2007 Archives
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Balmorhea’s Kids in the Kitchen dish up doses of love
Posted: 3/16/07
Balmorhea’s Kids in the
Kitchen dish up doses of loveBy George Henson
Staff Writer
BALMORHEA—While some people might think First Baptist Church in Balmorhea should consider closing its doors, the congregation is too busy cooking up ways to minister to children and their families to give that idea much thought.
The little church sits in the shadow of the Davis Mountains. It usually counts less than 10 people in Sunday school and, on a good Sunday, 25 in worship services. The majority are over 60 years old, and there are no children.
Children make peanut butter dough, a versatile snack. (Photos by George Henson) 03/16/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Book Reviews
Posted: 3/16/07
Book Reviews
Where Was God? Answers to Tough Questions about God and Natural Disasters by Erwin W. Lutzer (Tyndale House)
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina and the 2004 Asian tsunami, Erwin Lutzer, senior pastor of The Moody Church in Chicago, thoughtfully offers a short, biblically informed view of natural disasters and the questions disasters raise about the character of God and the potential response of believers.
In the end, we must be present with, grieve with and help victims of disaster rather than spend our time debating and trying to interpret for others why God allowed such things to happen. As Lutzer puts it, “Many of us are better at trying to explain natural disasters than we are at weeping over them!”
What are you reading that other Texas Baptists would find helpful? Send suggestions and reviews to books@baptiststandard.com. He also writes, “Disasters remind the living that tomorrow is uncertain; so we must prepare for eternity today.” Even observing news of catastrophic events should remind us all that our lives are fragile and we must eventually face judgment. So, we should follow Christ and be prepared for any eventuality.
03/16/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Baptist Briefs
Posted: 3/16/07
Baptist Briefs
Agee announces retirement from college association. Bob Agee has announced his retirement as executive director of the International Association of Baptist Colleges and Universities, effective at the association’s June 2007 annual meeting or “as soon thereafter as a new executive director can be named.” Agee, 68, was president of Oklahoma Baptist University and also served as executive director of the Consortium for Global Education, a sister organization that promotes partnerships between association members and more than 80 colleges and universities worldwide.
History/heritage society moving to Mercer. Headquarters of the Baptist History and Heritage Society will relocate to Mercer University’s Atlanta campus in July. The move comes on the heels of the American Baptist Historical Society’s decision last September to consolidate and relocate its archival collections to Mercer’s Atlanta campus. Both relocations are major steps in Mercer’s aspiration to become a national center for Baptist scholarship.
03/16/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Casino proposal predicted to roll slack promises, not big jackpots
Posted: 3/16/07
Casino proposal predicted to roll
slack promises, not big jackpotsBy John Hall
Texas Baptist Communications
AUSTIN—A plan to fund college scholarships with as many as 12 casinos throughout Texas is another in a series of promises that won’t pan out, said Suzii Paynter, director of the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission.
Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, and Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, are sponsoring legislation that would put casinos in as many as 12 locations across the state. The senators’ effort also would legalize video slot machines at horse and dog tracks.
03/16/2007 - By John Rutledge
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DOWN HOME: Why a true Baptist loved folks so well
Posted: 3/16/07
DOWN HOME:
Why a true Baptist loved folks so wellThe kingdom of God on earth changed March 5, when one of Baptists’ strongest hearts stopped beating. John Baugh died.
The business world knew him as the founder and longtime chairman of the Sysco Corporation. If you ever went out to eat, practically anywhere, Mr. Baugh provided all or most of your meal.
Universities and children’s homes and churches and countless other ministries knew him as a generous benefactor.
Baptists far and wide—whether they agreed with him or not—knew him as a tenacious champion of soul freedom, the priesthood of the believer and religious liberty.
03/16/2007 - By John Rutledge
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EDITORIAL: Starter kit for a new kind of convention
Posted: 3/16/07
EDITORIAL:
Starter kit for a new kind of conventionIf the Baptist General Convention of Texas hopes to survive in a postdenominational world, it must conclude the process of reinventing itself. And sooner rather than later.
Down through the years, the BGCT—as with most other denominational organizations—has bought into a false notion that seduces precisely because it sounds so true: The convention exists for the churches.
Who can argue with logic like that? We are proud of saying the churches, not the convention, are king of the Baptist hill. So, it stands to reason, the BGCT should orient itself to meet all the churches’ needs. The churches are the clients, and the convention is the full-service provider.
Theologians have a term for a notion like that: Baloney.
03/16/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Faith Digest
Posted: 3/16/07
Faith Digest
Beliefnet recognizes movies Oscar neglected. The Beliefnet Film Awards are in, and the winners didn’t necessarily coincide with the Oscar list. The Beliefnet awards select the best spiritual film, performance and documentary of 2006. Each category had two winners, one named by a panel of judges and the other chosen by visitors to Beliefnet.com. The judges chose Children of Men—the story of a young woman in an infertile world—as the year’s best spiritual film, although the movie didn’t even get an Academy Award nomination for best motion picture Beliefnet.com visitors chose The Pursuit of Happyness, the story of a homeless man and his son trying to get off the streets of San Francisco, as their favorite spiritual film and selected the film’s star, Will Smith, as the year’s best spiritual performance. But the judges sided with the Academy in the best-performance category, naming Jennifer Hudson, of Dreamgirls. Hudson won a supporting actress Oscar for her role as Effie White. The panel’s choice for best spiritual documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, also coincided with the Academy’s selection. The documentary featuring former Vice President Al Gore is a cautionary tale about the burgeoning problem of global warming. But the People’s Award for documentary went to Shakespeare Behind Bars, about the unique gifts and talents of prisoners in a Kentucky correctional facility.
Biblical translator Metzger dies. Bruce Metzger, a revered biblical scholar who was both respected and sometimes criticized for championing the use of modern language in translating the Bible, died Feb. 13. Metzger, 93, was a long-time professor at Princeton Theological Seminary and a towering figure for students who used to joke that he had actually written the Bible himself. Metzger is likely to be best remembered as the editor of the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, a work introduced in 1989 that eliminated many, though not all, of the Bible’s masculine pronouns. It became the standard text used in many colleges, seminaries and divinity schools. That work was an extension of the Revised Standard Version, which was released in its full version almost 40 years earlier and eschewed much of the archaic language of the King James Bible. Metzger served on the translation team for the Revised Standard Version, which was the first to use material from the Dead Sea Scrolls.
03/16/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Faith and Values Awards’ star shines brightest on Nativity, Commandments
Posted: 3/16/07
Faith and Values Awards’ star shines
brightest on Nativity, CommandmentsBy Melissa Stee
Religion News Service
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (RNS)—The Nativity Story was honored with two awards at the 15th annual Movieguide Faith and Values Awards gala.
The movie, which re-tells the accounts of Joseph and Mary and the birth of Jesus, won the John Templeton Foundation $50,000 Epiphany Prize for Film, which goes to a movie that creates a “deeper spiritual awareness in mankind and increases man’s understanding of God.”
03/16/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Texas Baptist Forum
Posted: 3/16/07
Texas Baptist Forum
God & Allah
Allah may be the same as Charles Kimball’s God (March 5), but not mine.
My God is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
Letters are welcomed. Send them to marvknox@baptiststandard.com; 250 words maximum. 
“One of the great doctrines of the Christian faith is unity. Therefore, I would pray with you and plead with you to work for the unity of Baptists. Jesus prayed that we might be one, and this was an evangelistic prayer. Why should we be one? That the world might believe! Our lack of unity means that the world cannot believe.”
Denton Lotz
Baptist World Alliance general secretary (ABP)“To those in the church who still sit in judgment on the AIDS emergency, let me climb into the pulpit for just one moment, because whatever thoughts we have about God, who he is or even if God exists, most will agree that God has a special place for the poor.”
Bono
U2 lead singer and AIDS activist (RNS)“This latest case is a real breakthrough. It’s not Christian medical professionals refusing to provide treatment they don’t approve of. It’s Christian medical professionals refusing to provide treatment to people they don’t approve of.”
Stephen Colbert
Comedian host of of The Colbert Report, discussing a California doctor who refuses to treat patients who don’t adhere to his Christian values (RNS)Only because of the redeeming grace of Jesus can I approach God the Father.
03/16/2007 - By John Rutledge
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