Posted: 5/09/08

Concern for needy people is gospel truth,
not partisan politics, CBF’s Vestal insists

By Marv Knox

Editor

WACO—God identifies with the poor and the powerless, and Christians encounter Christ when they serve the weakest of the world’s citizens, Daniel Vestal told participants in the Baylor University School of Social Work’s annual “family dinner.”

“Concern for the poor and the powerless is not partisan politics. It is central and integral to the gospel of Jesus Christ,” stressed Vestal, staff leader of the Atlanta-based Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

Daniel Vestal, executive coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, addresses a dinner gathering sponsored by the Baylor School of Social Work. (PHOTOS/Baylor)

Baptists haven’t always realized that truth, Vestal said, acknowledging he did not comprehend the connection between Christ and the poor when he was a young person growing up in a Texas Baptist church.

“The gospel used to be more about pie-in-the-sky than the here-and-now,” he recalled. His own “social conscience” awoke almost exactly 40 years ago, when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.

Vestal was a graduate student at Baylor in the spring of 1968. “I realized I bore responsibility for social and economic justice,” he remembered.

But many Baptists still have been “wandering around in the wilderness for 40 years,” while the gap widens between rich and poor Americans and between rich and poor nations, he said.

Social workers trained at Baylor are “wonderful examples of practitioners of the gospel,” as they serve the poor and powerless, Vestal said. Unfortunately, they do not represent a dominant position among Christians, he added, lamenting, “The wind of the Spirit (regarding compassion for the poor) is getting more of a hearing in the world than in the church.”

Still, throughout the Gospels, Jesus continually expressed love and concern for the poor. He even went so far as to tell his followers the criterion for their own divine judgment will be how well they cared for the poor and powerless, he said.

Since Pentecost—not long after Jesus’ ascension to heaven, when the Holy Spirit encompassed the young church—“Christ is no longer limited to time and place,” and the church’s task is to minister on behalf of Christ to the poor, for whom he cared so deeply, Vestal said.

Esther Reyes of Laredo, outstanding Bachelor of Social Work student, is congratulated by Gaynor Yancey, associate dean of the Baylor School of Social Work.

Christian social work is distinctive, because it is centered upon Christ, who is “hidden among the poor,” he said, adding Christ also is “served among the poor” when the needs of the weak and powerless are tended.

“If you want to see the face of Christ, go to the poor, the powerless, the suffering,” he advised. “As you take Christ to them, you will find he already is there.”

Baylor’s School of Social Work announced winners of its annual student awards at the dinner, held at First Baptist Church of Woodway April 24. They are:

• Christen Argueta of San Antonio, outstanding Master of Social Work student.

• Esther Reyes of Laredo, outstanding Bachelor of Social Work student.

• Flor Avellaneda of McGregor and Melissa Ishio of Tsukuba, Japan, “Spirit of Social Work” recipients.

• Sarah Bush of Carrollton; Amy Downs of Henderson, Ky.; Joyce Hull of Chicago; and Crystal Leatch of Houston, excellence in research.

• Irine Thomas of Lewisville, outstanding grant writer.

• Sally Neeley of Mineola, BSW intern of the year.

• Viviana Triana of Colombia, field intern of the year.

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

Posted: 5/09/08

Looking for guidelines for Christian
blogs? Start with the New Testament

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

The New Testament book of James compares the tongue to raging fire and a wild beast that cannot be tamed. And the author of that book never was “flamed” on a blog or in a chat room.

Words have power, whether spoken or written in cyberspace. And Christians don’t get a free pass to ignore the Golden Rule when they log on to their computers, according to ethicist Bill Tillman.

Bill Tillman	David Gushee

“Basic civility and communication etiquette should always be in place for a Christian, no matter the medium,” said Tillman, the T.B. Maston professor of Christian ethics at Hardin-Simmons University’s Logsdon Seminary.

“The same guidelines such as those from James regarding discipline with our tongue should be translated over to any form of getting words to others or for others. Unfortunately, too many in the Christian circles who blog have operated with the guidelines you can find anywhere else in society. Usually, when cultural guidelines are used on format, style and word choice, things move to a lower level of style.”

While self-expression has its place, some bloggers cross the line by focusing more on themselves than on the ideas they are trying to express, Tillman observed.

“I recognize a dynamic at work in some of them that the blogger is so intent on establishing herself or himself as a person of significance and all his or her ideas are so important that the communication comes off as nearly yelling,” he said. “There is quite a bit of emotional exhibitionism going across the Ethernet.”

Not everyone who claims to be speaking prophetically—or blogging prophetically—truly bears the mantle of prophet, Tillman noted.

See Related Articles: • Blogging Baptists • Looking for guidelines for Christian blogs? Start with the New Testament • Blogs become Baptist battleground

“Being prophetic is not clearing off a space and having a fit, whatever the subject matter or the medium in which it is communicated,” he said.

Like any tool, blogging can be used for good or bad purposes, said David Gushee, distinguished professor of Christian ethics at Mercer University’s McAfee School of Theology.

“Blogging at its best represents the democratization of the media. It reflects an entrepreneurial culture in which skill and interest can override official status, title or position. An effective blogger can have more influence than the evening news or a thousand official press releases,” Gushee said.

“Blogging at its worst represents public speech unbound by public standards. It can damage both the blogger and especially the blogged-about. It can also waste enormous amounts of time and can become habitual or even addictive. It is the latest but not the last form of an addictive new technology.”

Tillman echoed that theme of time-wasting, but he also noted blogs’ potential as ministry tools.

“There are actually ministry facets that can be addressed through blogging,” he said. But he urged caution—particularly for ministers who blog during office hours.

“Pastors and other ministers often have a great deal of time that is essentially handed to them by a church for the minister’s discretionary use,” he said.

“So much is left to the individual’s conscience to handle the time and how it’s used. With that said, I have to say that from some of the blogging I have read, probably some infringement is done on churches’ good will regarding their staff’s time.”

Blogs as a communications medium are neither good nor bad—but they have the capacity for both good and bad, Tillman added.

“There is a certain neutrality about the technology and the medium. But, just like fire, it’s how it’s used that qualifies its ethicality,” he said.

Some characteristics of blogs set them apart as distinctive, such as their potential reach and their capacity to allow anonymous expression in a public place. But those traits really just demonstrate the human capacity for good or evil, Gushee observed.

“Like all things human, blogging illustrates the exalted and debased nature of the human person and human community,” he said. “Moral responsibility involves curbing the damaging dimensions of blogging while elevating those dimensions that contribute to human wellbeing and the common good.”

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

Posted: 5/09/08

Blogging Baptists

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

For some people, blogs are like a family reunion where people barely know each other. There’s a lot of talking going on, but there’s little agreement on much of anything.

See Related Articles: • Blogging Baptists • Looking for guidelines for Christian blogs? Start with the New Testament • Blogs become Baptist battleground

But for many of the increasing number of Baptist bloggers, that’s the beauty of it.

A blog—short for “web log”—is a website or online journal where authors regularly publish commentaries on personal and public issues. Typically, blogs allow readers to comment on posts, creating the opportunity for readers to dialogue with each other and a post’s author.

The blogosphere is the world’s online dinner table, where people from all perspectives can share their thoughts and opinions on what is going on in their lives and the world around them.

Diane Schiano, researcher at the Palo Alto Research Center in Palo Alto, Calif., said people sit at the cybertable for as many reasons as there are blogs. Some are meant to update friends and family about what’s going on in someone’s life. Some use blogs as a kind of self-validation, seeing other people reading their blog as an indication that what they’re doing or saying is important. And younger people are clamoring to have their own place in cyberspace, she added.

“There are a lot of people who want to feel in constant contact,” Schiano said. “I call it hyper-connectivity. Wherever they go, whatever they’re doing, they want to be able to reach out to someone.”

Family, evangelism

Amanda Sturgill, a journalism professor at Baylor University, blogs on media and religious issues at aejrmig.blogspot.com. She believes Baptists, in particular, blog for two reasons—they are family-oriented, creating a desire to share their family lives with others, and as evangelicals, they believe they have something important to add to the global conversation.

Baptists may be supplying information and perspectives that Internet surfers are wanting, Sturgill noted. Research indicates 25 percent of web users have looked for religious information on the Internet.

“People from evangelical faiths have classically seen new media technologies as being a great witnessing tool—allowing believers to reach all the world in an expeditious manner. This has been true for everything from print to the World Wide Web. It’s no accident that Gutenberg’s first product was a Bible. But usually it doesn’t live up to hopes. There is Christian broadcasting, but mostly existing Christians watch and listen, for example,” Sturgill said.

“Blogs have the potential to be different because they can, at the same time, be both a megaphone and an intimate conversation. But to do this requires the blogger to actually interact with readers through comments and the like.”

Iron sharpening iron

Many Baptist bloggers point to participating in the online conversation as the primary reason they write. They talk about “iron sharpening iron,” noting that thinking through blog posts and responding to comments helps them improve their ministries. They also hope it helps others.

Marty Duren, a former contributor at www.sbcoutpost.com—a prominent blog pushing for change within the Southern Baptist Convention—now blogs on missional living at www.iemissional.com.

Duren believes he has learned some lessons in ministry and hopes to help others, multiplying his spiritual influence. And he wants to bring a biblical perspective to issues.

The blog also has given him the opportunity to meet people he otherwise wouldn’t have met. Recently, he had lunch with an Atlanta atheist he met through his blog.

Melissa Rogers, director of Wake Forest University’s Center for Religion and Public Affairs who blogs at melissarogers.typepad.com, said her blog was a natural outgrowth of her regular media tracking and discussions.

“I thought since I’m tracking these things anyway, they may be of use to others as well,” she said.

Access to younger generation

Aaron Weaver, a Baylor graduate student who blogs at www.thebigdaddyweave.com, uses his blog to stay informed of Baptist issues related to politics, but he also advocates what he calls Baptist distinctives. He believes blogging is a way to connect with younger generations.

“For the most part, the young Baptists that I know don’t read Baptist publications. They don’t read denominational newspapers. But they do read blogs; they like blogs. Many even have blogs of their own. They are exchanging ideas with each other, and they are willing to read blogs from other Baptists of all ages,” Weaver said. 

“Their blogging is definitely not limited to Baptist or even religious subjects, but some young Baptists are thinking and writing about topics of interest to other Baptists. It is my hope that more younger Baptists will discover the Baptist blogosphere and become more interested in our distinctives, history and the future of Baptists. 

“In our increasingly pluralistic, post-modern, post-denominational world, what is the future of Baptists?  That is a question which Baptists—young and old—should be dialoging about. The Baptist blogosphere is the perfect place in which to have that much-needed conversation.”

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

Posted: 5/09/08

Blogs become Baptist battleground

By Robert Marus

Associated Baptist Press

WASHINGTON (ABP)—One classic joke about Baptists is that wherever two or three are gathered, there are four opinions among them.

The same can be said of bloggers, and Baptists seem to have taken to blogs with particular gusto, on both the institutional and individual levels. But as a democratically governed and notoriously fractious bunch, blogging Baptists also seem to have put a new virtual twist on the time-honored tradition of contentious business meetings.

See Related Articles: • Blogging Baptists • Looking for guidelines for Christian blogs? Start with the New Testament • Blogs become Baptist battleground

For instance, the recent highly publicized spat over homosexuality, pastoral leadership and other issues at a Texas Baptist church made headlines in local and national media outlets after a handful of members wrote about it in their personal blogs.

Two years ago, reform-minded bloggers in the Southern Baptist Convention helped an outsider candidate get elected president of the denomination for the first time in more than a decade. But their critiques of the denomination’s entrenched power structure earned them the enmity of some of their fellow conservative SBC supporters, who have denounced bloggers like Wade Burleson and Benjamin Cole with the ugliest accusation possible in modern-day Southern Baptist life—calling them “liberals.”

Rancorous?

Are Baptists prone to virtual fighting, and, if so, why? Prominent bloggers said that the rancorousness associated with many Baptist blogs may simply be a reflection of the rancorousness of Baptist life in general. And such contentiousness, while aired more prominently when sent to millions of homes via the Internet, isn’t inherently evil.

“Historically, we Baptists have been dissenters,” said Aaron Weaver, a graduate student at Baylor University who operates the the Big Daddy Weave blog. “The blog is merely a new medium … Baptists use to dissent when dissent is necessary. In some ways, blogs are a form of congregationalism.”

But in an age where megachurch pastors have a strong hand in their congregations’ decision-making and where an entrenched and well-funded bureaucracy holds tight political control over the Southern Baptist Convention, such congregationalism is less common, according to bloggers.

“The blog medium has tapped into the growing sense that congregational polity is an increasingly rare commodity among Baptists,” said Cole, an associate pastor at an Oklahoma church.

Two years ago, Cole’s now-inactive Baptist Blogger site helped contribute to the election of Frank Page as SBC president. He currently is a regular contributor to the SBC Outpost blog.

Outlet for frustration

“The frustration that the disenfranchised and unempowered have sensed on account of the new Baptist magisterium has given rise to their advent in the blogosphere,” he said.

And heretofore powerless bloggers can produce results that dissenting groups couldn’t have expected in Baptist life just a few years ago, in the pre-blog era. That, he said, is because “bureaucracies on both the local-church and denominational levels are too big and too slow to coun-ter the speed with which dissident bloggers have articulated their ideas and ad-vanced their causes.”

Weaver agreed.

“The format of the blogosphere disallows coercion tactics that have been employed in the past by dictatorial church leaders,” he said. “The blog medium serves as a safe haven for those who feel that public dissent is their only option.”

Both Cole and Weaver agreed blogs can lend themselves to nastiness. But, they warned, don’t throw the baby out with the proverbial bath water.

The medium is neutral

“Blogs are not inherently bad,” Weaver said. “Negative and destructive blogs are a reflection of the blogger—not the blogosphere. I suppose anonymity can lead to people being dishonest. But if honesty is an issue, it is an issue of character and not the medium of blogging itself.”

Cole and other SBC bloggers have been criticized by their fellow conservatives for using blogs to reveal less-than-flattering information about prominent SBC leaders. But Baptist blogging’s critics are overlooking the whole of Baptist history, he said.

“Quite frankly, those who lament the ‘unhealthy’ and ‘un-Christian’ character of blogging must have been ridiculously blind or purposefully naïve for the last 400 years of Baptist bickering,” he said. “That some of the current SBC leadership weep and wail over blogging, and gather round like huddled martyrs, and yet they were the selfsame provocateurs of the fundamentalist juggernaut would be laughable if it wasn’t so pathetic.”

Cole concluded: “Would Christ blog about the malfeasance run amok in Baptist life? Probably not. Neither would he sit quietly and cover the backsides of the worst denominational offenders, as some of our convention trustees seem content to do.”

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

Posted: 5/09/08

Faith Digest

Panel cites 11 religious freedom offenders. A federal watchdog panel announced 11 countries should be named “countries of particular concern” for their records on religious freedom, including three not currently on the State Department’s list. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom urged the inclusion of Vietnam—removed from the State Department’s list in 2006—along with Pakistan and Turkmenistan. The other countries recommended for the designation of “countries of particular concern” are Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Uzbekistan, which have been on the State Department’s list since 2006. The commission also cited countries on its “Watch List” that require monitoring because of religious freedom violations permitted or implemented by the governments—Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Cuba, Egypt, Indonesia and Nigeria.

Have a Bible question? Ask a Pole. Americans are more likely than Europeans to own and read a Bible, but Poles are most likely to have a basic knowledge of Scripture, according to a Vatican report. The statistics are among preliminary findings of a study of Bible reading in the United States and eight European countries conducted by an Italian market research firm in preparation for an international synod of Catholic bishops. More than 90 percent of American households contain at least one copy of the Bible, the highest level among the countries studied, according to the study. Three out of four Americans had read at least one passage of Scripture over the previous year, compared to only one out of four Spaniards, who ranked last in that respect. Not surprisingly, exposure paid off in familiarity with the book. When asked seven basic questions about the Bible’s contents and authorship, 17 percent of Americans were able to answer all correctly, compared to an average of 15 percent in all the countries studied. But Poles took the prize for biblical knowledge, with 20 percent earning perfect scores on the test. The lowest rank went to the Russians, only 7 percent of whom were able to answer all the questions right.

Televangelist Copeland seeks IRS review. Kenneth Copeland Ministries, one of the ministries that has refused to cooperate fully with a financial investigation by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, has invited the Internal Revenue Service to conduct an inquiry of its own instead. Grassley’s office reported four of the six ministries he has been investigating are cooperating with requests to provide him with financial information. Creflo Dollar Ministries in College Park, Ga., has refused to submit financial records. Grassley, the panel’s top-ranking Republican, and committee Chairman Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., had asked ministries that weren’t cooperating fully to submit materials by March 31. Jill Gerber, a spokeswoman for the Senate Finance Committee, said both Copeland’s and Dollar’s ministries continue to decline to send the requested information. “As for the Copeland request for an audit from the IRS, Sen. Grassley has always said that the IRS enforces existing law, while Congress evaluates the adequacy of existing law,” she said. “The two functions are completely different.”

Hotel offers variety of spiritual texts. Overnight guests at one Nashville, Tenn., hotel who crave religious reading material may turn to something other than a Gideon Bible. The Hotel Preston recently started offering a “spiritual menu” to its guests, including the Quran, the Bhagavad Gita and additional versions of the Bible other than the Gideon-provided King James Version. Five boutique hotels in the Portland, Ore.-based Provenance chain have introduced the new offerings in the last few months, with the Nashville property starting them most recently. Researchers for the American Hotel & Lodging Association have found an increasing percentage of hotels provide religious materials in their rooms. In 1998, 79 percent of hotels surveyed said they carried such materials; that figured jumped to 95 percent in 2006.

Casting Crowns singer reaps Dove Awards. Casting Crowns lead singer Mark Hall and his group reaped a total of seven Dove Awards at the annual Gospel Music Association ceremony. Among his four individual awards, Hall was honored for co-writing the Song of the Year, “East to West.” Casting Crowns was honored three times, including as Group of the Year. TobyMac was named Artist of the Year, a title he claimed in 1996 as a member of dcTalk. His latest solo album, Portable Sounds, debuted at No. 10 on Billboard’s Top 200 albums chart. He was honored in two other categories for his work on that album.

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

Posted: 5/09/08

Willis, Hunt jump in crowded
field vying for SBC presidency

By Robert Marus

Associated Baptist Press

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (ABP)—A crowded field of hopefuls for the Southern Baptist Convention presidency appears to be developing, with two high-profile candidates set to join three already-announced nominees.

Retired SBC International Mission Board executive Avery Willis and Atlanta-area pastor Johnny Hunt reportedly will be nominated for the denomination’s top position. SBC messengers will elect a new president and conduct other business during the body’s annual meeting, scheduled for June 10-11 in Indianapolis.

Avery Willis	Johnny Hunt

Willis reportedly will be nominated by John Marshall, pastor of Second Baptist Church in Springfield, Mo. A notice on the website for The Pathway, the in-house news organ of the conservative-dominated Missouri Baptist Convention, said Marshall had announced May 6 his intention to nominate Willis.

Ted Traylor, pastor of Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola, Fla., confirmed via e-mail May 6 that he would nominate Hunt.

“For 12 years, many in the SBC have wanted to have Johnny lead and serve our convention as president,” Traylor said. “His passion is to reach the nations. I know of no other pastor who has had a positive influence on more young pastors than Dr. Hunt. Our future as a convention requires that we connect with those young church leaders.”

Willis retired in 2004 as IMB’s senior vice president for overseas operations. A former missionary to Indonesia, he is well known across the SBC as an expert on missiology and discipleship. He created the Master-Life discipleship series used by the SBC’s publishing agency, now known as LifeWay Christian Resources. He now lives in Bella Vista, Ark., but continues to work with several initiatives that bring evangelical missions organizations together for joint evangelism strategies.

Georgia pastor

Hunt, pastor of First Baptist Church of Woodstock, Ga., initially was expected to be a candidate during the last contested SBC presidential election, in 2006. But he dropped out a month before the convention.

Although he was the first choice of the SBC’s fundamentalist leadership in 2006, Hunt was likely to face opposition from one or more other factions in the convention—most notably a loose-knit group of younger conservatives protesting what they called the leadership’s narrow and exclusivist track record.

Instead, Hunt nominated Ronnie Floyd, pastor of First Baptist Church of Springdale, Ark., that year. But Floyd and another candidate with the support of some SBC power-brokers—Nashville, Tenn., pastor Jerry Sutton—both lost to an outsider candidate, South Carolina pastor Frank Page, who is completing his second one-year term next month. Presidents customarily are re-elected to a second term but cannot serve more than two consecutively.

Presidency key to control

The presidency has been the key to gaining and retaining control of the 16 million-member denomination and its agencies. The SBC’s inerrantist leaders have controlled the position for almost three decades, usually running unopposed.

Since 1979, all SBC presidents have been inerrantists. But only two were elected without the approval of the small cadre of insiders who directed the denomination’s rightward shift, which took place during the same period.

The 2008 SBC presidential election was thrown into disarray in February, after Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Al Mohler dropped out of the race for health reasons. He was expected to be the establishment candidate for the position.

Three other candidates for the spot already have been announced—Frank Cox, pastor of the Atlanta-area North Metro First Baptist Church; former Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary professor Bill Wagner; and Orange County, Calif., pastor and activist Wiley Drake.

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

Posted: 5/09/08

Texas Tidbits

BGCT serves breakfast during SBC, CBF annual meetings. The Baptist General Convention of Texas will sponsor come-and-go continental breakfasts for pastors during the annual meetings of the Southern Baptist Convention and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. The BGCT meal during the SBC meeting will be 7 to 9 a.m., June 10, in Room 208 of the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis. The BGCT breakfast during the CBF General Assembly is scheduled 7 to 9 a.m., June 20, in Ballroom B of the Memphis (Tenn.) Cook County Convention Center.

Galveston outreach changes lives. About 80 Texas Baptists met with more than 700 people during a Galveston Beach Reach weekend event. Volunteers prayed with 180 people, 35 made professions of faith in Christ and eight rededicated their lives to Christ, according to Gerald Davis, Baptist General Convention of Texas community development specialist who helped lead the beach outreach.

McBeth named Elder Statesman. Baptist historian Leon McBeth will receive the Texas Baptist Elder Statesman Award at a presentation June 1 at Independence Baptist Church in Independence. McBeth taught 43 years at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and has written extensively, including The Baptist Heritage and Texas Baptists: A Sesquicentennial History. Events begin at 10 a.m. with Sunday school, taught by Jesse Fletcher, president emeritus of Hardin-Simmons University. During the 11 a.m. worship service, Independence Association President Bill Pitts of Waco will present the Elder Statesman Award. Russell Dilday, former president of Southwestern Seminary and chancellor of the B.H. Carroll Theological Institute, will preach. A church picnic will follow, and guests are asked to bring a covered dish.

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

Posted: 5/09/08

University of Mary Hardin-Baylor junior Hallie Jacobson and freshman Lindsey Weaver help with a cleaning project at the Families in Crisis Center during a day of Reaching Out. (Photos by Lindsey Sisk/UMHB)

UMHB students reach out,
dig in to help families in crisis

By Laura Frase

University of Mary Hardin-Baylor

BELTON—Between looming storm clouds, plenty of mud and even several flat tires on wheelbarrows, nothing stopped University of Mary Hardin-Baylor students from reaching out to their community. More than 200 students participated in UMHB’s recent Reaching Out community service program.

“As Christians, we’re called to serve,” UMHB junior Hallie Jacobson said. “It’s really important to focus off yourself and on others—and it’s fun.”

“Even if you have 5,000 things going in a day, you can carve out time to help one person. It really helps others.”

University of Mary Hardin-Baylor students Zack Polk and Mia Casey move dirt for Families in Crisis as part of a Reaching Out project in the community.

Students scattered through-out the area—from Belton to Temple—constructing Habitat for Humanity homes, organizing food at a Ronald McDonald House and assisting at nursing homes.

One group of volunteers built a playground area for Families in Crisis—a ministry that primarily serves victims of domestic abuse.

“These families have left their abusers, and they are trying to rebuild their lives,” said Tara Stafford, a volunteer with United Way. “The kid’s area right now is tiny—a little closet area.”

But to clear the yard for the playground equipment, it meant a lot of digging, a lot of mud and a lot of team work.

“It’s a lot of hard labor—manual labor,” Stafford said.

Despite a flat tire on his wheelbarrow, UMHB sophomore Zack Polk trudged along with a grin on his face.

For a good cause

“It’s a good feeling,” he said about volunteering. “It really is. I’m not only doing stuff with friends, but it’s also for a good cause.”

While this was Polk’s first involvement in Reaching Out, UMHB freshman Lindsey Weaver is no novice. Even before she attended UMHB, she drove from Waco to volunteer with friends during Reaching Out.

“I really like giving back to the community,” Weaver said. “While at UMHB, you sometimes feel like you’re in a bubble, and this reminds you that there are people outside of it in need.”

Safe place to play

Weaver is thrilled she could do her part to give children a safe place to play.

“They can relax and just be kids,” she said. “And they probably haven’t been able to do that for awhile.”

Stafford was impressed with the students’ hard work.

“It’s hard to find volunteers to do something good just because it’s a good thing, but I think it shows students that there are people right around the corner that may be struggling,” Stafford 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: 5/09/08

Wayland grad records life’s
journey on walls of church

By Teresa Young

Wayland Baptist University

PLAINVIEW—When Wendi Vanlandingham received her degree from Wayland Baptist University at spring commencement, it marked the end of a 12-year journey filled with twists, turns and detours.

In a sort of lasting testament to that road, Vanlandingham recently completed a large mural in the children’s department at College Heights Baptist Church.

Wendi Vanlandingham stands in the hallway of the children’s department at College Heights Baptist Church, where she completed a mural. (Wayland Photo)

Estimating at least 500 hours of work involved in the project—she admits she really didn’t keep close count—the mural is not only a gift to the church and its children, but also a statement of her belief in the role of faith along life’s often-bumpy road.

At the beginning of her mural, which depicts a cartoon-like city, a road sign bears a Bible verse, Psalm 119:35 from the Message translation: “Guide me down the road of your commandments; I love traveling this freeway!”

Vanlandingham acknowledges her life has included on- and off-ramps, detours and traffic jams. Some of those moments and personal touches show up in the mural, while others are hidden in her heart. Still, she wouldn’t trade a minute of it.

Opportunities to grow, listen

“God touched me and changed our lives every time,” she said. “Each step in life is such an opportunity to grow and learn.”

A native of Childress, Vanlandingham attended McMurry University on scholarship, even though her high school sweetheart, Jeff, was heading to Wayland.

After only a semester and many visits to Plainview, she transferred to Wayland and continued her education, majoring in art. In November 1998, the pair married, and they continued their education until January 2000, when they were expecting their first child, Lani Belle.

“We didn’t think we could live on part-time salaries, make it through school and support a child,” she said. “We know now that God can do amazing things.”

Her husband took a job as a youth minister in Crowell, later serving churches in Vernon and Childress.

She served as the first director of Pregnancy Outreach Center of the Rolling Plains, a newly formed crisis pregnancy ministry. She also had two more daughters along the way—Joey and Lily.

In 2005, the Vanlandinghams decided to come back to Plainview. Jeff Vanlandingham wanted to continue his education at Wayland and cut out the regular commute he was making from Childress. He pursued a degree in education and graduated in August 2007.

While he went back to school, his wife worked full-time in Wayland’s financial aid office, where she still is employed, and took a few classes each term toward her own degree in art, only 30-plus hours from completion. She sees her art as ministry.

Use art to make a place "welcoming"

“Anybody else can teach or preach and I can’t do those things. But if I can use my art to make a place more welcoming for others, that’s what I can do,” she said.

The mural at College Heights bears testimony to both her talent and her calling, but it’s not the only place she’s left her mark. She painted a mural at Second Baptist Church in Vernon, as well as at the pregnancy center in Childress.

But she has vowed not to paint a mural in the family’s home in Plainview.

“Every time I painted a mural in our house for our girls, we’d end up moving two weeks later,” she said. And the Vanlandinghams are not ready to move yet.

“Wayland is home to us,” she said. “It’s our family.”

In a way, the mural project parallels Vanlandingham’s journey to the degree. She wasn’t always happy with her progress on the walls, adding the stairwell artwork and a puppet stage in the main gathering room. It was a long time coming, but wrapping it all up has been another rewarding stop on the road. And she admits, she’s pretty proud of the finished project and what it means to the children.

“We want the kids to know they are the future of this church, and God has something great for them they would never imagine,” she said. “If they just follow his guidance, it’ll be a great ride.”

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

Posted: 5/09/08

Waylanders plan to answer their Macedonian call

By Teresa Young

Wayland Baptist University

PLAINVIEW—In preparation for a two-week mission trip to Macedonia, a group of Wayland Baptist University students is collecting clothing and other items to be distributed in a village on their trip.

The group, headed by Rick Shaw, director of the Wayland Missions Center and assistant professor of religion, will leave May 29 for the area, traveling first to Macedonia, then to Kosovo, then taking in some sights in Greece.

Rick Shaw (on piano) leads the mission team heading to Macedonia in a worship song in the language in special classes preparing Wayland Baptist University students to worship and share testimonies in Macedonia. Melanie Vasquez, Taylor Phillips, Khyrstyne Eckerd, Micah Evans, Amber Hamilton and Kevin Burrow (front) rehearse a song.

Supplies will be delivered to Konjare e Mesme, an Albanian/Bosnian village in Macedonia. The group is collecting gently used children’s clothing and small toys as well as over-the-counter pain relief medications, such as Ibuprofen, in sealed packages.

Many of the locations to be visited on the trip are places Shaw and his wife, Martha, served as missionaries, and the group will be working with many of the pastors and churches he planted while on the field. He is excited to take the next step in the missions journey—taking his own charges to meet those converts.

“My dream is to offer students cross-cultural missions experiences, for our religion majors as well as any students who would like to do that,” he said.

The trip to Macedonia will do just that as students are exposed first-hand to Muslims in their own culture, Shaw said.

“They have very little experience with Muslims, and even a little fear and anxiety about them,” he said. “They’ll come back changed people, for sure.”

Melanie Vasquez, a religion major from Hobbs, N.M., with an interest in missions, has participated in other international missions experiences, but she said this trip will be different.

Reaching out to Muslims

“What interested me is the Muslim people,” she said. “I see the need for people to reach out to the Muslim people. A lot of Christians are afraid of them and don’t want to approach them, but God loves all people, and we need to reach them too.”

While overseas, junior Kevin Burrow will preach and lead a sports camp in a Macedonian village. Vasquez, sophomore Khrystyne Eckerd and junior Amber Hamilton will help teach English-as-a-Second-Language in Macedonia and Kosovo and give their testimonies at an all-Balkan women’s conference. Senior Micah Evans and sophomore Taylor Phillips will preach and help lead in several areas. The group also will speak, sing and perform drama in Macedonian churches.

“We’ve been meeting for two weeks for language lessons and Bible study in preparation for the trip, and they are doing very well,” Shaw said. “Some of them have had other languages and are picking it up very quickly.”

The training sessions will continue until the group leaves May 29. They are set to return June 14.

Making the Bible real

Besides hard work in Macedonia and Kosovo, Shaw noted he has planned some tourist attractions for the students, including visits to Thessalonica and Philippi in Greece, touring many of the sites covered in Paul’s missionary journeys in the Bible.

“These places really make the Bible real to people,” he said.

Shaw also will lead a group of students, along with two groups from area churches, to Kenya in July. Groups from First Baptist Church in Matador and First Baptist Church in Plainview will join the trip at different intervals, with the charge of building an eight-foot stone security fence around one of the churches in a ghetto neighborhood. The church has been vandalized repeatedly. The group from Matador, composed of several contractors, will begin the project, and the group from Plainview hopes to complete the fence. The groups and students also will work with another church that houses an orphanage for children whose parents have died from AIDS.

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

Posted: 5/09/08

Explore the Bible Series for May 18

Make major life adjustments

• Genesis 46:1-7, 28-30; 47:7-12

By Donald Raney

First Baptist Church, Petersburg

A wise person once said the only thing constant in life is change. Life often requires we alter our plans or routines. Issues related to our job, finances, health or family may force us to adjust our lives in order to accommodate new circumstances or resolve problems.

Yet while we all accept that change is a fact of life, few people welcome or enjoy change. Change means we have to move from what we know into what we do not know. Even when we can see how the change will be beneficial, we still may be apprehensive about the process.

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The biblical accounts of the lives of the patriarchs have much to teach about adjusting to whatever life may bring. They teach the need to maintain our faith in a loving God as we face times of change. They remind us that even as our situations change, our faith is in a God who maintains his plans and promises to us.

Facing an extended famine was certainly difficult for Jacob’s family. Yet learning that Joseph was still alive and in a position to help them must have come as unimaginably good news. However, that help could only come by leaving the land of promise and taking up residence near Joseph in Egypt.

As we read the story, we can identify the path we may all walk as we exercise our faith and make major life adjustments in following God.

Apprehension (Genesis 46:1-7)

After years of running from his brother Esau, Jacob finally had settled down in the land God promised to give to the descendents of Abraham. Now, he faced the prospect of leaving that land in order to escape a severe famine and be reunited with his son, Joseph. Because of the conditions which led to the move, Jacob did not know if he or his family would ever return.

During Jacob’s years on the run, God had proven to be faithful, but Jacob still was apprehensive. God knew Jacob’s fear and uncertainty. Thus when Jacob had come to the southern border of the Promised Land at Beersheba, God spoke to reassure Jacob that God’s promises still held.

Today, many believers have set off determined to follow God. They believe God has called them to a specific occupation in a certain place and have gotten comfortable and in that place when something unexpected happens, and they sense God is leading them out of their comfort zone and into a new area of service or location. For many, the initial response is to repeatedly seek confirmation since the change was not expected and does not fit with our understanding of God’s plans for our life.

God understands uncertainty and apprehension always will accompany change. Yet God calls on us to lay aside those fears and make the needed adjustments through faith in God’s character and promises.

Joy (Genesis 46:28-30)

There is perhaps no more emotion-filled reunion in the Bible than between Jacob and Joseph. For years, Jacob had thought his favored son had been killed by a wild animal. Now, he has learned Joseph is not only alive, but is serving in the palace of pharaoh in a position from which he can rescue his family from famine.

Yet because of Joseph’s position, this reunion was only possible as Jacob moved beyond his apprehension and left his familial lands to travel to Egypt. Famine had created a great threat and forced Jacob to lead his family through change. Yet as he did so, he not only found relief from the threat, but unexpected joy from a reunion.

As we exercise our faith in the face of life changes or adjustments into the unknown, we too will find that we will be blessed beyond our expectations. How often have we bypassed abundant joy in life by refusing to make some change to our course through life?

Fulfillment (Genesis 47:7-12)

Although not explicitly stated in the Bible, one of the reasons for Jacob’s initial apprehension about moving to Egypt was that he connected the fulfillment of all of God’s promises to Abraham to the land. This certainly was the case with later generations who saw the land as the symbol and guarantee of their place as God’s chosen people.

Jacob assumed Abraham’s descendents would grow into a great nation as they occupied the Promised Land. Thus, in Jacob’s mind, leaving the land in some way prevented or at least delayed the fulfillment of those promises.

Yet God wanted to teach this people at the earliest stage of their development that God’s promises were not bound by their perception or the way they thought they should be fulfilled. God’s covenant was with people and did not require a specific geographical location in order to be fulfilled. Indeed God could fulfill his promise to multiply Abraham’s descendents into a great multitude even in the land of Egypt (Exodus 1:7).

God has promised to bless and protect all those who seek his face. God has demonstrated throughout the pages of the Bible and through our own life experiences that no set of circumstances can prevent God from seeing his promises through to fulfillment. Our task is simply to lay aside all fear or uncertainty and through faith make adjustments to our lives knowing that what awaits is the certain joy-filled fulfillment of all God has promised.

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

Storylist for week of 5/12/08

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




• BGCT launches Texas Hope 2010 evangelism initiative



• Blogging Baptists


• New HPU lectureship weds evangelism to ethics

• Abilene church leads drive to sweeten ministry to troops in Iraq

• Concern for needy people is gospel truth, not partisan politics, CBF's Vestal insists

• BCFS garners highest praise from children

• Russell joins Standard staff as marketing director

• Student worship leader keeps collegiate ties

• Baptism rates follow cycles, Texas Baptist statistician says

• UMHB students reach out, dig in to help families in crisis

• Wayland grad records life's journey on walls of church

• Waylanders plan to answer their Macedonian call

• On the Move

• Around the State

• Texas Tidbits


Blogging Baptists: A whole lotta talkin' goin' on
• Blogging Baptists

• Looking for guidelines for Christian blogs? Start with the New Testament

• Blogs become Baptist battleground


• Willis, Hunt jump in crowded field vying for SBC presidency

• Baptist Briefs


• Methodists vote to retain policies on homosexuality

• Faith Digest


• Reviewed in this issue: Questions To All Your Answers: The Journey From Folk Religion to Examined Faith by Roger Olson,
• Why Jesus Makes Me Nervous: Ten Alarming Words of Faith by Joy Jordan-Lake and
• Connecting Women: A Relational Guide for Leaders in Womens Ministry by Linda Lesniewski.


• Classified Ads

• Cartoon

• Texas Baptist Forum

• Around the State

• On the Move


• EDITORIAL: Why can't we all disagree agreeably?

• DOWN HOME: Her world grows & also shrinks

• IN FOCUS: Hopeful conversations across Texas

• 2nd Opinion: The morning of many miracles

• RIGHT or WRONG: Prudence vs passion?

• Texas Baptist Forum



• BaptistWay Bible Series for May 11: When the going gets tough

• Bible Studies for Life Series for May 11: Communication is key in relationships

• Explore the Bible Series for May 11: Work toward reconciliation

• BaptistWay Bible Series for May 18: The only hope

• Bible Studies for Life Series for May 18: Be trustworthy

• Explore the Bible Series for May 18: Make major life adjustments


Previously posted:
• Expert offers tips to manage mix of religion and politics

• Ground-rules recommended for religion in public schools

• Future Focus Committee examines Cooperative Program giving trends

• Research findings to be presented at social work colloquium

• Kelsi Kelso in Nigeria with HandsOn Missions

• Baptist Immigration Services offers help to people ‘left hanging'

• Howard Payne students learn about Islam firsthand in North Africa

• Prayer must undergird compassion, missionary doctor insists

• Baylor nursing students meet life-and-death needs in Africa

• Cameron Byler, SBC pioneer in recreation, disaster relief, dies at 79

• Ethics and evangelism focus of inaugural lecture at Howard Payne

• Cancer survivor, age 4, throws out first pitch

• Baptist Children's Youth Ranch accepts 75 children removed from FLDS compound


• See articles from the previous 4/28/08 issue here.