Posted: 1/04/08

Study finds limits to
Willow Creek’s success model

By 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.

The findings, based on research at Willow Creek and similar churches, showed involvement in church activities did not carry with it a boost in spiritual growth, defined as “increasing love for God and others.”

Pastor Bill Hybels said it was “almost unbearable” to learn that almost a quarter of people at his megachurch were either “stalled” in their spiritual growth or dissatisfied with the church, with many considering leaving.

“It is causing me to ask new questions,” Hybels acknowledged in the foreword to Reveal, the 110-page book that detailed the research results. “It is causing me to see clearly that the church and its myriad of programs have taken on too much of the responsibility for people’s spiritual growth.”

The initial study looked at Willow Creek and six other churches across the country; it was expanded to include 23 additional congregations. In response to the research, Willow Creek is retooling its programs and providing pointers to churches that belong to the Willow Creek Association.

Executive Pastor Greg Hawkins said the research showed Willow Creek was doing well in terms of evangelism, serving the poor and encouraging Bible reading.

“But what we found was our people were hungry for even more,” Hawkins said. “They wanted to go deeper with the Bible. They wanted to go deeper with personal spiritual practices.”

Now Willow Creek is building an online “next-step tool” that will direct people to books, videos and other activities based on answers to questions about their spiritual path. Willow Creek’s midweek services for the first half of 2008 will focus on a chronological overview of the Bible.

In recent months, Willow Creek undertook a churchwide teaching series on the New Testament book of James. Commentaries were available for members who wanted to further study the text. Worshippers were encouraged to take a range of challenges—attending all of the related services, reading the biblical text on their own or joining small-group discussions.

Recently, Willow Creek Association completed additional research with 200 churches, 40 percent of them not specifically targeted at spiritual seekers. The network plans to spend $500,000 to use the research as the basis for a fee-based system that will funnel information to congregations.

Willow Creek’s findings didn’t surprise Diana Butler Bass, who has studied signs of vitality among smaller mainline Protestant churches. “I have interviewed dozens and dozens of people throughout the United States who used to belong to churches like Willow Creek but left them in order to become Presbyterians or Lutherans or Episcopalians,” she said.

Mainline churches and megachurches alike are rediscovering the importance of simple practices like prayer and Bible study, Bass said. “The littlest congregation in the world can do those kinds of things,” she said. “It’s through those pathways that those churches have actually found revitalization.”

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.

Candidates for membership understand when they respond to a public invitation at the end of a worship service, they will be required to attend two five-hour new-member orientation classes on consecutive Saturdays before they are accepted as members.

Once they complete the classes, where facilitators help them discover their spiritual gifts and match them to available ministries in the church, their graduation is noted in a “celebration service” at church. And at that point, the pastor announces the ministries in which the newly admitted members plan to serve.

About one-third of the people who walk the aisle during a public invitation at a Friendship-West Baptist Church worship service graduate from the orientation class, Wilson said.

Of those who complete the orientation class, most honor the commitment they make to service, he noted. And ministers on staff use a software program the church designed to keep in touch with people who have expressed a commitment to their specific areas of responsibility.

After graduating from the orientation class, many become involved in other discipleship training opportunities the church offers, such as teacher- certification classes required for anyone who leads a Bible study class, a church-sponsored Bible institute and a three-year program for ministers-in-training.

About 90 percent of the people who enroll in the teacher-certification classes complete the 35-hour training in biblical interpretation, theology and fundamentals of teaching. In the last eight years, the church has certified about 400 teachers.

“If you challenge your people to grow, most are going to respond to the challenge,” Wilson said. “We set the bar high because God’s word is high. If you set the bar of expectation too low, you do people a disservice.”

Similarly, Legacy Church in Plano invites anyone who wants to become a church member to attend a two-session “discover Legacy” class. In the class, prospective members learn about the church’s mission, beliefs and values.

First, facilitators help the inquirers—many previously unchurched—understand what it means to become a Christian.

Between the first and second sessions of the orientation class, prospective members are asked to write their Christian testimony and complete a spiritual gift inventory. At the end of the second session, after they learn more about how to apply their gifts within the context of Legacy Church, they have an opportunity to sign a covenant.

“When they sign the covenant, that’s when they become members,” Pastor Gene Wilkes explained.

Tying membership to a covenant pledge rather than a vote by the congregation and allowing people to make that commitment in a small-group orientation class rather than in a public invitation during a worship service proved difficult for some members at Legacy to accept at first, Wilkes acknowledged.

“Initially, some longtime Baptists said, ‘We don’t sign anything,’” he recalled. Pointing them to church covenants in the back of Baptist hymnals from the mid-20th century helped soften the blow somewhat.

The new-member orientation classes grew out of a genuine need at Legacy Church as the congregation reached unchurched people.

“When Baptists move from franchise to franchise, everybody gets it. But when we started reaching non-Southern Baptists and unchurched people, we realized we had to make it clear who we are and what we expect,” Wilkes said.

“We were growing so fast, and people were coming wanting to be members. We had an outreach program and had visited many of them, but others came whom we hadn’t met. I essentially had 30 seconds to decide whether to present them for membership.”

The orientation class allows inquirers to understand “what they’re getting into and what our expectations are,” he explained. “For us, it’s a matter of truth in advertising.”

After learning the demands of membership, some inquirers have opted to remain involved in worship services and in the church’s small-group Bible studies but not take the next step of commitment, Wilkes noted. Unless they agree to the terms of the covenant, they are not eligible to vote in church business conferences or become part of the church’s servant leadership network.

Numerical growth has slowed somewhat at Legacy Church since the congregation adopted the covenant approach to assimilating new members, Wilkes acknowledged, but the commitment level has increased.

“It has raised the value of membership,” he said.

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.

Under his leadership, the organization that became LifeWay introduced interactive writing—an approach that engaged readers with discussion-oriented questions—and discovered hallmark writers such as Beth Moore and Henry Blackaby. In 2001, discipleship enrollment was at an all-time high, he noted.

But several years later, Edgemon believes it’s time for Baptists to take a fresh look at their approach to discipleship. If they don’t, churches are in danger of continuing to reach people but not turning them into devoted followers of Christ.

“They’re trying to be evangelistic and trying to be very missions-oriented,” said Edgemon, a member of First Baptist Church in Sulphur Springs. “I don’t think the people are getting the foundations of their faith. I don’t think they’re getting any depth.”

Edgemon’s concerns mirror those of the leaders of Willow Creek Community Church outside Chicago, which has served as a model for churches nationwide in how to evangelize people through small groups. Despite reaching thousands, leaders acknowledged a recent study showed the church is doing a poor job of turning converts into growing followers of Christ.

The study found nearly 25 percent of the people at Willow Creek were stalled in their spiritual growth and dissatisfied with church. The conventional approach to discipleship that connected increased church activity to spiritual growth was flawed. While activity can lead to growth, the survey found at a certain point, people who were growing extremely deep in their faith actually were becoming less connected to Willow Creek.

“What you hold in your hands has revolutionized the way I look at the role of the local church,” Willow Creek Pastor Bill Hybels wrote in the forward of a book based on the study. “It is causing me to ask new questions. It is causing me to rethink how we coach Christ-followers. It is causing me to see clearly that the church and its myriad of programs have taken on too much of the responsibility for people’s spiritual growth.”

Willow Creek’s survey reveals what some Baptists have believed for years. Max Barnett, who led the Baptist Student Ministries at the University of Oklahoma for more than 37 years and now directs collegiate ministry for the Colorado Baptist General Convention, reminds people that the Great Commission does not emphasize sharing the gospel with large numbers of people. Rather, it stresses making disciples around the globe.

Many churches incorrectly rely on small-group Bible studies to develop people spiritually, Barnett said. Discipleship takes place in regular one-on-one meetings between two people who agree to keep each other accountable during an extended period. In a meeting between two friends, each person feels comfortable to share about themselves and be frank with the other person.

“This is where as Southern Baptists, I think we’ve lost it—the person-to-person,” he said. “I think most people are not going to grow to maturity without someone meeting with them.”

Baptist General Convention of Texas Evangelism Director Jon Randles agreed with Barnett. Spiritually mature Christians may be able to disciple three or four people a year in individual meetings. In these private gatherings, people can be held accountable for their Scripture memorization, prayer life, Bible study habits and sharing the gospel.

“Baptists have always been skeptical of exclusivism, and discipleship is a bit exclusive,” he said.

At CrossBridge Community Church in San Antonio, discipleship is at the heart of everything the congregation does because members view growing in faith as fundamental to all other expressions of belief, explained Pastor Kirk Freeman.

“When we say discipleship, we don’t limit the phrase to mean just Bible study,” he said. “We don’t separate missions from discipleship, because only a disciple can go to the ends of the earth to witness for Jesus.”

Edgemon believes Freeman’s church understands the critical nature of discipleship. Baptists’ weakness in discipleship has weakened the denomination, including the wane in evangelistic zeal. Proper discipleship encourages people to pray for people they know who lack a relationship with Christ and to share the gospel with them.

Edgemon believes part of the solution lies in identifying and publishing a new wave of authors who can capture the attention of Baptists and encourage them to grow in their faith.

At CrossBridge, the solution is not about curriculum. CrossBridge does not feature many programs commonplace in most Baptist churches, but the church encourages members to be involved in the lives of their friends, family and people with whom they come in contact. Rather than classroom Bible study, the church has “Life Groups”—small gatherings where people can study the Bible, discuss their spiritual development and talk about how biblical principles intersect their lives.

The church also delves deep into the Bible during Sunday morning sermons. It recently spent 38 weeks in the brief New Testament book of Ephesians. A group of laypeople wrote corresponding week-long studies about Ephesians for each of the sermons. As much as a quarter of the congregation ministered in a foreign country last year. Many of the members ministered locally in one form or another.

“The difficulty with discipleship is it’s not a smooth step-by-step process. If there’s any formula for discipleship, it’s life-on-life,” Freeman said, as Christians invest their lives in ministering to each other. And ultimately, the responsibility for spiritual growth rests on the individual. One Sunday a year, each person at CrossBridge receives a spoon in worship, because as Freeman says, CrossBridge isn’t going to “spoon-feed” people. They are going to have to feed themselves.

Whether they follow a programmatic or organic approach, churches must help members grow in their faith, experts agree. Christians need to internalize their beliefs and let those beliefs affect actions.

“Once someone becomes a disciple, they never turn back. It becomes part of who they are,” Randles said.

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.

Lutherans hope carbon credits offset frequent flying. While they can’t cut back on church business, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America leaders hope that buying carbon credits will make up for the heavy environmental cost of their transportation. The Washington, D.C., office of the ELCA decided to start purchasing carbon offsets a few months ago, after implementing more routine changes like printing double-sided, turning off lights and recycling. Using an online carbon calculator, the office tallied up its yearly air miles and decided to invest in methane energy harvesting through NativeEnergy, a renewable energy company based in Charlotte, Vt. NativeEnergy tabulated the carbon output for a roundtrip flight between New York City and Los Angeles at 1.97 tons, which would necessitate a $24 investment in renewable energy under their plan.

Blair moves spiritual allegiance from Canterbury to Rome. After months of speculation, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair converted to Roman Catholicism in a low-key ceremony at an archbishop’s chapel in London just before Christmas. During his 10 years as prime minister, Blair steadfastly sidestepped attempts to pin him down on questions of faith. But his resignation from power last summer appeared to open the way to the formal step into the Catholic Church. His wife, Cherie, is Catholic. Blair was baptized as an Anglican but has shown keen interest in Catholicism in recent years. He made no move toward joining the Catholic Church during his years in power, possibly because of political sensitivities in a nation that has never had a Catholic prime minister.

Posted: 1/04/08

Habitual Sin: Pastor's experience
shows Christians can find freedom

By George Henson

Staff Writer

JAYTON—For years, David Erik Jones worked hard to keep his sin hidden. But now it seems everyone knows—probably all 513 people living in Jayton. They know because he told them, and he wrote about it in his book—My Struggle, Your Struggle: Breaking Free from Habitual Sin.

“I can’t believe I’m actually talking about something that I worked so hard for so many years to keep hidden,” Jones said. But he hopes his confession will help other Christians confront their sin and discover hope in his story of deliverance from a longtime addiction to pornography.

Jones believes his addiction started at age 9 when he looked at a Playboy magazine at a neighbor’s home. It remained a struggle for Jones until about seven years ago, when God enabled him to control the power lust had on his life.

He succeeded in keeping his problem a secret from just about everyone except his wife and daughters until about three years ago, when he revealed it to his congregation at First Baptist Church in Jayton.

“About six months after coming here as pastor, I shared with the church that I struggled with pornography, but not with any detail at all,” he said. “Still, it was probably the most difficult sermon I’ve ever preached.”

In the days following that sermon, three men came to him to say they struggled in similar areas, and an informal support group sprung up.

Unlike that initial sermon, Jones’ book goes into some detail—not graphic, and in no sense glorifying his sin-laden past, but direct and to the point.

“This brought up some painful memories for me—some things I had probably tried really hard to suppress. I’ve cried a lot, and it’s probably been harder on my wife than on me,” he confessed.

He credits his wife of 18 years, Vallarie, with providing the support that enabled him to continue the fight to overcome his sin rather than just give in.

“I hope it comes through in everything I say and everything I wrote how much I love and appreciate her,” Jones said. “I couldn’t have done it without her, and I know I can’t begin to understand the depth of her pain.”

His daughters, ages 17 and 13, also have been supportive throughout the process as Jones has become increasingly open about his problem with pornography.

“My daughters knew of my struggle but not the depth of how it affected my life. I can’t think of one time when they have let me see that they were ashamed of me,” Jones said, as tears rolled down his face. “I can’t help but get emotional about that. If I thought they were ashamed of me, it would kill me.”

Most of his congregation likewise have encouraged and affirmed him.

“The majority were supportive and understand why I’m sharing my story—to reach out and help others. A lady told me yesterday, ‘This makes you more human,’” Jones said.

“The way I’ve tried to think about this is, if someone stands up and says, ‘I have an alcohol problem,’ we all surround them with love and support. But if someone admits some sort of sexual sin, then too often they are shunned. And that can be particularly true in the church.”

Jones hopes his book and the Scripture that helped him find his way will benefit people who struggle with any type of habitual sin.

“The book focuses on my struggle with pornography, but I hope it is helpful to those who struggle with alcohol, drugs, envy, pride—all those things that can be handled in the same way—turning our struggle over to God,” Jones said.

For many years, Jones wanted to quit, but nothing really changed until he stopped trying merely to extract the sin from his life, he said. He finally discovered he needed to fill that void in his life with the things of God.

“That’s been the greatest discovery,” Jones said. “For the longest time, I said: ‘This is wrong. It’s hurting your family. It’s hurting your life. It’s wrong. Stop it, stop it, stop it.’ I’d quit for a while and go right back to it a few days, weeks or months later. I finally began to earnestly seek God’s plan for dealing with sin and putting that into action. I didn’t realize it at the time, but God and his word were taking up the hole in my life where lust had been.”

While the first half of the book deals with Jones’ struggle with pornography, the second half is prescription taken from the Bible on how to deal with habitual sin—regardless of its nature. More than anything, Jones said, he wants people who struggle with sin to know there is hope.

“I know that there are people who are in this struggle or one like it, and I hope this brings hope to those who think their sin is forever and that they will never be able to break free.”

For years, he lived a life without hope, he said.

“Lust was an old friend to me,” Jones said. “It was who I was. I still have a propensity toward lust, but I know with Christ’s help, I can live a life of purity. I don’t have to walk around with this darkness surrounding me. I can walk in the light.”

Awareness of people who think they have no hope—especially Christians whose spiritual walk is hampered by sin—prompted Jones to step out instead of keeping his struggle and victory over it private.

“There are many, many young people—and even older adults—who struggle with these things, and someone needs to step up for them and give them the support and hope they so desperately need,” Jones said. “I can’t just stand back and say, ‘I hope someone else does that,’ and stay hidden.

“I’m passionate; this is how God made me. I can empathize with people locked in sin, whether it’s pornography, alcohol or some other sin. I know what it is like to be controlled by sin.”

Jones hopes he will be asked to speak to youth and college groups, as well as men’s groups, to offer the hope he has found.

“What in the past I hid in shame can now bring glory to God. What I did in darkness can now point people to the light,” he said.

Posted: 1/04/08

Prayer heals honest Brit’s legs but cannot
cure bureaucracy with no ‘miracle’ button

By Al Webb

Religion News Service

LONDON (RNS)—A British pastor’s wife who claims the power of prayer cured her injuries was told her incapacity benefits could not be stopped because the government’s computers didn’t have a “miracle” button.

As a result, June Clarke of Plymouth, England, received more than $7,000 she didn’t even want—and she could not get the government to take it back.

The 56-year-old woman spent six years in a wheelchair after she was injured in a fall on a slippery floor while at work. Her hip, pelvis and spine were badly damaged, and she had to give up her job when her condition worsened.

But Clarke says she was healed one year ago after her husband, Stuart Clarke, pastor at Hooe Baptist Church in Plymouth, prayed every day for her to be made well.

When she realized four months later that the cure appeared permanent, she asked the government to stop the incapacity payments, saying, “I felt uncomfortable taking benefits when I didn’t need them.”

But when she contacted the benefits office, she said, she was told its computers weren’t programmed to recognize an apparently miraculous recovery and that “we haven’t got a button to push that says ‘miracle.’”

Eventually, Mrs. Clarke managed to get the monthly $1,200-plus benefits checks stopped, but the government still won’t allow her to return the $7,000-plus she already had received.

“It wasn’t ours to spend,” her husband insisted. “It can’t be that often that a government gets a complaint about unwanted cash.”

Mrs. Clarke reports she finally worked out an agreement with the benefits office under which she can work as a care provider to get the money back into government coffers.

Posted: 1/04/08

Mayors’ report says cities seeing
more emergency food requests

By 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.

The report by the conference analyzed homelessness and hunger in 23 of America’s major cities, including Boston, Los Angeles and Miami.

Nineteen of those cities said they expect requests for food assistance to increase in 2008.

“Although 87 percent of our nation’s wealth is generated in our nation’s cities, hunger and homelessness persist in most of our country’s cities and urban centers,” said Conference President Douglas Palmer, mayor of Trenton, N.J.

The survey found the lack of affordable housing was the most common cause of homelessness for households with children. Other causes included poverty and domestic violence. For single individuals, mental illness and substance abuse were among the most common causes.

Twelve of the cities in the survey—or 52 percent—reported homeless people seeking shelter are turned away some or all of the time. But that number is a marked decrease from 2006, when 77 percent reported homeless people were turned away from emergency shelters.

For more than two decades, the conference has documented the extent of homelessness and hunger. The 23 participating cities in the 2007 survey are members of the conference’s task force addressing those issues.

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.

What about baptisms? I know that in some churches baptisms have come to be viewed as highly entertaining, as though a half-gainer or double backflip had been performed. The answer is to have private baptisms, as were most of those recorded in the New Testament. The few references to large numbers being baptized were not at Christian worship services, nor was any applause recorded. Baptism should be a reverent, meaningful experience, as are prayers and the hearing of God’s word.

The problem is not applause per se, but having things for which people will want to applaud.

Richard Berry

Longview

Welcome return

The Baptist General Convention of Texas evangelism conference is returning, Jan. 13-15. Welcome—not to the good old days but to these present days. I remember days when we would have 15,000 to 20,000 attend the evangelism conference. It was a time of fellowship and renewal. And it kept the focus on why we are here, who we are and Whose we are. Those days are past, but the gospel is fresh and alive! And always will be.

In our midst are churches that no longer have the name Baptist. We are better known for our feuding than our faith. It is time for us to be known for our faith, our willingness to understand the people of today, and to share the gospel of Jesus Christ in the culture of today.

BGCT Evangelism Director Jon Randles knows how to communicate with the culture of today. Pray for him and the conference.

The greatest convenant we could have is in uniting to share the gospel to the state of Texas.

Henry Adrion

Hilltop Lakes

Science & Scripture

While seeking an integrated understanding of spiritual and physical lives—merging cultural understandings of science and Christian views of Scripture—is admirable, the explanation espoused in “God and science” (Dec. 17) exemplifies the ill-conceived methods “space-age” readers attempt in order to apply sacred texts that originated in nonscientific cultures.

To suggest a “scientific” explanation for a miraculous account such as that found in Joshua 10 is an injustice. The text does not need the vainglorious affirmation of modern science to confirm the spiritual truth of God’s redemptive actions among his people. To do so forces biblical readers to reject the very science that has built our modern lives in favor of a fundamentalist and literal reading of the Bible that was never the intent of the authors nor the understanding of our Jewish or Christian ancestors.

If the “Earth stopped turning for about a full day” as the letter suggested, it is not an example of God’s miraculous power nor a witnessing opportunity, but a confirmation that the laws of physics are invalid: A car’s internal combustion engine is a fraud, antibiotics are bogus, and gravity does not hold us to the face of this spinning planet. Other, perfectly acceptable “Christian”—even “Baptist”—interpretations exist. Most are truer to Scripture than the barest reading of the details.

Well-meaning Christians might best stick to the message of God’s saving grace in Christ and not misuse concepts beyond our competency by parading our scientific and philosophical weaknesses to a world seeking a deeper spiritual experience.

David Maltsberger

Boerne

Priesthood of believers

Mother said a child reached the years of accountability at age 12. Her children would be saved and baptized at age 12. I didn’t understand that concept of salvation. How could baptism alone save me?

During Vacation Bible School at First Baptist Church in Anthony, N.M., Brother Brock, our pastor, walked into our junior department, introducing us to Jesus. He knew this Jesus I had heard about all my life on a very personal basis. That is when I probably began talking to Jesus more personally, also.

A few years later, in January of 1953, a two-week revival was held at the church. My two brothers and I were saved during that revival. I was only 11, but Mother let me be baptized anyway. Accepting Jesus for my salvation, Lord of my life and following him in baptism finally made sense to my 11-year-old reasoning.

Some years back, my fifth grade Sunday school students were studying the plan of salvation one quarter. A child told me she had been saved at age 4 or 5, but one Sunday morning, it was like a light went on for her. That Sunday night, the little girl practically danced down the aisle of our church when the invitation was given. Without the doctrine of priesthood of all believers, how can we lead people to a personal relationship with Jesus?

Joyce Brumley

Grand Prairie

Where credit is due

I’m confused. My wife and I read the Nov. 19 2nd Opinion column and felt this young minister shows a lack of knowledge about his own contrarian Baptist history.

We are the first to admit some Baptists have gone too far trying to balance a liberal theological “slippery slope” with rampant fundamentalism. But, interestingly enough, the Southern Baptist Convention still is intact, and we still fellowship with other Southern Baptist churches, unlike many major denominations that have split over such issues as homosexual ministers.

We ought to give credit where credit is due: Regardless of what we think about Fundamentalists, they are trying to stem the tide of liberal policies that just might destroy Christianity in America.

My question to the young pastor is simple: Are we to stop being salt and light in the name of tolerance? Do we want to avoid being unpopular? Is Christ a skandalon or not? It is a tough call at times, I know.

We should work harder to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and visit those in prison! But we can do all that and still take a stand when our society goes astray. The two are not mutually exclusive.

Eric Whitmore

Okinawa, Japan

Church & homosexuals

Regarding “NC Baptists expel gay-affirming Charlotte church,” Pastor Steve Shoemaker stated that Jesus welcomed those considered outcasts, as sinners by those religious, into the kingdom of God drawing near.

Jesus welcomed, and still does, all who come to him by repentance. Repentance means to change the direction, to go the other way. All through Scripture, when Jesus called someone, they changed. He loves each of us and will forgive each of us, but he calls us to change to his standard as set forth in the Scriptures, not just tack him onto what we want to do. He told the woman caught in adultery to “Go and sin no more.”

Also, there was a statement made in an article on women leaders in the church that the Bible says in Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” and that this meant women are equal to men in leadership in the church. This passage is referring to salvation, not to leadership. Paul stated he did not allow women to teach or have authority over men, but to remain quiet (1 Timothy 2:12).

Scripture is interpreted by Scripture, and it either means what it says or it doesn’t. We can’t pick and choose what parts we want to believe and which parts we don’t.

It’s all or nothing.

Nelda Garmon

Winnsboro

Regarding “Conservative Christians show growing acceptance of divorce”:

Neither the Ten Commandments nor Jesus mention homosexuality, but Jesus condemned divorce and said anyone who divorced and remarried committed adultery (Mark 10:11, 12). One of the Ten Command-ments forbids adultery, but some in the clergy and many in the pews have been able to remain in good standing with their church despite divorce and remarriage.

Are homosexuals our lepers or our Samaritans?

Robert Flynn

San Antonio

What do you think? Send letters to Editor Marv Knox by mail: P.O. Box 660267, Dallas 75266-0267; or by e-mail: marvknox@baptiststandard.com. Length limit is 250 words.

Posted: 1/04/08

2007 a quiet year, but
signs of change in the air

By 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.

Similarly, 2007 may be recorded as a pivotal year for religion and politics—relatively quiet, unremarkable at first glance, but nonetheless significant as a harbinger of things to come.

“There are a lot of discrete things, but if you put them all together, you get the sense that change is in the air,” said John Green, a senior fellow at the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

The realignment of the Religious Right is perhaps the biggest religion story of 2007 and the one most likely to affect 2008. The Religious Right is far from dead, but it leaves the year significantly altered:

• The deaths of Jerry Falwell, D. James Kennedy and even Tammy Faye Bakker Messner signaled a passing of the guard to a new generation of less-doctrinaire conservatives with a broader social agenda.

• The Christian Coalition decided to sit out the 2008 presidential race, and the new president of the National Association of Evangelicals said he’d rather conduct a wedding or funeral than meet with White House hopefuls.

• Pat Robertson pronounced Rudy Giuliani an “acceptable” choice despite his support of abortion rights, civil unions and his own three marriages. “To me, the overriding issue … is the defense of our population from the bloodlust of Islamic terrorists,” Robertson said.

In other indications that something is shifting, a Mormon won the endorsement of the head of fundamentalist Bob Jones University; an anti-abortion former Southern Baptist pastor-turned-governor from the Bible Belt initially struggled to gain traction—although he surged at year’s end; and megachurch pastor Rick Warren invited Hillary Clinton to talk about AIDS.

Even some of the biggest names in religious broadcasting ended the year under a cloud of scrutiny after Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, requested financial records in a probe of lavish spending by six television ministries.

“The religious right is not dead,” said Laura Olson, a political scientist at Clemson University in South Carolina. “But it certainly has begun to look different lately.”

All of this could change—dramatically—once nominees are chosen in the first months of 2008. A Clinton win could rally evangelical “values voters” against her, just as a Giuliani win could mobilize at least some evangelicals against him.

“Most would still vote for Giuliani or Mitt Romney against Hillary Clinton, but there’d be a lot less enthusiasm,” said Marvin Olasky, editor of the conservative World magazine.

“Would they stay home? Most would not, but a significant slice might. Would they vote for a third party? Most would not, but again, a significant slice might, to make a big difference.”

Either way, the Religious Right seems uncharacteristically splintered, demoralized and disengaged heading into an 2008 election year. Alan Wolfe, director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Life at Boston College, maintains religion is losing its grip on the voting booth.

“We’ve got big foreign policy problems, a suffering economy—those are the rock-bottom issues that people are going back to, and religion doesn’t really help with those issues,” he said.

One issue that remains unsettled is how Giuliani, a Catholic, will navigate relations with the church hierarchy over his support of abortion rights. In November, Catholic bishops said abortion remains a pre-eminent issue and warned Catholic voters that electoral decisions “may affect the individual’s salvation.”

It’s unclear whether abortion will become the same albatross for Giuliani that it was for Sen. John Kerry in 2004, although a handful of bishops already have been critical. “That’s one of the biggest questions to watch,” Wolfe said.

Posted: 1/04/08

On the move

• Bill Anderson to First Church in Wichita Falls as interim pastor.

• Vernon Andrews to First Church in Waelder as pastor from Choate Church in Kenedy.

• John Cox has resigned as pastor of McMahan Church in Dale.

• Kim Greer to First Church in Oklahoma City as minister of music and worship from First Church in Lewisville, where she was music minister/children, middle school and creative arts.

• David Hardage has resigned as director of Waco Regional Baptist Network to become director of development for Truett Seminary.

• Scott Jones to First Church in Rockport as pastor from Forest Avenue Church in Sherman.

• Darrell Mayhew to Midway Church in Springtown as youth minister.

• Don Nichols to Lone Oak Church in Harleton as pastor.

• Michael Smiley to Parkway Church in Victoria as interim pastor.

• Jerry Smith has resigned as camp director at Latham Springs Encampment in Aquilla.

Posted: 1/04/08

College students’ spiritual interests
increase; worship attendance drops

By Adelle M. Banks

Religion News Service

LOS ANGELES (RNS)—Though college students’ attendance at worship services declines, their interest in spiritual matters grows during their time on campus, a new UCLA study shows.

UCLA’s Higher Education Re-search Institute compared the views of students who were freshmen in the fall of 2004 with the same students’ thoughts in the spring of 2007, when they were juniors.

The survey of more than 14,000 students found more than 50 percent of students considered “integrating spirituality into my life” very important or essential in 2007, an increase of almost 10 percentage points from 2004.

Likewise, more students thought “developing a meaningful philosophy of life” was essential or very important.

While their spiritual interests increased, their worship attendance did not.

Slightly more than half the students said they attended services in college at about the same rate as they attended them in high school.

Almost 40 percent, however, said they worshipped less frequently. Seven percent said they worshipped more.

Researchers also concluded an increasing percentage of students had an “ecumenical worldview.” In 2004, 42 percent said they endorsed “improving my understanding of other countries and cultures;” 55 percent said the same in 2007.

Students showed increasing agreement over time with the idea that nonreligious people can lead lives as moral as those of religious believers, with 90 percent approving the statement this year.

“The data suggest that college is influencing students in positive ways that will better prepare them for leadership roles in our global society,” said UCLA emeritus professor Alexander Astin, one of the principal investigators for the research.

The research included 14,527 students attending 136 U.S. colleges and universities. Its margin of error is between 1 and 2 percentage points. The John Templeton Foundation funds the project, now in its fifth year.

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.