Posted: 2/29/08

EDITORIAL:
Fresh beginning & the way forward

Humans naturally gravitate to beginnings. It’s no coincidence New Year’s Eve is the biggest party night of the year. Weddings and the birth of babies are the most significant events in almost every family’s history. Grand openings and the first games of a new season always draw huge crowds. In churches, building dedications inevitably mark milestone moments.

The Baptist General Convention of Texas is no exception. And so the election of a new executive director stands out for its singularity. The BGCT Executive Board selected Randel Everett for that role Feb. 26. The eyes of Texas Baptists now look toward March 31, when Everett begins his tenure and the convention enters a new era.

Newness always highlights possibility. Every team is a potential champion on Opening Day. Every child is a potential president, Oscar winner, star athlete, life-changing leader and life-giving healer on the day of its birth.

The BGCT executive director is no exception. As Everett prepares to take up the mantle of leadership, Texas Baptists look ahead with longing. We’re ready for hope. In the past decade, many BGCT churches left to affiliate with a competing convention. The fallout of 9/11 wreaked financial havoc. An overall decline in denominationalism sapped energy and enthusiasm. A church-starting scandal siphoned trust. Tight budgets and staff layoffs eroded confidence and optimism.

Just as those difficulties were not the fault of any lone individual or the result of any single circumstance, so too the way forward will not be blazed by any individual or assured by any specific accomplishment. Still, the advent of new leadership provides a historical moment to hope once again. As we contemplate a new administration, we give ourselves permission to dream anew, to aspire to what we want for our convention in the years ahead.

As we look to the horizon, we would do well to consider several important facts:

• “The BGCT” is bigger than the Executive Board. Much of our malaise has focused on the tightness of our budget, which is collected and administered by the board, and staff downsizing, which has taken place at the Baptist Building. But “the BGCT” is all of us—more than 1 million Baptists, 5,500 churches, more than 100 associations and 27 agencies and institutions. Despite our troubles, the BGCT is strong and vital, full of potential and promise, if we work together.

• Vision is the way forward. Everett has advocated a “common, clear vision” that embraces missions, Christian education and advocacy for people who have no other advocates. That’s a tremendous foundation upon which to build a vision. And it’s a tried-and-tested foundation, one laid out in our BGCT constitution. These are the purposes of our convention, the reason it was founded. They’re God-sized tasks our churches cannot accomplish acting alone. They’re bracing challenges that have propelled the BGCT through hard times before. And if we keep our eyes on the vision, they can pull us forward again.

• Priorities demand discipline. The BGCT does not possess all the financial resources it once owned. Everyone who has studied the budget carefully realizes we cannot afford to do everything we would like to do, much less all we previously have done. So, we must evaluate our priorities in light of our vision. We must rank those priorities carefully and clearly. Then we must determine to support the highest priorities at a level that will ensure success, and we must release lower priorities. If we continue to try to do everything, we aren’t likely to do anything well. We must make difficult choices, then follow them courageously.

• Discipline, compassion and courage produce confidence. We can restore confidence in the convention, but it must be earned by these qualities, demonstrated over time. We’re in it for the long haul. We must persevere.

Posted: 2/29/08

Church of England short on Bibles

By Al Webb

Religion News Service

LONDON (RNS)—The Church of England has discovered a shortage of a basic piece of equipment it really cannot afford to do without—an adequate supply of Bibles for its churches.

The church’s General Synod recently voted to ensure that everyone visiting a church should have “easy and unfettered access” to a Bible, after delegates complained many churches were failing to make them available.

No exact figures were available. But one briefing paper, presented to the synod by delegate Tim Cox, said some churches keep Bibles under lock and key, and that one had removed them on grounds that “they were too difficult to dust.”

While the Church of England was hiding away its Bibles, organizations including hotels, schools, hospitals and even prisons were providing the Scriptures to their clients, visitors and inmates, Cox said.

One organization, Gideon International, was credited with distributing nearly a million copies of the Bible across England in 2007, many of which went into schools.

In 1536, King Henry VIII, whose six marriages had landed him in trouble with religious authorities of the day, ordered that an English version of the Bible be placed in every church. The Bibles often had to be shackled to the pulpit to guard them against violators of the Eighth Commandment, “Thou shalt not steal.”

Although the 16th century Bibles had to be chained down, Archbishop of Malmesbury Alan Hawker told the Synod, at least it was there in a place where it was “critically important” that it was available for use.

Posted: 2/29/08

BGCT board allocates funds, approves
missions partnership, hears reports

By Marv Knox

Editor

The Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board handled a broad range of business during a day dominated by the election of a new executive director.

After the board chose Randel Everett to succeed Charles Wade as the convention’s staff leader Feb. 26, members turned their attention to an agenda that ranged from money to missions and institutions to internal audits.

Among their actions and reports, the Executive Board:

• Ratified allocation of more than $3.8 million to fund church starts this year. That amount includes $890,574 from the budget for church-starting staff funding and more than $1.3 million from the budget earmarked for church starts. Other funds include $1.2 million from the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions, $250,000 from interest earned off of new-church endowment funds and $200,000 from the J.K. Wadley Mission Fund.

• Voted to purchase a new “constituent relationship management system”—a sophisticated computer program that will track a wide array of information regarding the convention, its churches and the state. The BGCT’s current system, purchased a little more than two years ago, needs to be upgraded, but even then will not provide the convention the service it needs without additional expensive customization, said Lynn Eckeberger, head of research and development for the convention.

The Siebel CRM System is manufactured by Oracle, one of 12 vendors vetted for the project, Eckeberger said. It will cost about $1.7 million.

Some Executive Board members expressed reservations about spending that much money on a software system, especially since the board laid off about 30 staff late last year due to budget constraints.

Executive Board Chairman John Petty explained the current system must be upgraded. He also noted the money allocated for the project will come from funds designated for administrative support and could not have been used for personnel.

Harold Richardson, a certified public accountant and chairman of the board’s Audit Committee, predicted the software eventually will pay for itself in cost savings and productivity.

• Learned the theme for the BGCT annual meeting Nov. 10-11 in Fort Worth will be “Texas, Our Texas.”

BGCT President Joy Fenner announced the theme. Messengers to the annual meeting will explore three sub-themes. “Why Texas?” will focus on reaching the state with the gospel and also strengthening the convention’s base for conducting mission work. “Which Texas?” will examine the diversity of people and needs in the state, as well as the ministries required to serve them. And “Whose Texas?” will acknowledge Texas belongs to God, and if Baptists don’t spread the gospel throughout the state, God will use another group to do it.

• Authorized distribution of more than $13.2 million from wills and trusts to help underwrite convention budget expenses.

• Renewed a partnership between the BGCT and La Convencion Nacional Bautista de Mexico—the Mexico Baptist Convention—for three years beginning March 1.

• Learned the Texas portion of the Cooperative Program unified budget totaled $5,039,361 in January. That amount represents 94.75 percent of the goal.

BGCT Chief Financial Officer David Nabors announced the Executive Board would operate on 95 percent of budget to accommodate the in-state shortfall.

The worldwide portion of the Cooperative Program for January totaled $2,191,752, or 105.75 percent of its goal.

Total Cooperative Program receipts—both state and worldwide—were $7,231,113, or 103.13 percent of the goal.

The BGCT also received $6,615,765 in missions offerings, representing 98.6 percent of the monthly goal. Miscellaneous income totaled $786,273, for 93.35 percent of the goal.

Total January revenue was $14,633,151, or 100.49 percent of expectation.

• Heard that President Fenner and other convention officers have named co-chairs to lead a strategy committee authorized by messengers to last year’s BGCT annual meeting. They are Stephen Hatfield, pastor of First Baptist Church in Lewisville, and Andy Pittman, pastor of First Baptist Church in Lufkin. Other committee members will be announced when their participation is confirmed, Fenner said.

• Elected four members to fill vacancies on the Executive Board—Debbie Ferrier, a lay member of Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston; Jo Ann Gartman, a layperson from Calvary Baptist Church in McAllen; John Wheat, pastor of First Baptist Church in Kenedy; and Darrell Miles, a layperson from Field Street Baptist Church in Cleburne.

• Approved the selection of two individuals to fill vacancies on boards of BGCT-affiliated ministries. Susie Jaynes, a layperson from First Baptist Church in Waco, joins the San Marcos Baptist Academy board, and Toby Summers, a lay member of Trinity Baptist Church in San Antonio, becomes a member of the Baptist Health Foundation of San Antonio board.

• Elected Michael Evans, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Mansfield, to a vacancy on the Christian Life Commission.

• Learned a recommendation from the board’s Institutional Relations Committee to bring the salaries of Baptist Student Ministries staff within the convention’s compensation guidelines is being referred to the interim executive director and incoming executive director, as well as the Finance Subcommittee and Administration Support Committee.

Baptist Student Ministries staff were not included when other Executive Board staff positions were “graded” a few years ago, and many of those positions are compensated below levels afforded to comparable Executive Board positions.

• Received an update on leadership at three BGCT institutions.

Vic Schmidt, president of San Marcos Baptist Academy, will retire this year. Craig Turner, president of Hardin-Simmons University, has announced his resignation to become president of Catawba College in North Carolina. And Pat Graham, former president of Valley Baptist Missions/Education Center, is expected to stand trial for alleged embezzlement later this year.

• Heard that two motions made at the 2007 BGCT annual meeting had been referred to the new executive director for follow-up. They are proposals to study the effectiveness of the Executive Board’s outbound call center and to determine if the Executive Board needs a chief operating officer, a position that has been vacant since Ron Gunter resigned late last year.

• Re-named a college scholarship program for children of staff of the Executive Board, the Baptist Church Loan Corporation, Texas Baptist Men, Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas and WorldconneX in honor of recently retired Executive Director Wade.

• Received a report that the Executive Board’s new internal auditing process has been active and effective. Audit Committee Chairman Richardson provided updates on internal audits covering budget and planning, network security, events, credit card policies, database administration and church-starting.

• Learned the Executive Board would discontinue its outsourcing relationship with the HR Houston firm, which has managed the board’s human resources function for several years. Interim Executive Director Jan Daehnert predicted the move would save about $100,000 per year.

• Voted to pray for Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, which has experienced conflict since some homosexual members asked to be photographed as couples in the church directory.

The BGCT is on record affirming churches that minister to homosexuals but has described homosexual behavior as sinful. The convention has rejected financial contributions from a church that endorses homosexual behavior, essentially removing that church from affiliation with the convention.

During discussion of the Broadway statement, some board members expressed reservations about taking any action that might undermine the autonomy of a congregation. Chairman Petty, who proposed the statement, said the document notes the BGCT “reflects and respects the autonomy of the local church.”

Members also questioned why the board needed to make a statement, since the church had not taken specific action regarding its stand on homosexual behavior. Petty noted the situation has been covered broadly by the Dallas-Fort Worth media and suggested the convention should be proactive.

“The right approach for the Executive Board right now is to pray for this congregation as they work through their internal matters, that the Holy Spirit would lead them to a redemptive outcome,” the statement says, noting the board’s officers will monitor the situation and report back to the board.

osted: 2/29/08

Faith Digest

Amazing Grace takes top honors. Amazing Grace, the big-budget film that traced the life of abolitionist William Wilberforce, won Most Inspiring Movie of 2007 and Best Movie for Mature Audiences at the 16th annual Movieguide Faith and Values Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif. The film stars Ioan Gruffudd as Wilberforce, a member of Parliament who fought to end the slave trade in the 18th century British Empire. The historical drama was awarded the $50,000 Epiphany Prize, sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation, which provides $100,000 annually to films and television shows that reflect a “dramatic increase in either man’s love of God or man’s understanding of God,” according to the Epiphany Prizes’ website.

Jehovah’s Witnesses fastest-growing faith in America. Jehovah’s Witnesses are the fastest-growing church body in the United States and Canada, with more than 1 million members, according to new figures that track church membership. The 2008 Yearbook of Canadian and American Churches, produced by the National Council of Churches, recorded growth trends in 224 national church bodies with a combined membership of 147 million Americans, based on self-reported membership figures for 2006, the most recent year available. Although Jehovah’s Witnesses ranked 24th on the list of 25 largest churches, they reported the largest growth rate—2.25 percent—of all churches. The badly divided Episcopal Church, meanwhile, reported the largest drop, at 4.15 percent.

Writer sues Gibson over Passion profits. The screenwriter of The Passion of the Christ has slapped creator Mel Gibson with a $5 million lawsuit, claiming the actor/director grossly underpaid him for writing the 2004 blockbuster’s script. Ben Fitzgerald claimed Gibson and Gibson’s Icon Productions deceived him regarding the Passion budget. The lawsuit does not list how much Fitzgerald was paid for writing the screenplay. Instead, it claims Fitzgerald was told in 2001 by the film’s production team that it was a small $4 million to $7 million film and accordingly the amount available for a writer’s fee was relatively small. Fitzgerald claims he was left out of sharing in the film’s $611 million global box office receipts. A Gibson spokesman did not return a call for comment.

Turkey to allow headscarves. The Turkish Parliament passed two constitutional amendments granting Muslim women the right to wear Islamic headscarves in universities, despite protests from thousands of secular Turks. The first amendment grants equal treatment to everyone by state institutions, and the second amendment states, “No one can be deprived of (his or her) right to higher education.” Turkey, which is predominantly Muslim, was founded as a secular country by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who prohibited wearing religious attire in public. Secular Turks fear lifting the ban on hijabs, or Islamic head scarves, is the first step toward allowing religious symbols in all aspects of public life. The amendments still require the signature of President Abdullah Gul, an observant Muslim, to be made official.

Posted: 2/29/08

Americans fluid in their religious
affiliation, Pew study reveals

By Adelle M. Banks

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)—If you’re Buddhist in the United States, you’re most likely a white convert who lives in the American West. If you’re a Jehovah’s Witness, you’re likely to be a white Southerner, but almost half of your fellow believers are either African-American or Hispanic. And if you’re a Midwesterner, you’re living in the region that best reflects the religious diversity of America.

A new study of more than 35,000 adult Americans by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life captures the depth and breadth of religious America—78.4 percent Christian, 4.7 percent members of other faiths and 16.1 percent unaffiliated.

The U.S. Religious Landscape Survey estimates the religious makeup of the country’s 225 million adults in groups as large as evangelical Protestants (26.3 percent) and as small as Unitarians (0.3 percent).

The study also paints a picture of people who often move from one faith to another, as well as the religious landscape of various parts of the country. Pew researcher John Green called the Midwest a “microcosm of American religion” that closely matches the overall religious profile of the U.S. population’s largest religious groups:

• Evangelical Protestant: 26 percent

• Mainline Protestant: 22 percent

• Catholic: 24 percent

“In religious terms, the Midwest really … does reflect, of all the regions, the great diversity, at least in terms of affiliation,” said Green, a senior fellow at the Pew Forum and an expert on religion and politics at the University of Akron.

Stephen Prothero, who chairs the religion department at Boston University, said that description fits, given the predominantly Catholic Northeast, mostly Baptist South and a Western region known for Buddhists, Hindus and people with no religious affiliation. The Midwest may be known for Lutherans, he said, “but the Lutherans don’t dominate in the Midwest the way that the Catholics do in New England or the Southern Baptists do in the Southeast.”

Other key findings of the study include:

• More than a quarter of Americans—28 percent—have left the faith of their childhoods for another—or no faith at all. Including changes from one form of Protestantism to another, 44 percent of Americans have changed their affiliation or dropped their connection to a faith. Jehovah’s Witnesses and Buddhists are among the faiths with the lowest retention rates of childhood members.

• Of the 16.1 percent of Americans who are not affiliated with any faith, just 4 percent describe themselves as atheist or agnostic. The remaining 12 percent are almost equally divided between the “secular unaffiliated,” who say religion is not important in their lives and the “religious unaffiliated,” who say religion is at least somewhat important.

“Some of those people are between religions,” said Green. “Some of them are just hostile to organized religion. They’re fine with God.”

• Catholics are the religious group with the greatest loss of adherents, with former Catholics making up about 10 percent of the U.S. population. Hindus, on the other hand, are best at retaining their faith; eight in 10 Hindus who were born into the faith remain connected to it.

• The nation’s Protestants make up just 51 percent of the U.S. population, meaning that segment of Christianity is close to becoming a religious minority. Young people are helping fuel that trend: While 62 percent of Americans 70 and older are Protestant, only 43 percent of Americans ages 18-29 are.

Barry Kosmin, a sociologist of religion at Trinity College in Connecticut, said he first detected a drop in Protestant identification in the 1990s. “‘Christian’ has kind of replaced ‘Protestant’ as a term for most Americans,” he said. “If you ask most students ‘What is a Protestant?’ they don’t even know the term.”

• Muslims are the most racially diverse faith group, including 37 percent who are white, 24 percent who are black and 20 percent Asian.

• More than a third of married Americans—37 percent—are married to someone with a different religious affiliation, including a different Protestant faith. Hindus and Mormons are most likely to be married to someone of the same religion, while majorities of Buddhists and the “unaffiliated” have married someone of a different religion.

• Researchers found Jews outnumber Muslims, with Jews comprising 1.7 percent of the adult population and Muslims comprising 0.6 percent.

The Pew survey results are based on more than 35,000 telephone interviews, some of which were done in Spanish, between May and August 2007.

The margin of error for distinct religious groups varies widely depending on sample size.

For the 9,472 evangelical Protestants surveyed, it was plus or minus 1.5 percentage points, but for the 411 Buddhist respondents, it was plus or minus 6.5 percentage points.

Posted: 2/29/08

Grassley targets ministries’
alleged abuse of tax laws

By Robert Marus

Associated Baptist Press

WASHINGTON (ABP)—Sen. Chuck Grassley insists that he’s not trying to impose his Baptist theology on Pentecostal and Charismatic ministries; he simply wants them to obey the tax laws.

The Iowa Republican has drawn fire for using his position as ranking minority member of the Senate Finance Committee to investigate six ministries—most of them embracing so-called “prosperity gospel” theology—for their financial habits.

The ministries already drew scrutiny from former followers or media outlets for spending habits that some would consider indulgent or inappropriate. In an echo of the televangelist scandals of the late 1980s, the charges include using ministry funds to purchase private jets, multi-million dollar homes for ministers and a $23,000 marble-topped chest.

Grassley’s office sent letters to the ministries Nov. 6, asking them for information on their receipts, expenditures and holdings. He set a Dec. 6 deadline for response. While all of the ministries produced statements saying they complied with all tax laws, only the St. Louis-area Joyce Meyer Ministries provided the information Grassley sought.

At a Feb. 1 press conference following his appearance at a Baptist meeting in Atlanta, Grassley said his office planning to send a second round of letters to the ministries that were not cooperating, asking again for the information and threatening further action. However, the senator said at the time, “It would be awhile before I would think about a subpoena.”

But leaders of several of the targeted organizations have vowed to fight Grassley, with some even going so far as to say they’d go to jail rather than answer a congressional subpoena.

“You can go get a subpoena, and I won’t give it to you,” said Texas-based evangelist Kenneth Copeland at a January pastors’ conference. “It’s not yours; it’s God’s, and you’re not going to get it, and that’s something I’ll go to prison over. So, just get over it. … And if there’s a death penalty that applies, well, just go for it.”

Copeland and other targeted evangelists have said the investigation is violating their religious freedom. While most nonprofits organized under Section 501(c)(3) of the federal tax code have to file information about receipts and expenditures with the Internal Revenue Service, churches do not.

Religious organizations under investigation might claim a First Amendment violation based on a theory of excessive entanglement in church affairs or discrimination based on religion—if they could show they were being targeted on the basis of their religious beliefs, said Holly Hollman, general counsel with the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty.

“Of course, the stated purpose of the investigation is congressional oversight for the tax laws that govern nonprofit entities. The First Amendment certainly does not provide a blanket exemption from the tax laws that govern nonprofits, including many religious entities,” she added.

Grassley stressed he is not targeting churches, per se, but simply investigating whether they are complying with laws that apply to them.

“Here’s the bottom line: The tax laws that apply to nonprofits, there’s no difference between those tax laws as a nonprofit or ABC church as a nonprofit. The only difference between the Red Cross as a nonprofit and the church is that” churches don’t have to report in the same way to the IRS, he said.

Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, who is close to Copeland, also criticized the investigation. In a Feb. 10 appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press, the former Baptist pastor said it was “a little chilling” to him. “Is Congress going to start going after nonprofit organizations?” he asked. “And if so, are they going to do all nonprofits? Are they going to start looking at MoveOn.org?” MoveOn is a liberal group.

But Grassley has repeatedly investigated secular nonprofits, including the Nature Conservancy and the Red Cross. At the press conference, he said he had previously almost always gotten cooperation from nonprofits whose finances he’s investigated.

“Except for Jack Abramoff and his nonprofits—and he’s in prison now—every time I asked nonprofits for information, I got it,” he said, referring to the disgraced former GOP lobbyist.

A former religious adviser to President Bush has said Pentecostals and charismatics will view the investigation as an assault by more mainstream evangelicals like Grassley—potentially driving a wedge between Republicans and part of their conservative Christian base.

Doug Wead, in a Feb. 16 Des Moines Register story, said, “The Grassley probe, by the time it is full-blown and the media does its job of attacking these ministries, will have Pentecostals feeling demeaned and helpless and dirty and targeted.”

Wead, a former board member of one of the targeted ministries, also said the investigation will cause Pentecostals to feel that the media had been “used by a Baptist to settle a score.” In a blog entry, he accused Grassley and other mainstream evangelicals of elitism in pursuing the investigation.

Grassley, for his part, has repeatedly denied that he has a theological agenda in the investigation. “I’m not interested in what they’re preaching; they can call their gospel anything they want to,” he said in Atlanta. “This nonprofit investigation is … about obeying the tax laws and being a trustee of the money of the people that contribute.”

He’s received some backing from at least one prominent charismatic source. Lee Grady, editor of the flagship magazine for charismatic and Pentecostal Christians in the United States, used his February column to call on such ministries to be transparent.

“Perhaps the Lord is offended that our beloved gospel of prosperity has created a cult of selfishness,” he wrote in Charisma magazine. “If so, our best response is to open our account ledgers and welcome correction.”

Posted: 2/29/08

Online site tackles self-destructive behaviors

By Morgan Jerema

Religion News Service

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (RNS)—In spite of depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder that have nagged her since she was a teenager, 20-year-old Krissee is determined to keep the self-destructive manifestations of both conditions in check.

It hasn’t been easy, said Krissee, who asked that her last name not be used.

“To this day, I still want to do it,” she said.

“It” was pulling out her hair, a strand at a time, until she was almost bald.

“It” also involved self-injury. She used a razor blade or craft knife to slash her forearms and legs.

Growing up near Grand Rapids, Mich., Krissee re-members a happy childhood, but one that was tinged with feelings of low self-worth. As the feelings persisted and her anxiety grew, she pulled out her hair and eventually started to cut herself as a way to cope, she said.

“I had this amazing buildup of stress, and this was a way to release that—a physical way to cope,” she said. “I couldn’t always hide what I did, so I’ve got to believe I wanted somebody to know I wasn’t OK.”

Her parents tried to find her help, she said, and a “parade of every sort of counseling, therapy and medication you can think of” brought some good results. But it didn’t make her invincible.

“I needed a safe place to talk,” she said.

Then a friend told her about heartsupport.com, and Krissee volunteered to be one of the first to share her story with a new online community whose organizers want to be a source of hope and healing for people who are hurting.

She posted a video testimony of her experiences on the website, and today she serves as a live-chat moderator.

“The main thing is, you’ve got to talk about it,” Krissee said. “When I finally talked about it to the people I loved, that’s when the healing really started.”

Heartsupport.com is a new ministry for people with substance abuse or self-injury issues, eating disorders, depression or suicidal thoughts.

The ministry was started last October by friends Jon Bell, 24 (whose brother, Rob Bell, is pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Mich., and a popular Christian author); website designer Clint McManaman, 27; and Craig Gross, 32, an ordained minister and former youth pastor perhaps best known as the founder of anti-pornography ministry XXXchurch.com.

McManaman, a former drummer for the Christian rock band Sub Seven, said he had heard stories from fans while on the road touring about their personal struggles.

Eventually, the trio of friends decided they wanted to do more.

Heartsupport.com includes features such as live and e-mail support with licensed counselors, chats and message boards where posters can share their experiences, and the chance for people to upload their video stories.

The idea behind heartsupport, as described in Bell’s online bio, is simple: “Sometimes the most important words for a person to say are, ‘Me too.’”

An addiction to porn was how McManaman connected with Gross. For Bell, it was a struggle with drugs and clinical depression that led to his involvement with heartsupport.

“I realized I was depressed in seventh grade,” Bell recalled.

Instead of seeking help, he said, he numbed his pain with drugs.

“I didn’t feel like I could let my parents or siblings down, and I didn’t feel like church was a safe place to talk about what I was going through,” Bell said.

“I think that’s common, the feeling that people will think: ‘What do you mean, you’re not doing OK? You’re in church.’ I think a lot of people feel a need to have everything together.”

Admitting that he had a problem led to treatment and counseling and al-lowed those closest to him to pull him up and out of his misery.

Had someone recommended an online resource, he probably would have used it, Bell said.

“It’s a safer conversation to say, ‘Go to heartsupport’ than, ‘You should see a counselor,’ even though what they’re really saying is, ‘You should see a counselor.’”

Bell blogs on heartsupport’s depression page.

“We believe everybody’s story is important and that nobody should struggle alone,” he said. “People who are struggling put up walls. We’re trying to kick down as many walls as possible.”

In its first month, heartsupport.com had 10,000 hits. Visitors to the site typically range in age from 14 to 40.

The trio largely relies on word-of-mouth to promote the website. They also speak to church groups and at conferences, and starting this month, Bell will take part in a 37-city concert tour that will include a heartsupport booth, where concert-goers can film their own stories to be uploaded to the website.

“If they don’t have anyone around them they feel they can talk to, now they have somewhere to go on their own time, in privacy,” McManaman said. “Maybe this is the step they need in talking to someone face to face.”

Morgan Jarema writes for The Grand Rapids Press in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Posted: 2/29/08

IN BETWEEN:
Turning Texas Baptists toward hope

Something special happened in Texas Baptist life a few days ago. The Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board elected a new leader, Randel Everett, for our work together. It has been awhile since I have experienced such positive affirmation of a decision. And the following day, the BGCT staff gave a jubilant welcome to Randel and his wife, Sheila. These have been exciting days.

Randel’s theme for the work of Texas Baptists is summed up in one word—hope. Not just a general feeling of hope, but the kind of hope that comes only through life in Christ. This hope in Christ needs to permeate our individual lives and the work of our churches, associations and the BGCT.

Jeremiah quoted the Lord when God promised to bring Israel back from Babylon. He said, “For I know the plans I have for you. … Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).

Randel’s first day with the BGCT will be March 31. As the staff prepares for new leadership, as we prepare for the future, our role is to focus on the calling that God gives your church for reaching a lost Texas, training disciples and ministering in Jesus’ name.

We all know the oft-quoted phrase from Scripture, “Without a vision, the people perish.” Randel already has held up a goal to envision as we begin this work together. That goal is for everyone in Texas to hear the good news proclaimed in his or her language and in his or her cultural context by Resurrection Sunday 2010.

No one can argue with the importance, even the urgency, of such an effort. Will it be easy? No. But Texas Baptists are a vast family, and there probably are others who will join us in the task. It is a task that leaps out from the very pages of Scripture, and those have always been the tasks that Baptists, especially those in Texas, have loved to tackle.

Randel will lead the BGCT staff in helping our churches accomplish this goal and others that God may lay before us.

During this interim time while I am working with the staff, please let me know if we are not providing the type of help your church needs in pursuing its kingdom tasks. Let me know if we are dropping any balls.

My phone number is (214) 828-5301, and my e-mail address is jan.daehnert@bgct.org. Of course, I also would like to hear how our staff is helping your congregation move forward.

We may not be able to solve every problem immediately, but only by knowing about them will we be able to be the valued partner in ministry that our churches need and expect.

This is a great new day. I’m grateful to God for Randel and Sheila. God has prepared them through many years of ministry for this new time of ministry.

But more importantly, I’m grateful God has called the BGCT to help our churches.

Jan Daehnert is interim executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board.

Posted: 2/29/08

On the Move

• Mark Borum has resigned as minister of music and senior adults at First Church in Kingwood and is available for music supply, interims and special events at (281) 682-9556.

• Clarence Bryce to New United Church in Greenville as pastor.

• Tanner Butkay to Cowboy Fellowship of Atascosa County as minister of youth.

• Matt Cagle has resigned as minister of youth at First Church in Cleburne.

• Bobby Cates to First Church in Slidell as pastor.

• David Emerson to First Church in Cleburne as associate pastor and Southwest Metroplex Association as church planting adviser.

• Henry Goodson has resigned as minister of music at Memorial Church in Denton. He is available for supply at (817) 319-5104.

• David Kelly to First Church in DeLeon as pastor.

• Bill Magee to Wellborn Church in Wellborn as intentional interim pastor.

• David Mills to Crestmont Church in Burleson as interim pastor.

• Zachery Mosby to Levita Church in Gatesville as pastor.

• Russell Page to First Church in Kerrville as associate pastor from First Church in Charlotte, where he was pastor.

• Steven Parker to First Church in Weslaco as pastor from First Church in Cotulla.

• Derek Peters to Lane Prairie Church in Joshua as minister of youth/children.

• David Plunk to First Church in Paris as director of family activities.

• Kelly Reagan to North Church in Greenville as pastor.

• Milton Ross to Peoria Church in Peoria as pastor. He had been working with Evangelistic Crusade for Christ, based in Kansas City, Mo.

• Roy Slaughter to Sand Flat Church in Cleburne as minister of youth.

• Jay Smith has completed an interim pastorate at First Church in DeLeon.

• Scotty Smith to Cowboy Fellowship of Atascosa County as associate pastor, where he had been youth minister.

• Paul Tanner as pastor of Ovalo Church in Ovalo.

• David Towns to First Church in Blum as pastor.

• Fred Tyson to Iglesia Nueva Vida in Pearsall as pastor.

• Jim Watson to First Church in Charlotte as interim pastor.

Posted: 2/29/08

When a teen becomes pregnant,
what should a youth minister do?

By George Henson

Staff Writer

DALLAS—Every youth minister prays it won’t happen in his church. But for many, at one time or another, it does. A girl in the youth group announces: “I’m pregnant.”

The youth minister’s most important words at that point may be the ones left unspoken, counselors at Buckner Adoption and Maternity Services agreed.

“This is not a situation (youth ministers) can fix,” Erica Penick, a maternity and adoption counselor at the agency, said. “They can help them get through it, but they cannot fix it.

“A vital role for the youth minister is helping this girl talk to her friends in the youth group, and if she hasn’t told her parents, he can go with her in that very frightening circumstance. The important part is to walk alongside her when she can feel so alone.”

If the youth minister is male, it is important that he bring his wife or some other adult female into the conversation quickly, she added.

“Those young men need be bring a woman alongside who provides a woman’s perspective—someone who can understand the emotions, the fears and questions this young girl is feeling. Most girls grow up dreaming of having children and families and maybe even have picked out names years ago for their children. Now all that has become confused, and a woman can better understand those dreams and desires of being a wife and mother this girl has carried with her for so long,” Penick said.

Other young people—and perhaps the entire church—are watching to see how the youth minister will respond, she pointed out.

“They should model the behavior they want their youth group to respond with,” Penick said.

Young people in a church generally will treat the girl the way their youth minister does. If the youth minister is accepting, they will be also. If the youth minister turns away from her, the church’s teens most likely will follow that example.

Since the girl is at such a crucial time not only physically and emotionally, but also spiritually, this can be a determining factor in how this teenager and her family see the church for the rest of their lives, Penick said.

“You don’t want to damage a woman,” she said.

The youth minister needs to be aware of the large role he plays in this young woman’s life, Ashley Hinton, a Baylor University intern at Buckner, pointed out.

“The youth minister is not just modeling moral adult behavior, but as the girl’s spiritual adviser, he is to model the acceptance of God. If she doesn’t find acceptance and support from the youth minister, she may feel God doesn’t accept her,” Hinton said.

While some youth ministers may feel acceptance might be interpeted as approval of premarital sex, pregnant teens already are aware of their mistakes, and no one has to reinforce that for them, said Rachael Daugherty, community and family program coordinator for Buckner Maternity and Adoption Services.

While the youth minister should do more listening than talking, he should “help them choose life and promote sanctity of life issues,” Penick said.

Youth ministers are walking a tightrope during this situation. It’s important for them to remember the limits of their role as spiritual advisers, Daugherty suggested.

“If they get too involved and try to pair the girl up with a family in the congregation or community who wants a child, it not only raises legal liabilities, but it also blurs their roles,” she said.

“Also, when the youth minister focuses on fixing, it makes unconditional acceptance more difficult,” Hinton added.

If teen parents accept the advice of the youth minister but later regret the decision, it can poison the youth minister’s ability to minister in the future, Penick noted.

The counselors agreed young fathers-to-be should be encouraged to accept the responsibility they bear.

“They have participated in a very adult act, and they need to make very adult decisions about the present and future with the best interests of the child in mind,” Penick said.

Youth ministers “don’t have to give advice, but they can help them go through the thinking of various courses of action,” Hinton said.

“If I do this, this will be the result. On the other hand, if I do this, this will probably happen.”

The most important thing the youth minister has to offer is not wisdom, but an accepting presence in a frightening and traumatic situation, Penick said.

Every youth minister’s toolbox should contain a list of agencies that can help. While Buckner is known primarily as a place to go when an adoption is planned, Penick said the agency also helps those who decide to parent their child.

While an unplanned pregnancy can be the thing that short-circuits a girl’s spiritual life, it doesn’t have to be that way, Penick pointed out.

“This is an opportunity for the church to demonstrate the love and acceptance of Christ and draw them in,” she said.

Posted: 2/29/08

Children’s home opens cottages to
leadership program for intercultural youth

By Vicki Hewitt

South Texas Children’s Home

BEEVILLE—Donors’ dollars benefited multiple ministries, thanks to a partnership between South Texas Children’s Home and a Baptist General Convention of Texas leadership-training ministry for young people from varied ethnic and cultural backgrounds.

When Dorothy Bobbitt wrote out her check to South Texas Children’s Home last year, she thought of the children there and whispered a prayer. Helping provide food, shelter and a loving Christian environment for children who need it always brings her joy. What Bobbitt couldn’t know was the other Baptist ministries her dollars would support as God multiplied her investment.

Recently, the children’s home opened its cottage doors to a group of 125 students from the Leadership Training Institute, a BGCT ministry for older high school and college students in intercultural churches in Houston and Dallas. The institute offers Bible study, accountability, mentoring and mission trip opportunities for students involved.

The Mystery of God Weekend event was modeled after the popular Disciple Now program and was expanded to include younger children, adult staff and houseparents, as well.

Becky Moore, STCH director of student ministries, said the children and youth living at the children’s home couldn’t wait for the intercultural students from the institute to arrive.

“The students from LTI are very accepting of STCH kids,” Moore said. “They emulate Christ’s love and acceptance, and our kids need to experience that from others outside the world of STCH.”

Cathy Dundas of the BGCT agreed that STCH has been a wonderful partnership for the young people involved in the institute. The campus provides an opportunity for intercultural students to apply newly formed leadership skills in an environment outside their local churches.

Sarah Ven, an 18-year-old University of Texas student, came to STCH that weekend to serve as small group leader for 9th and 10th grade girls. Sarah is the first American-born child in her Cambodian family. She’s been a member of the institute since its inception in 2006. Although apprehensive at first, she quickly realized that God was doing something special in the lives of the girls she came to serve and in her own life as well.

“The weekend really opened up my emotions to how easy it is to love someone,” Sarah said. “The girls opened up so much during our small group time. They didn’t hold back and were really seeking. I learned to open up more myself and it was really amazing. No matter who we are, we are all brothers and sisters in Christ and fellowship is so important.

“The kids are so young, but it is amazing what STCH has done for them. They know that God is the One to look to for help.”

Matthew Pa, a 21-year-old college student of Cambodian descent, served as the 7th and

8th grade boys’ group leader. He expected the typical leadership experience where he would “start conversation, interact with kids, and just hang out with them.” Instead, Pa said, he learned that part of the mystery of God is how he uses people and situations to teach Christians more about who he is and how he wants to use them.

“A few days before and throughout the weekend at STCH I was in such a battle with myself, arguing whether I liked this place or not and not liking it because of the reasons the kids have to be here,” he said.

“But this world is corrupt and a place like STCH helps kids who need it. I wasn’t sure what the struggle was and there were times when I felt sad for no reason and was fighting to keep tears from falling. It didn’t make sense to me because I’d never experienced this feeling before. I remember it so clearly because it was the start of a change for me.”

During the Sunday evening worship service, Pa recalled being overcome with emotion. Weak-kneed and fighting back tears, he gathered with his cottage group for prayer.

“After the service, I wrote a small letter to this family and headed to their cottage… leaving words of encouragement with them,” he recalled. “I had never been able to have the courage to go up to someone the way I was doing that night. When I arrived at the house, the house dad came out. I said something like, ‘It is a great thing for you to be here and for these kids to have people like you guys.’

“My voice cracked and I couldn’t speak any more, so I handed him the letter. He said, ‘thank you’ and gave me a hug. I knew at that point, walking back to the chapel, that I had really grown as a person.”

“God really broke the hearts of the intercultural LTI students that weekend for the real difficulties the STCH kids have gone through in their lives,” Dundas shared. “Through that brokenness, God is raising up even more compassionate and competent leaders. I appreciate the opportunity to work with STCH and see the life changes in all the students that participated.”

Before the Mystery of God Weekend retreat ended, STCH youth and institute students tackled the ropes challenge course at Zephyr Baptist Camp on Lake Corpus Christi near Mathis.

There, the bond between the students from different worlds grew even stronger as they cheered each other on and found the courage to climb to new heights together—physically and spiritually.

Posted: 2/29/08

Texas Tidbits

BGCT mentoring partnership aims to help children of inmates. The Baptist General Convention of Texas is entering a partnership with Amachi Texas to change the lives of children of incarcerated family members through mentoring.

Nearly 400,000 Texas children have a parent in prison, on parole or on probation. Those young people have a 70 percent likelihood of going to prison, unless there is positive intervention. Through the partnership, the Baptist General Convention of Texas will recruit churches to provide volunteer mentors for young people. Amachi Texas—an initiative of the governor’s office, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Big Brothers and Big Sisters, Texas Workforce Commission and the OneStar Foundation—will train those volunteers how to mentor young people. Research indicates after 18 months with a mentor, young people were 46 percent less likely to begin using illegal drugs, 27 percent less likely to start using alcohol and 52 percent less likely to skip school.

Lubbock ministry joins Buckner. My Father’s House, Lubbock, became part of Buckner Children & Family Services Feb. 22. The ministry provides job training and mentoring in a residential setting for low-income women and their children. Buckner is assuming full operation of the ministry, and My Father’s House, Lubbock, will retain its name. Buckner already operates Buckner Children’s Home in Lubbock.

More than 1,000 attend regional evangelism events.

View a slideshow of photos from the Engage meetings here.

Engage XP events, the regional evangelism conferences sponsored by the Baptist General Convention of Texas in El Paso, Belton, Kingwood, Universal City and Midland, drew about 1,000 participants. Combined with the statewide Engage conference in Rockwall and the Hispanic Evangelism Conference in Houston, more than 3,100 people have attended BGCT evangelism events this year.

San Antonio health foundation awards scholarships. The Baptist Health System School of Health Professions in San Antonio received $162,900 from Baptist Health Foundation of San Antonio for 154 scholarships. These scholarships were awarded to spring semester students enrolled in the school’s nursing and allied health educational programs. Since Baptist Health Foundation of San Antonio opened in 2005, the School of Health Professions has received nearly $1.5 million in scholarship assistance.

Summit focuses on church-based childcare. The Center for Family and Community Ministries at Baylor University’s School of Social Work and Buckner Children & Family Services will sponsor a church-based childcare summit, “Who Cares for the Children?” May 12-13 in Dallas. Participants will focus on the question: What is the mission of the church in caring for children and their families in weekday childcare programs? The program will feature two leading researchers of the topic, Diana Garland, dean of Baylor’s School of Social Work, and Eileen Lindner, head of research for the National Council of Churches USA. For registration or more information, visit the website, www.baylor.edu/cfcm, or call the School of Social Work at (254) 710-6400.