2008 Archives
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Study finds limits to Willow Creek’s success model
Posted: 1/04/08
Study finds limits to
Willow Creek’s success modelBy Adelle M. Banks
Religion News Service
CHICAGO (RNS)—Willow Creek Community Church, the suburban Chicago megachurch that has become a model for some of the nation’s largest churches, started more than a quarter-century ago by asking the question: Why don’t people go to church?
Now, church leaders are looking for new ways to keep them there after new research revealed that worshippers’ spiritual growth did not keep pace with their involvement in church activities.
• Time to revamp discipleship methods?
• Raising the bar for membership
• Study finds limits to Willow Creek's success model01/04/2008 - By John Rutledge
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Raising the bar for membership
Posted: 1/04/08
Raising the bar for membership
By Ken Camp
Managing Editor
DALLAS—In a growing number of Baptist churches, new arrivals learn an important lesson early: Membership has its privileges, but it also has its responsibilities.
“We want to create a culture of discipleship here,” said John Wilson, minister of Christian education at Friendship-West Baptist Church, an African-American megachurch in southwest Dallas.
New requirements create culture of discipleship, some churches insist. 01/04/2008 - By John Rutledge
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Time to revamp discipleship methods?
Posted: 1/04/08
Time to revamp discipleship methods?
By John Hall
Texas Baptist Communications
More than two decades after he helped many Baptist churches breathe new life into discipleship training, Roy Edgemon believes it’s time take a new look at how churches make disciples.
In the early 1980s, the Southern Baptist Convention’s Sunday School Board asked Edgemon to revamp its approach to discipleship as attendance to Sunday night church training was on what seemed an irreversible decline.
Some experts say, ‘Absolutely, yes’• Time to revamp discipleship methods?
• Raising the bar for membership
• Study finds limits to Willow Creek's success model
01/04/2008 - By John Rutledge
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Faith Digest
Posted: 1/04/08
Faith Digest
Virginia Tech professor named ‘most inspiring.’ A Holocaust survivor who helped save students’ lives before dying during a shooting spree at Virginia Tech last April was named by Beliefnet.com as its most inspiring person of 2007. Liviu Librescu, 76, was one of 32 killed at the school in Blacksburg, Va., but is credited with preventing more deaths by barricading the door of his classroom and telling students to jump out of windows to avoid the gunman. Librescu is the eighth person to be so honored by Beliefnet. The previous year, residents of the Amish community of Nickel Mines, Pa., were recognized for their forgiving reaction to the murder of five schoolgirls.
Egg-producing monks crack under PETA pressure. A Trappist abbey in South Carolina has announced it will end its egg production business after accusations of animal cruelty by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. PETA accused the monks of mistreating chickens on their egg farm and sent an investigator, posing as a retreat participant at the abbey, who found evidence of “shocking cruelty” to the hens. Earlier, abbey officials said the monks had followed guidelines of the United Egg Producers to ensure the hens were treated well, and an audit found the abbey to be in compliance with the guidelines. Stan Gumula, abbot of Mepkin Abbey, said the monks will phase out egg production over the next 18 months and seek a new industry that will aid them in meeting their expenses. The monks follow a tradition of agricultural work as a basic component of monastic life.
01/04/2008 - By John Rutledge
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Mayors’ report says cities seeing more emergency food requests
Posted: 1/04/08
Mayors’ report says cities seeing
more emergency food requestsBy Adelle M. Banks
Religion News Service
WASHINGTON (RNS)—A majority of U.S. cities participating in a recent survey have seen an increase in the number of requests for emergency food assistance, the U.S. Conference of Mayors reports.
The Washington-based conference recently issued its annual Hunger and Homelessness Survey, saying 16 of the 19 cities that responded to questions about hunger saw increases in requests for emergency food aid in the last year. In addition, an average of 17 percent of people seeking food assistance are not receiving it.
Lawaune Stockton sits with her cup in front of a downtown fast-food restaurant in Washington and makes about $20 a day. The U.S. Conference of Mayors recently issued its annual Hunger and Homelessness Survey. (RNS photo/Ann-Marie VanTassell) 01/04/2008 - By John Rutledge
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Texas Baptist Forum
Posted: 1/04/08
Texas Baptist Forum
Remove applause cause
I asked one of my students who was in a college singing ensemble how the summer tour went. He told of singing at a megachurch in the Midwest. The group thought they were to be the special feature at the Sunday morning service, only to find out they were to be squeezed in between the free china giveaway and the parachute drop.
• Jump to online-only letters below Letters are welcomed. Send them to marvknox@baptiststandard.com; 250 words maximum.
“Americans have tested that wall (of separation between church and state) in every possible way. We’ve run trucks up against it, we’ve thrown firecrackers at it, and the wall has stood pretty strongly. And it requires, I think, constant vigilance.”
Jon Meacham
Newsweek editor (CBS News Sunday Morning)“We find ourselves capable of worry, but I heard recently a great saying that I want to pass on to you: Control those things of which you have control and let go of everything else.”
Roland Barlowe
Baptist minister affiliated with Marketplace Chaplains USA (RNS)“He who does not know how to say ‘no’ to himself does not know how to say ‘yes’ to his neighbors.”
Raniero Cantalamessa
Preacher to the papal household, speaking about how lust hurts both individuals and other people (Catholic News Service/ RNS)Do you feel your church is moving in that direction? The solution to this problem is simple. Here is a way to convert your church from an entertainment center to a worship center: Remove all elements in the Sunday morning service for which there is applause.
What remains are congregational singing, prayers, Scripture reading, responsive reading and sermon. I know it seems odd today to have only these things, but you will be amazed at what the Holy Spirit can do with them.
01/04/2008 - By John Rutledge
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2007 a quiet year, but signs of change in the air
Posted: 1/04/08
2007 a quiet year, but
signs of change in the airBy Kevin Eckstrom
Religion News Service
WASHINGTON (RNS)—History books are full of dates that mark seminal events: 1517, when Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the church door and launched the Protestant Reformation; or 1973, when the Supreme Court legalized abortion.
But boldface dates are preceded by less prominent but nonetheless decisive times: 1516, when a Dominican named Johann Tetzel led the sale of indulgences that deeply angered Luther; and 1970, when a young Texas woman named Norma McCorvey (Jane Roe) filed suit to obtain an abortion.
The Christian Coalition decided to sit out the 2008 presidential race. 01/04/2008 - By John Rutledge
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Texas Tidbits
Posted: 1/04/08
Texas Tidbits
Texas Acteens Panelists named. Two teenaged Texas Baptists—one from Garland and the other from Austin—have been named to the Texas Acteens Advisory Panel for the next year. Carrie Busha from Freeman Heights Baptist Church in Garland is a senior at Naaman Forest High School. Laura Herrera from Hyde Park Baptist Church in Austin is a senior at McCallum High School. Texas Acteens Panelists were selected on the basis of demonstrated commitment to ministry, missions awareness and servant leadership.
Carrie Busha Laura Herrera Wayland names mission center director. Veteran missionary Richard Shaw has been named director of the Wayland Baptist University Mission Center. Shaw will develop curriculum for the new center, as well as serve as an assistant professor of religion and dean of Wayland’s Kenya campus. Shaw’s goal in developing the curriculum is to incorporate all disciplines of study into a mission emphasis. Shaw served 12 years with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in Albania, Macedonia and Kosovo. He also worked with the United Nations, serving as a human rights advocate and working with women, children and people with HIV/AIDS. He and his wife, Martha, have two children living at home—Benjamin, 9, and Grace, 7. Their older daughter, Faith, is a student at Asbury Theological Seminary, and their son, James, recently graduated from Baylor University.
Clarification: Due to a pending vote in Congress, Rep. Chet Edwards was unable to attend the Baylor University commencement Dec. 15 to receive the Abner V. McCall Religious Liberty Award. Baylor will present the award to Edwards at a later date.
01/04/2008 - By John Rutledge
