcomes.

The survey, part of a University of Chicago study published by the Archives of Internal Medicine, showed more than half (54 percent) of doctors said “God or another supernatural being” can intervene in a patient’s health.

The questionnaire asked medical professionals to estimate how often their patients mention religion and spirituality issues, how much those factors influence health and how that influence is manifested.

“Consensus seems to begin and end with the idea that many, if not most, patients draw on prayer and other religious resources to navigate and overcome the spiritual challenges that arise in their experiences with illness,” Farr Curlin, John Lantos, Marshall Chin and Sarah Sellergren wrote in the Archives.

Compared to those with low religiosity, physicians with high religiosity are substantially more likely to report that patients often mention religion and spirituality issues, 36 percent to 11 percent, the study showed.

According to Curlin, that response shows that “with respect to what physicians bring to the data, that has as much influence on their interpretation as the data itself.”

Most respondents, however, interpreted those factors positively rather than negatively.

“Although the great majority, 85 percent, believe that the influence of religion and spirituality is generally positive, few, 6 percent, believe that religion and spirituality often changes hard medical outcomes,” Curlin and colleagues wrote in the Archives.

The results showed that three out of four physicians believe religion and spirituality help patients cope, and the same number credit those factors for giving patients a positive state of mind.

Of the 2,000 physicians who received the survey, 1,144 responded. The overall study has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

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

Posted: 4/27/07

Dima	Kristina	Sergey

Families urgently needed
to adopt Russian orphans

By Analiz González

Buckner International

ALLAS—Buckner Adoption and Maternity Services urgently needs to find families for Russian orphans who soon will age out of orphanage care.

Once the children turn 16, they can’t be adopted internationally. In essence, that means they won’t get adopted at all, said Debbie Wynne, director of Buckner Adoption and Maternity Services.

Kostya and Ella

For more information on adopting children internationally through Buckner, contact Phil Brinkmeyer or Irina Shytova at (214) 381-1552 or call toll-free(866) 236-7823

“When the children turn 18, they’re forced out into the street,” she said. “Domestic adoptions in Russia are rare. And when they are adopted in Russia, they are younger children. So the only chance these children have of a forever family is to be adopted internationally.”

Statistics show 10 percent of the kids put out by the orphanages are victims of either homicide or suicide within three years. Thirty percent live lives of crime and 30 percent live on the street. That’s why Buckner is pushing for the adoption of several sibling groups who are approaching that age, Wynne said.

Some of the children already have been placed in orphanages for older children, which separated them from their younger siblings.

Kostya and his sister, Ella participated in the summer 2005 Buckner Angels from Abroad program and are desperately in need of a family together.

Kostya had to be separated from Ella in the fall of 2006 because he’s older than 12. His sister misses him and prays for them to be reunited in a family.

The Angels from Abroad host parents described Ella as “easy-going and loving.” She’s quick to hug people she knows and is very respectful of adults. And Kostya is “friendly and communicative and likes to play games.”

According to adoption staff, the siblings have been waiting for families for several years.

“Everyone that knows them feels they’d be great in an adoptive family,” Wynne said.

Another pair of siblings separated because of their ages is Dima and Kristina. Their 2005 Angels from Abroad host family described Kristina as a “very happy child, communicative, caring and loving.” Dima was called “quiet, patient and stable.”

Kristina suffers from a joint problem that affects one of her knees, but it doesn’t keep her from swimming and playing outdoors, her host family said. Doctors at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital said she will need some ongoing medical care and they’ll do a free, more thorough evaluation once she’s adopted.

And a donor has offered to pay for all the adoption fees for Kristina and her brother, Dima, Wynne added.

“There would still be some other costs, but it would be significantly less expensive than a typical international adoption,” she said.

Sergey, another child waiting to be adopted, participated in the summer 2006 Angels from Abroad program.

His host family described him as “intelligent, a problem-solver and an observer.” He’s also “self-sufficient, but also accepting of help from others.” They also said he’s inquisitive and delights in learning new things.

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

Posted: 4/27/07

Texas Baptists offer relief to
victims of widespread storms

By Barbara Bedrick

Texas Baptist Communications

From suburban Fort Worth to the Panhandle plains to the Rio Grande, Texas Baptists provided disaster relief after a series of violent storms swept through the state.

High winds, heavy rain and a tornado killed two people and damaged more than 150 homes in Tarrant County April 13, and another storm system followed a similar path 11 days later. Haltom City, just north of Fort Worth, experienced some of the worst damage from the first wave of storms.

The April 13 storm left two churches in shambles, tore roofs off homes and heavily damaged a grocery store. Ruth Gunson and her family, who live near the supermarket, tried to pick up the pieces after a tornado uprooted trees and sent limbs more than five-feet in circumference into her house, leaving two gaping holes in its roof. 

A team of Texas Baptist Men volunteers spent hours strategically working to remove the huge tree limbs from the rooftop of the Gunson’s home and cover the holes. Victim Relief Ministry chaplains assisted with clean-up efforts and provided counseling and pizza for the displaced family. They also counseled other storm victims, including the family who lost a son in the tornado.

Volunteers from Lake Pointe Church in Rockwall led by Joel Bachman worked atop damaged roofs removing huge tree limbs that dangled precariously. With climbing gear and special protective clothing, Bachman and teammate Ken Hull carefully maneuvered the trees down to the ground safely before sawing the wood into smaller pieces other workers could remove.

In the days that followed, other Texas Baptist Men volunteers from Collin, Dallas and Tarrant Baptist associations arrived to offer relief and recovery.

One week after the Haltom City tornado, more than 450 families in Tulia and Cactus turned to Texas Baptists for help after tornadoes ripped through their communities. TBM volunteers and area Baptist churches provided aid to many who lost their homes, sustained severe property damage or lacked utilities.

For tornado victims in Cactus, a town of about 3,000 people 60 miles north of Amarillo, the struggle was particularly difficult as they tried to cope with the storm’s aftermath. The tornado wiped out the Cactus water tower, destroyed about one-third of the city and knocked out electricity to more than 14,000 in the area, according to disaster relief coordinators.

“We activated the feeding unit at the Top o’ Texas Baptist Association in the Panhandle and the chainsaw team from Paramount Baptist Church in Amarillo to work with victims in Tulia and Cactus,” Smith said. Four TBM volunteers from O’Donnell provided a shower unit, and TBM set up a childcare unit in Cactus.

Nearly 30 TBM chainsaw team volunteers helped dig out residents in Tulia, a town of about 5,000 people, south of Amarillo. In the first two days following the tornado, Jeff Roper, TBM incident director, said the chainsaw teams completed 10 jobs including removing dangerous tree limbs and debris from homes and streets.

Since Cactus lost electricity, storm victims traveled about 10 miles away to Dumas where the TBM feeding unit set up adjacent to the Moore County Community Center and served more than 1,500 meals a day. About 300 families stayed at a Red Cross shelter in Dumas, and according to relief coordinators, they could remain there for two to three weeks.

James Hassell, pastor of First Baptist Church in Tulia, was at a Methodist minister’s home next door to his house when the tornado hit. Before huddling in his neighbor’s basement, Hassell witnessed a funnel cloud moving towards his home.

“I saw it spewing debris everywhere, and I got kind of scared,” Hassell recalled. “It looked like it was in the vicinity of our church but … it missed the building by a few blocks.”

Baptist General Convention of Texas Congregational Strategist Charles Davenport visited with Hassell soon after the disaster, and BGCT Disaster Response provided $7,000 to assist at least four church families who either lost their homes or received severe damage from the weekend tornado. All of them were in need of immediate care, Hassell said.

Hassell noted that some victims had home insurance, but all their possessions are gone. Clothes and food were in question for many families.

Haltom City storm victim Ruth Gunson sheds tears as she's comforted by a Victim Relief Ministries chaplain. TMB volunteers helped remove debris at her damaged home.

TBM volunteers worked alongside church members in the kitchen at First Baptist Church in Tulia, cooking and serving meals. As many as 800 people were being served meals every day, Hassell noted.

Disaster relief volunteers also delivered meals to the worst-hit zone in Tulia twice a day for relief workers, law enforcement officers, volunteers and others.

“We’ve been in the damage zone since Saturday night after the tornado rolled through. There is a lot of physical labor and meals to provide,” Hassell explained.

The church also opened up its doors to a group of inmates from nearby prisons. After the inmates worked all day in the clean-up effort, they ate dinner served at the church every night by TBM and church volunteers.

Because the tornadoes were so devastating to the city, First Baptist Church of Tulia was host site for a community forum and support meeting where church members, residents and storm victims could ask questions and share their concerns.

A team of trained counselors equipped to handle crisis intervention serve on the BGCT crisis intervention team and were available to respond to questions and needs. The group of counselors in West Texas, part of Victim Relief Ministries, also held small group counseling sessions.

One Tulia family plans to rebuild after the tornado ripped off their roof.

Texas Baptist Men activated several disaster relief teams April 25 to serve in the wake of a tornado that struck around Eagle Pass and across the Rio Grande in Piedras Negras, Mexico. A tornado along the Texas-Mexico border killed at least 10 people, injured more than 70 and destroyed 20 homes.

The Permian Basin emergency food service team and a survey team from the San Antonio area served in the area, and TBM disaster relief organizers also put together clean-out teams from LaGrange, Kerrville and Pearsall. A chainsaw crew and a shower unit also were dispatched to Piedras Negras.

BGCT staff traveled to the region to provide assistance to Baptist churches and member families. Trained counselors from Buckner International and Four Baptist University of the Americas students worked alongside others to comfort grieving families.

In Piedras Negras, Baptists indicated there is an 8-block wide area that is devastated and some people were trapped under rubble.

A family from Iglesia Bautista Peniel in Eagle Pass—a husband, his pregnant wife and their 1-year-old son—said the roof of their mobile home was “ripped off like the top of a sardine can.”

BGCT Church Starter Robert Cepeda surveyed the devastation, concluding, “It looked like a bomb exploded.”

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

Posted: 4/27/07

Texas Tidbits

Scholarships endowed at Wayland. Three families recently endowed scholarships at Wayland Baptist University. The McDougal Scholarship honors Delbert and Carolyn McDougal of Lubbock. He served more than 10 years on the Wayland board of trustees, including service as chairman and vice chairman of the board and chairman of the property management committee. The Norman and Louise Wright Scholarship, established by their children, honors longtime members of First Baptist Church in Plainview. He served on Wayland’s board of trustees. The Bill and Nell Hardage Scholarship was begun with gifts provided by the Hardages and completed with memorial gifts made at the time of his death one year ago. He was associated with Wayland more than 40 years—first as a student and member of the track and field team, and then later as a coach and administrator. He served, at various times, as director of special services, academic vice president, advancement vice president and executive vice president.

Foundation grants scholarship to Wayland San Antonio. Baptist Health Foundation of San Antonio made a $60,000 scholarship gift for the 2007-2008 academic year to the San Antonio campus of Wayland Baptist University. The funds will be available for local students in the undergraduate nursing program, and in the master’s- level Christian ministry and counseling degree programs. The gift is a $10,000 increase over last year.

Estate gift benefits Howard Payne. Howard Payne University’s Douglas MacArthur Academy of Freedom will receive about $1.7 million for scholarships from the estate of Terry and Ouida Dunsworth of Bedford. With the addition of this gift, the academy’s total endowment is valued at $7 million, said Howard Payne President Lanny Hall.

Baptist communicators honored. Public relations representatives from several Texas-based Baptist agencies and institutions were honored in the Wilmer C. Fields Awards competition, sponsored by the Baptist Communicators Association. The marketing and public relations office at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor received the exceptional achievement award in interactive communications and first place in the website division. Miranda Bradley of Children at Heart Ministries won first place for a single feature article and second place for a series in the newspaper or newsletter division. Erin Tooley with Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas won first place in the poster or flyer division and first place for a direct mail kit or campaign. Dallas-based Guidestone Financial Resources’ communications department won first place in the special events category, and Guidestone’s Lisa Hennington won first place in the single direct mail category.

New director for Laity Lodge named. The H. E. Butt Foundation has named Steven Purcell director of the Laity Lodge Christian retreat center. Purcell, a native Texan, is a former managing director of Schloss Mittersill, a Christian retreat and conference center in Austria with ties to Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia. Owned and operated by the H.E. Butt Foundation, Laity Lodge has been presenting adult retreats since 1961 at its 1,900-acre facility in the Texas Hill Country. 
 

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

Posted: 4/27/07

TOGETHER:
Simple ideas put emphasis on missions

A group of Texas and world Baptist leaders put missions at the top of their agendas last week when they met for a Missions Exchange in Waco. The discussion generated many great ideas—some big and strategic, others small and practical. Here’s a sampling:

• Encourage pastors to place a world map on their desks to remind them the whole world should be on the heart and mind of the church.

Executive Director BGCT Executive Board

• Have a missions website with a global map that helps people connect with efforts being done by churches and institutions and with ways for people to discover where they could get involved.

• Understand missions must be done from the inside out, with people first gaining an internal passion for missions before it is expressed in an outward fashion. Help churches discover their “Mission DNA” and call members to a missions lifestyle.

• Recognize the biblical truth that those who are blessed, as Texas Baptists are, must become a blessing to others here and around the world.

• Encourage greater collaboration among all our Texas Baptist entities.

• Check the label in your shirt every morning and pray a moment for the people where the shirt was made.

• Include mission illustrations in sermons.

• Share mission stories through BaptistWay Press.

• Provide a small book to help returning mission volunteers integrate into their daily lives a continuing mission passion.

• Get involved with Texas Baptist institutions as they serve people in Texas and around the world in Christ’s name.

• Expand the scope of the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions and the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger.

• Work on making missions and discipleship go together, just like missions and evangelism.

• Call out the called by inviting people to do what God is nudging them to do.

• Measure mission development by mission deployment.

This is only a beginning. The future of missions is before us. We are in a time where information technology can be a great tool for mission advance, and we must take advantage of what is now possible. Pray for our missionaries. Pray for the people of every nation, tribe and people for God to guide and bless us as we respond to the great needs all around us with the heart of Christ and the skills he has put in our hands.

One of our greatest needs is collaboration. Baptists need to learn anew how to work together in our common missions tasks.

I spoke the other day to some people who work with teams of horses. One person said: “It takes much training to get two horses to pull together, and it is even more difficult to get more than two horses to pull together. It can be done, but it is not easy.”

The task of missions collaboration will not be easy, but it can be done. Let’s pray and work toward that end.

We are loved … all around the world.

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

Posted: 4/27/07

Six Baptist-affiliated students
among 32 dead at Virginia Tech

RICHMOND, Va. (ABP)—At least six of the 32 dead in the April 16 massacre at Virginia Tech had ties to Baptist churches in Virginia, Baptist leaders in the state said.

Here is what is known about the six with Baptist ties, based in part on reporting by MSNBC:

• Brian Bluhm, 25, was active in the Baptist collegiate ministries at Virginia Tech and attended Blacksburg Baptist Church, adjacent to the campus. Bluhm, who received a degree in civil engineering, was preparing to defend his graduate thesis about water resources. Born in Iowa and raised in Detroit, he already had accepted a job in Baltimore. Bluhm’s parents moved to Winchester, Va., while he was in school, so Blacksburg became his real home, said Bluhm’s close friend Michael Marshall of Richmond, Va.

Bluhm was an ardent fan of the Detroit Tigers baseball team, which announced his death before last Tuesday’s game against Kansas City. “He went to a game last weekend and saw them win, and I’m glad he did,” Marshall said. Bluhm also loved Virginia Tech’s Hokies football team and often traveled to away games with a close group of friends.

But Marshall said it was Bluhm’s faith and work with the Baptist college ministry that his friend loved most. “Brian was a Christian, and first and foremost, that’s what he would want to be remembered as,” he said.

• Austin Cloyd, 18, was a freshman majoring in international studies and French. Cloyd, who attended Blacksburg Baptist Church, moved with her family from Champaign, Ill., to Blacksburg in 2005 when her father took a job in the accounting department at Virginia Tech.

Before moving, the Cloyds were active in First United Methodist Church in Champaign, Pastor Terry Harter said. Cloyd was so inspired by an Appalachian service project to help rehabilitate homes that she and her mother started a similar program in their native Illinois town, her former pastor said.

The Methodist pastor, whose Illinois church held a prayer service for the family, described Cloyd as a “very delightful, intelligent, warm young lady” and an athlete who played basketball and volleyball in high school. But it was the mission trips to Appalachia that showed just how caring and faithful she was, he said.

“It made an important impact on her life. That’s the kind of person she was,” he said.

• Caitlin Hammaren, 19, also attended Blacksburg Baptist Church. She was a sophomore majoring in international studies and French, according to officials at her former school district in Westtown, N.Y.

“She was just one of the most outstanding young individuals that I’ve had the privilege of working with in my 31 years as an educator,” said John Latini, principal of Minisink Valley High School, where she graduated in 2005. “Caitlin was a leader among our students.”

• Rachael Hill, 18, of Richmond, Va., was a freshman studying biology. She graduated from Grove Avenue Christian School, which is affiliated with Grove Avenue Baptist Church in Richmond. Hill, an only child, was popular, had a penchant for shoes and was competitive on the volleyball court.

“Rachael was a very bright, articulate, intelligent, beautiful, confident, poised young woman. She had a tremendous future in front of her,” said Clay Fogler, administrator for the Grove Avenue school. “Obviously, the Lord had other plans for her.”

• Jarrett Lane, 22, from Narrows, Va., was a senior majoring in civil engineering who was valedictorian of his high school class. A member of First Baptist Church in Narrows, Va., Lane’s high school put up a memorial to him that included pictures, musical instruments and his athletic jerseys. Lane played the trombone, ran track and played football and basketball at Narrows High School.

“We’re just kind of binding together as a family,” Principal Robert Stump said.

Lane’s brother-in-law Daniel Farrell called Lane “full of spirit” and fun-loving.

“He had a caring heart and was a friend to everyone he met,” Farrell said. “We are leaning on God’s grace in these trying hours.”

• Nicole White, 20, of Carrollton, Va., was a junior majoring in international studies and German. White, a member of Nansemond River Baptist Church in Suffolk, Va., graduated from Smithfield High School in 2004, according to the Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk. White worked at a YMCA as a lifeguard and was an honor student in high school, the newspaper reported.

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