Updated: 3/30/07

Teens look to parents,
clergy for guidance on sex

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

WASHINGTON, D.C. (ABP)—More than three quarters of teens think religious leaders should do more to help prevent teen pregnancy. And that’s even more than the 64 percent of adults who think the same.

But while 76 percent of teens think religious leaders should do more to educate them about the risks of teenage sex, teens consistently say parents most influence their decisions about sex, according to an independent study commissioned by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.

Forty-seven percent of teenagers say parents influence their decisions more than friends, religious leaders, siblings, teachers, media and sex educators, said Bill Albert, deputy director of the National Campaign.

“One of the primary findings here is really good news for parents—that they are more influential on the topic than they thought they were,” he said. “The science here is relatively clear. The kids who are most close with their parents are less likely to do some of the crummy things kids do.”

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 60 percent of teenagers have sex before graduating from high school. About 800,000 teenage girls in the United States get pregnant each year, even though in the past 10 years the government has spent more than a billion dollars on abstinence-only programs.

All told, teen pregnancies in the United States cost federal, state and local taxpayers more than $9 billion in 2004, according to analysis from the report.

Despite the influence they wield in the lives of their children, however, parents simply do not believe they affect a teen’s perceptions about sex, Albert said.

The survey, which included responses from 1,037 children age 12 to 19 and 1,162 adults 20 years and older, said only 34 percent of parents think they influence teenage decisions about sex. But the proportion of teens who say parents most influence their decisions about sex increased from 37 percent in 2004 to 47 percent in this year’s survey. And the proportion of teens who say they had a “helpful conversation” with their parents about delaying sex increased from 63 percent in 2004 to 71 percent in 2006.

“I think in some ways that parents are in a full state of denial,” Albert said. “These issues of sex, love and relationships are difficult. What this survey shows is that what the opposite of most parents believe is actually true. While they may not act like it, most teenagers actually think their parents are the most influential.”

Kate Ott, associate director of the Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing, said much the same thing. She works to encourage parents and religious leaders to provide education on sexuality, and her organization recently sent an open letter to 2,000 clergy and denominational heads nationwide calling for a faith-based approach to helping teens “understand their sexuality, develop their own moral agency, and make informed choices about their sexual behavior.”

The institute is an organization comprised of 2,600 religious leaders from more than 40 denominations, including Baptists. The open letter developed through a colloquium of theologians sponsored by the institute.

“Adolescents have sexual rights too,” Ott said. “We’re sexual beings from birth until death. Sexuality doesn’t start when you’re married. We want to portray it as a positive, healthy part of their lives.”

During adolescence, teens try to understand their own sexuality based on determining what other people believe, she said. That’s where parents and religious leaders come in.

Religious leaders have a role to play in helping parents address sex directly with their children, and the role should be tailored to fit specific faith backgrounds, Albert said.

The message is different in a lot of homes. Some parents believe sex outside of marriage is wrong. Others simply teach their children that sex is something for adults. Ultimately, even if religious leaders only go so far as to encourage parents to talk with their children about sex, that could reduce teen pregnancies in the entire community, Albert said.

“Young people’s sense of right and wrong plays a large role in their sexual lives,” he said. “Faith communities and religious leaders may underestimate the influence they have here. The research seems to make the connections between delayed sexual activity and religious belief.”

Even without a religious background, an overwhelming number of adults think abstinence should be taught as a first option for avoiding pregnancy. A full 93 percent of adults and 90 percent of teens think young people must receive a “strong abstinence message,” according to Albert’s report.

What’s more, adults and teens often do not see abstinence and contraception as competing strategies. Instead, respondents indicated that teens should be encouraged to delay sex but also be given information about contraception.

“When asked whether teens should be getting more information about abstinence, contraception, or both, three-quarters of adults and about six in 10 teens said young people should be getting information about both, rather than either/or,” the report said.

The report went on to acknowledge that some adults think encouraging young people to abstain from sex while also advocating contraception sends a confusing message that implies approval of teenage sex. Still, Albert said, evidence indicates that sex education programs including messages about both abstinence and contraception do not hasten the onset of sex, increase the frequency of sex, or increase the number of sexual partners. Instead, teen pregnancy and birth rates in the United States have declined by one third since the early 1990s, according to the report.

A key factor discussed in the report “underscores the critical importance of understanding why sexually active teens do not use contraception consistently and carefully.” Experts have suggested that it could be due to embarrassment, the use of alcohol or apathy. According to the report, 18 percent of teens said the primary reason they don’t use contraceptives is fear that their parents will find out.

For parents hoping to delay or prohibit their teenager’s sexual activity, the important thing is to be “aspirational,” Albert said. It is realistic to expect a child to not have sex at least until he or she moves out of the home, he said, but parents should also realize the pervasive culture surrounding their child.

“You need to at least be aware of the possibilities of what’s going on here,” he said. “By the time a teenager graduates from high school, about 60 percent of them have had sex at least once. That’s gone down. It used to be higher. So yeah, of course, it’s realistic (for teens to abstain from sex). But I wouldn’t double-down your bet on it.”

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

Updated 3/30/07

Author wrote a book he can no longer read

By George Henson

Staff Writer

DALLAS—Dallas Baptist University professor David Naugle’s thoughts and views are being read and discussed by students in a language he can neither read nor understand.

Naugle’s book, Worldview: The History of a Concept, has been translated and published by Peking University Press for student use in China.

The book was selected by Christianity Today as the 2003 Book of the Year for theology and ethics, but the decision to translate and publish the book came through the recommendation of David Lyle Jeffrey, distinguished professor of literature and humanities at Baylor University.

Jeffrey has a long association with Peking University, and he helps the publishing houses there choose books for translation and publication.

“I’ve been working in China for many years, for much longer than I’ve been working at Baylor, and teaching at Peking University,” Jeffrey said. He helps the publishing houses find books that present a “full-bodied and coherent exposition of Christian thought from an intellectual point of view.”

After reading Naugle’s book, he felt it met the criteria.

The book was not written to be published and distributed in China, or even Texas for that matter. Naugle wrote the manuscript as a doctoral dissertation when he pursued his studies at the University of Texas at Arlington.

The research topic occurred to Naugle after he heard a lecturer say that while many people spoke about worldview, “no one had actually investigated the history of the concept of worldview.”

The first indication Naugle received that his book was being considered for translation into Chinese, a language spoken by 20 percent of the population of the world, was an e-mail during the fall of 2005. The e-mail came from a professor of English language who was translating the book and had difficulty with a few passages.

“It was something I, in a sense, just stood back and watched happen,” said Naugle, a member of Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas. “I didn’t initiate it.”

It is especially interesting to Naugle that a book that supports Christianity and a biblical worldview is being published by a Chinese university, and now it will be studied by students in their philosophy classes.

“My hope is that the book will bring readers to a deeper understanding of the comprehensive scope and significance of the Christian faith, that is, as a complete worldview, and that it will lead to the conversion and transformation of those who happen to read it,” he said. “It’s traveled long and far, and I’ve just been floored by these developments.”

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

Posted: 3/30/07

Around the State

• The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor will perform its 68th annual Easter pageant at 12:30 p.m., 3 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. April 4. All performances will be outdoors in front of the Luther Memorial arches on Vann Circle Drive. The free student production draws 5,000 people each year.

• Baylor University will hold a symposium on congregational renewal May 11. The topic for the 9 a.m. session will be “Assessing the Current State of Religion in America,” and the 10:45 a.m. session will investigate three versions of congregational renewal—small church, multi-ethnic church and downtown/suburban church. A continental breakfast and lunch will be provided free of charge. To register or for more information, call (254) 710-4677.

Anniversaries

• Bill Wright, 15th, as pastor of First Church in Plains, March 25.

• J.D. Templeton, fifth, as pastor of First Church in Cotton Center, March 31.

• Korean Church in Wichita Falls, 30th, April 8. Song Pak is pastor.

• Novice Church in Coleman County, 100th, April 22. Registration and fellowship will begin at 10 a.m., followed by former Pastor Larry Adams preaching in the morning service. A history of the church also will be presented. A barbecue lunch and singing will follow the morning service. Bill Swindler is pastor.

• Plains Assembly, 60th, May 5. A day of games and celebration will be held from noon to 8 p.m. Included will be disc golf, horseshoes, softball, dominoes, volleyball, live music, a zipline and a picnic. A mission fair and food booths will be provided by the Woman’s Missionary Union. A tent meeting is scheduled as well. For more information, call (806) 983-3954. Michael Wright is executive director.

• Harlandale Church in San Antonio, 85th, May 6. A brunch will begin at 9 a.m., followed by the morning worship service. Former Pastor Ken Coffee will preach. A catered lunch and program will follow at the Bellaire Baptist Church gymnasium. Dan Treviño is pastor.

• Valera Church in Valera, 100th, May 6. Lunch and afternoon services will follow the 10 a.m. service. For more information, e-mail kenlen@web-access.net. Ralph Howell is pastor.

Deaths

• Doyce Phillips, 76, Feb. 24 in Mount Pleasant. A former member of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board, he had served the last 12 years as director of the Christian Life Center of First Church in Mount Pleasant, where he also was a deacon. He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Marilyn; daughters, Melinda Russell and Nancy Ervin; sisters, Naomi Williams, Martha Jenkins, Sue Thames and Bettie Hill; and six grandchildren.

• Cecil Roper, 82, Feb. 27 in Fort Worth. He was minister of music at First Church in Hillsboro and Parkway Church in Jackson, Miss., before joining the faculty of Southwestern Seminary, where he taught church music from 1960 until his retirement in 1990. He was a member of Broadway Church in Fort Worth. He also held the post of distinguished fellow in the area of church music with the B.H. Carroll Theological Institute. He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Milly; daughter, Elizabeth; and sister, Vera Vaughn.

• Janice Coley, 66, March 9 in Seguin. She served the Baptist General Convention of Texas as an assistant in youth discipleship and with the offices of the State Missions Commis-sion director and the executive director. She had moved to Seguin following retirement and joined First Church there. She is survived by her husband, Dewey; daughters, Susan Logsdon and Carla Atkinson; son, David; mother, Ruby Slater; and two grandchildren.

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

Posted: 3/30/07

Baylor fraternity brothers
serve God in the Ozarks

By Barbara Bedrick

Texas Baptist Communications

WACO—Armed with pick axes, drills, shovels, chainsaws, rakes and a mission-minded attitude, 65 Baylor University fraternity brothers traveled to Ponca Bible Camp in the Ozark Mountains over spring break to renovate the encampment.

Members of Kappa Omega Tau, a Baylor service-oriented fraternity, spent three days climbing 20-foot ladders up hills, restoring cabins, building retaining walls, burning leaves and improving the Christian camp. Mission Trip Chair Alex LaRue helped plan the spring break effort. 

“We’re a group of guys who are blessed, and we realize that,” LaRue said. “We want to share that with others so they can feel blessed as well.”

The fraternity chose the Arkansas Christian camp after researching other options on the Internet, LaRue said. Ponca Bible Camp sounded like a “nice road trip,” and it seemed “like this camp would benefit the most” from their efforts, he noted. The camp typically budgets $1,000 every year for improvements, and only four or five volunteers help, he added.

When camp directors let sponsoring churches know the Baylor students wanted to help revitalize the camp over spring break, churches in Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri raised more than $8,000 for building supplies.

Much of the volunteer work meant stretching and reaching new heights. The students built a new roof on the main dining hall, ripped up old railroad ties that had formed a stairway to an outdoor chapel, poured concrete and added rocks to form a new 31-step staircase.

Dallas sophomore Tim Springer, a member of Park Cities Baptist Church, found “battening” the cabins proved to be a somewhat precarious but rewarding mission.

“It seems simple, but it took two full days 20-feet up on a ladder on a hill to fill cracks in the cabins,” Springer said.

The Baylor students spent hours building 19 retaining walls, using power washers to clean cabins before staining, clearing brush, conducting controlled burns and building a new hillside bleacher section for the basketball court, but they say it was worth it.  

“Knowing the experiences I had growing up at a summer camp and knowing what a special time in my spiritual development that was, it was incredible for me to go back and help the camp shape young lives,” Springer said.

Shaping lives is an important part of the fraternity’s efforts to help others year around. Every other Saturday, members gather to help Habitat for Humanity, other community organizations and individuals who are in need.

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

Posted: 3/30/07

TAKING THE PLUNGE:
Beach Reach volunteers
immersed in missions service

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND—Rock music blared as thousands of college students gathered on the beach. The crowd cheered participants in a tug-of-war contest. Alcohol flowed as freely as the ocean rolling onto the sand.

A new Christian rejoices after she is baptized. Reza Zadeh of Fort Collins, Colo., baptized people in the Gulf of Mexico as part of Beach Reach, an outreach to Spring Breakers at South Padre Island. Beach Reach is largely a Texas Baptist effort, but volunteers come to serve from around the nation. (Photos by John Hall)

In the midst of it all, a young man who came looking to party found Christ, thanks in part to a Texas Baptist college student. They prayed together, wept and embraced each other in celebration of newfound faith.

The scene happened again and again during Beach Reach, a missions outreach that includes providing free rides and pancake breakfasts for students on spring break.

Beyond the late night partying, drinking and promiscuity, West Texas A&M University student Mollie Hagerman saw people searching to fill a void in their lives—a hole she knew only Christ could fill.

Hagerman—and the more than 400 other “Beach Reachers”—helped students on spring break find Christ by meeting them where they are. The Texas Baptist mission volunteers connected with students through conversation, encouragement and meeting practical needs such as helping an intoxicated student return to a hotel, urging a Christian to remain faithful or telling someone about the gospel.

“I go to college with people like this,” Hagerman said. “I love them. I want to be able to help. Jesus loves us so much. He died for us. I want them to know that too. I want them to be able to go to heaven with me, too. I want them to be my brothers and sisters in Christ.”

Watch video of students at South Padre Island. Students Minister at Spring Break • Beach Reach volunteers immersed in missions service • Baylor fraternity brothers serve God in the Ozarks • DBU students build homes in South Carolina & South Dakota • HBU students take local & global missions plunge • ETBU nursing students put training into practice in Mexico • Students find missions calling through BSM • More than a day at the beach

Many first-time Beach Reachers said they were amazed at how God worked through this ministry of service. Many times barriers between people were broken down instantly. People shared their pain. They talked about their dreams. And they discussed a desire for God. Most conversations ended in both parties praying together.

Beach Reachers hug to celebrate the baptizing of a friend.

“The Holy Spirit is at work here,” said Matthew Skinner, a member of First Baptist Church in Houston.

“God is here.”

That’s the reason Zach Lopez, a West Texas A&M student, participated in Beach Reach. He wants to minister where God is moving in people’s lives. God changed his life, and he believes God can change the lives of others as well.

“Jesus Christ has given me so much, and he died on the cross to save me from all my sins and save from the fires of hell,” he said. “I want to share that with other people, so they don’t have to experience eternal damnation.”

For University of Mary Hardin-Baylor senior Ify Anene, Beach Reach is an opportunity for her to do what Christ called her to do.

“I believe in the great commission,” she said.

“In the Bible, God calls us to disciple the nations. A lot of people seem to forget about our own backyard and go overseas and stuff, which is fine. But we have people right here who crave that relationship.”

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

Posted: 3/30/07

BGCT fills four strategist positions

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

DALLAS—The Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board staff has filled four positions in its congregational strategists team, including the leaders of the congregational strategists and church starters.

Paul Atkinson, who was serving as interim team lead of the church starters, has been named leader of the church starting team. Tim Randolph, who has served as a congregational strategist in the Temple area, has been named leader of the congregational strategists. Randolph will continue serving as a congregational strategist as well.

Ben Hanna, who has served as a BGCT congregational strategist in the Houston area, has become a church starter in that region. Robert Cepeda, pastor of First Baptist Church in Los Fresnos, has become the convention’s church starter for the Rio Grande Valley. Before taking his new position, Cepeda resigned as a director of the BGCT Executive Board.

“God has blessed the Baptist General Convention of Texas with gifted leaders who are dedicated to serving churches,” said Andre Punch, who directs the BGCT congregational strategists, starters and affinity group leaders. “Together these men will strengthen congregations across the state, helping Baptists meet people at their points of need and sharing the good news of Christ with those who desperately need to hear it.”

Atkinson has worked for the BGCT as a congregational strategist in the Fort Worth area, team leader of the congregational strategists and in what was called the Bible Study/Discipleship Center. He also has worked for Golden Triangle Baptist Association and served as minister of education with three different churches.

Randolph has served as a BGCT congregational strategist in the Temple area and managed the redesign of the church-starting guidelines.

He is a former director of missions of the Tri-Rivers Baptist Area. He also has served as pastor of two churches, as well as a missionary in Argentina with the Southern Baptist International Mission Board.

Hanna has served as a congregational strategist in the Houston area after serving as a missionary in Eastern Europe.

Before serving at First Baptist Church in Los Fresnos, Cepeda was the pastor of Primera Iglesia Bautista in San Benito. He also was music minister at Baptist Temple Church in San Benito and minister of youth and music at First Baptist Church in Overton. Prior to that, he was a marketing team associate at the Southern Baptist Sunday School Board.

David Tamez, who was a BGCT church starter in the Rio Grande Valley, has become a Mexico missions specialist with the convention’s border/Mexico missions effort.

The convention continues looking for a church starter to serve in the Fort Worth area and congregational strategists for the Houston and Fort Worth areas.

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

Posted: 3/30/07

Book Reviews

10 Things Every Minister Needs to Know by Ronnie Floyd (New Leaf Press)

Ronnie Floyd states there is nothing like it in the entire world. He is speaking of serving in vocational ministry. In this small, but very readable, book, Floyd recounts the life lessons he has learned in more than 30 years as a pastor.

He asserts the book is for ministers of all ages and in all seasons of life. Yet he is convinced these 10 lessons transcend vocational ministry and touch other worlds as well—life, business and influence.

I would recommend the book highly to any believer, not just ministers. Floyd gives practical advice to all believers in all walks of life. He discusses the importance of being over doing. He also discusses the importance of family-building rather than ministry-building, faith, relationships, decision-making and maintaining a proper balance in life. He concludes with wisdom on how to believe God for your future.

What are you reading that other Texas Baptists would find helpful? Send suggestions and reviews to books@baptiststandard.com.

Each chapter closes with a one-sentence reminder from Scripture that punctuates the topic ad-dressed.

This book shares the very best perspectives, encouragement and solutions, not just for ministers, but for us all. It is an enjoyable and practical book.

Greg Ammons, pastor

First Baptist Church

Garland

The Eleven Commandments by Preston Taylor (Xulon Press)

Even though we see them engraved on buildings and hear controversy regarding them in the news, the actual Ten Commandments are a mystery to most people. One would suspect that in a random survey, few Americans could name more than five of the commandments, even with some prompting.

Preston Taylor has made a bold attempt to place the truth of Scripture into an exciting, readable format with his compelling new work, The Eleven Commandments. In this short volume, he has packed the history, context and application most relevant to the original 10 and has updated them with the overarching comment of Jesus when he was asked about the commandments.

Readers will be drawn through the pages by Taylor’s easy-going style that allows one to leap from the concept on the page into life-changing understanding. Seldom has such power been packed into so few pages!

Jerry Barker, pastor

First Baptist Church

Falfurrias

A Mind for God by James Emery White (IVP Books)

In an extremely well-documented book, James Emery White addresses a key problem Christians face in confronting present-day problems and challenges.

Under the infleunce of secular media’s overwhelming bombardment of information, Christians are being led into a mode of thinking and decision-making that more reflects the world than God, he contends. Possessing modern minds infleunced by moral relativism, autonomous individualism, narcissistic hedonism and reductive naturalism, individuals are facing issues and making decisions without understanding the theological implications.

This form of thinking and decision-making is so prominent because many Christians demand to be “spoon-fed” by church leaders and teachers instead of doing self-study and learning for themselves, White observes. The result is shallow thinking among immature Christians who have few, if any, convictions.

White, president of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, offers a solution: In order to have a mind for God, a Christian must develop the attitude of a learner and become involved in reading. To accomplish this, Christians must surround themselves with books and set aside time for reading. Books should include the great volumes that have most shaped history and culture, civilization and science, and politics and economics—books that motivate us to think about the great issues of life.

The greatest book for reading is the Bible, White insists, noting it calls for “complete and utter submission of life and thought.”

Along with tools such as study Bibles, a dictionary and a concordance, the Christian needs to apply the tools of cultural, biblical, historical and theological literacy, which are gained from additional reading.

Study and learning also require time for reflection, which provides insight into the world and its ways.

By seeing the world through the spiritual eyes developed from the study of God’s word, a Christian is able to see the real issues that impact society. Thus, a Christian’s response is now based on the convictions gained from the study of Scriptures—the mind of God—instead of the mind of the secular world.

However, one problem White fails to address is adult and youth illiteracy. With a large percentage of our population functionally illiterate, and many of these being Christians, reading will not help them acquire a mind for God.

Other learning methods are needed, and churches must begin to focus on this task, as well as implementing such methods for their people. (This could make for another good book.)

Randall Scott, pastor

Immanuel Baptist Church

Paris

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

Posted: 3/30/07

Baptist Briefs

Southwestern Seminary hires fundraiser. Robert Hawley of Prosper, former regional capital resource manager for LifeWay Christian Resources, has joined the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary staff as associate vice president for institutional advancement. Hawley began his fund-raising career as a pastor in California when he raised support for missions endeavors. He also has been vice president of sales training and operations for a communications company in Dallas, vice president of Stephen’s Children Foundation, chief administrator of the Christian Motorcyclists Association and president of Open Doors Ministry USA. Hawley holds a bachelor of arts degree from Mercer University in Macon, Ga., and a master of divinity degree from Talbot Theological Seminary in La Mirada, Calif.

Billy Graham’s grandson injured in Iraq. Capt. Edward Graham, Billy Graham’s grandson and evangelist Franklin Graham’s youngest son, sustained shrapnel wounds to his arms, legs and back in Iraq. Graham, a 27-year-old Army Ranger and West Point graduate, did not suffer life-threatening injuries and was recovering at an undisclosed hospital, according to news reports. He is one of four children of Franklin Graham and one of 19 grandchildren of evangelist Billy Graham.

Couple named human rights award winners. Joao and Nora Matwawana, an Angolan couple now living in Canada, have been named recipients of the 2007 Denton Lotz Human Rights Award, presented by the Baptist World Alliance. The Matwawanas have played a pivotal role in reconciliation and peace efforts in Burundi, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola since the 1970s. Their work included ministry among more than 1 million refugees who fled Rwanda to the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1994; repeated visits to refugees living in camps in Zambia; visits to Burundi to discuss peace and nation building initiatives with governmental, church and nongovernmental organization leaders; meeting with a Burundi rebel leader in Holland and South Africa to successfully negotiate peace; and training Angolan refugees in conflict resolution, mediation, peace and reconciliation.

Missourian tapped for South Carolina executive’s post. After spending less than two years as associate execu-tive director of the Missouri Baptist Convention, Jim Austin is expected to become new executive director-treasurer of the South Carolina Baptist Convention. A South Carolina search committee announced Austin, 53, is its unanimous choice to replace Carlisle Driggers in the chief executive position. Driggers left last month to retire to Georgia after 15 years in the position. After being approved by the convention’s Executive Board, convention messengers will consider Austin for the position. Austin was born in Charlotte, N.C., and graduated from Jacksonville State University, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth and Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif. He has served as pastor of churches in Georgia and Virginia and was a vice president of the Georgia Baptist Convention. He also served two terms as a trustee of the Southern Baptist International Mission Board. Overseas, Austin worked as a mission-team recruiter and a leader for short-term trips in North and South America, Europe and Asia.

Oklahoma pastor acquitted of sex charges. A former member of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee has been cleared of criminal sex-solicitation charges. An Oklahoma judge acquitted Lonnie Latham of asking an undercover male police officer to have sex. The presiding judge found Latham not guilty of offering to engage in a lewd act but did not address a key issue—whether the law Latham was charged under is unconstitutional. Latham’s attorney had argued his client was charged under a lewdness statute that should be unconstitutional because the U.S. Supreme Court in 2003 legalized consensual, noncommercial sex between adult males. If convicted, Latham could have faced a year in jail, a $2,500 fine and 40 to 80 hours of community service. As a spokesman for Southern Baptists, Latham often had defended the convention’s opposition to same-sex relations. After his arrest, he resigned from the SBC Executive Committee, the board of directors of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma and his church pastorate.

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

Posted: 3/30/07

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

Posted: 3/30/07

2nd Opinion:
Program changes Texas, life by life

I have just returned from the first presentation service for Truett Theological Seminary’s Certificate Ministry Program on the seminary campus in Waco.

Ten students—men and women, black, white, Hispanics and people from all walks of life—were involved. One of our graduates is a police officer. Another one taught school for 30 years. All gave testimony of the wonderful benefits of this two-year home-study program. One week is spent in class on the Truett campus studying preaching. The other work is done at their own pace at their own home.

Carol Raulston of Whitney was the first person to complete the course. She is a mother of five children who paid for the course through a weekly deduction from her checking account. She ministers to women in crisis.

Tom Echols is a 60-year-old truck driver and bivocational pastor of Eagle’s Wing Baptist Church in Crowley. With tears in his eyes, he said: “This is the first time I’ve ever walked across the stage for anything. I quit school 40-plus years ago to go in the Army, so I never graduated from high school. Only eternity will tell how much this certificate ministry is going to do.” Tom was unable to pay for the course. He received a scholarship from Truett and the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

Raul Hernandez pastors Iglesia Bautista Nueva Vida, a Hispanic church in Zapata. He is a former helicopter pilot in Vietnam. He does not have access to a computer, so he submitted all his work in hand-written form.

Graduates brought their spouses, their children and their grandchildren to be a part of the ceremonies. And I saw more tears than you would see in an old-fashioned brush-arbor revival.

I was encouraged beyond words with their sincere appreciation.

We challenged the class to find someone else who needs to be in this certificate ministry and serve as their mentor in getting the work done. These are the kind of people who will do that.

My thanks to Larry Givens, Grear Howard and Paul Stripling for giving leadership to this program. And my eternal gratitude to the Piper Foundation, the Baptist General Convention of Texas and to the late John Baugh for their financial support.

Paul Powell is dean of George W. Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor University in Waco.

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

Posted: 3/30/07

DBU students build homes
in South Carolina & South Dakota

By Blake Killingsworth

Dallas Baptist University

DALLAS—Forty Dallas Baptist University students loaded into six vans before daylight on a recent Saturday to participate in the school’s annual Habitat for Humanity spring break mission trip.

One 21-member building crew headed east to Sumter, S.C., where the DBU team partnered for five days with students from the University of Wisconsin-Stout to work on a home for a young family with two children.

“Although most of the students had no experience in construction, each one poured their hearts into this build and were amazed to see the progress as the walls went up, the roof went on, and even some plants took root in the yard,” said Jay Harley, DBU dean of spiritual life and sponsor for the South Carolina trip.

“I learned a lot from this trip,” student Gilda Alvarenga said.

“I learned how to properly use a hammer, the details that go into houses, the hard work of Habitat, and even gardening. “Also, I learned so much from the people who surrounded me, especially the Wisconsin group and our DBU group who had heart of servants. I am looking forward to my next Habitat trip.”

The second group of DBU vans headed northwest to South Dakota.

Those 19 students journeyed to Eagle Butte to complete major interior work needed on a house on an Indian reservation.

“When we arrived at the house, it had graffiti all over the walls from local gangs, and it had remained vacant for a while before Habitat was allowed to start working on it. The house needed lots of work,” said trip coordinator Chris Crawford, DBU director of apartment life.

The crew patched sheet rock throughout the house; replaced both the front and back doors; sanded walls, ceilings, baseboards and windows; raised the front porch of the house; and cleaned the front yard.

Working on a reservation presented its own benefits for the DBU students, Hendricks noted.

“The Native American way of life was so rich and interesting, and the evenings together allowed us to be able to sit back and soak in their traditions,” he said.

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

Posted: 3/30/07

Too many trips to the wedding altar
may trip up presidential contenders

By Adelle Banks

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)—When Southern Baptist public policy spokesman Richard Land sizes up the Republican presidential pack and factors in whether a candidate has been divorced, he thinks of marriage mathematics, not just morals.

“The progression from two to three … wives is not an arithmetic progression for evangelicals; it’s exponential,” said Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. “Three is at least one too many.”

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich—both potential candidates—each are twice divorced and thrice married. Sen. John McCain has been married twice. All three have had hints of extramarital affairs.

For Land and other conservative religious leaders, the checkered marital histories of GOP candidates could be an important factor. While divorce may not be a deal-breaker, it could be, depending on how many and for what reasons.

And for all their work to protect the “sanctity” of marriage, the high divorce rates of GOP front-runners puts many evangelicals—not to mention the candidates themselves—in an uncomfortable position.

Recent polls suggest voters take multiple marriages and extramarital affairs seriously. A USA Today/Gallup Poll found that less than half of weekly church attenders—48 percent—would be “completely comfortable” with a candidate who has married three times. The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found 62 percent of Republicans, and 25 percent of Democrats, would be less likely to support a presidential candidate who had an extramarital affair in the past.

Giuliani—who announced his divorce to his second wife at a City Hall press conference, to which she responded with charges of marital infidelity—may have the most work to do to win over skeptical conservatives.

Gingrich recently confessed to Focus on the Family founder James Dobson that he was having an affair while leading the charge for President Bill Clinton’s impeachment in the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal.

Tom Minnery, senior vice president of public policy for Focus on the Family, said Gingrich “took a long step toward reconciliation with Christian voters” by speaking in an “amazingly transparent” way on the program.

Other evangelical leaders said “a strong family image” can be helpful to competing GOP candidates, such as former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, California Rep. Duncan Hunter, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, or former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson.

Even the conservatives’ beloved icon, Ronald Reagan, was able to overcome his failed first marriage to actress Jane Wyman to become the first divorced president. But, cautioned Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., “That divorce was not a serial event.”

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