JACKSON, Tenn.—Cody Strait has traded red for blue, but his message is still about white—as in Christian purity.

After four years with the Cincinnati Reds organization, Strait, from Sour Lake, was traded to the Kansas City Royals minor league affiliate in July. He left the Chattanooga Lookouts, the Reds’ AA Southern League affiliate, for the Wilmington (Del.) Blue Rocks, the Royals’ High-Advanced A team in the Carolina League.

Strait was drafted in 2004 after playing at Ranger Junior College and the University of Evansville.

While a sophomore at Ranger, he realized that to become the Christian he claimed to be, he had to step up to the plate.

Cody Strait at bat.

“Up onto that point, I considered myself a good guy. I played the good-guy role. I went to church, but I didn’t really live like a Christian,” said Strait, an outfielder who hands out autographed baseball cards with his testimony. “One of my teammates (pitcher Kelsey Cates) was living for the Lord. He showed me how a Christian should act.”

Wilmington Manager Darryl Kennedy said Strait has a reputation as a “very spiritual, Christian young man. I haven’t seen anything that would discredit him.”

Strait, the son of B.D. and Lynn Strait, grew up in a Christian home. He accepted Christ as his Savior when he was young and was baptized at Pinewood Baptist Church in Sour Lake, near Beaumont.

Realizing later that he did not have an intimate relationship with Christ, he said that his life revolved around himself.

“The decisions I made were based on my own desires. Although I seemed happy with the way my life was going, I knew something was missing,” he said.

“I had a choice to make. Was I going to continue to live for myself or would I start living the life God intended for me?’”

While getting to the major leagues is his ultimate goal, Strait, 25, has a goal of being a spiritual trailblazer with his teammates.

“I want to do something to try to set a good example, to be a spiritual role model,” he said.

Staying on the straight and narrow path in professional baseball requires discipline that he finds by studying the Bible, praying and through encouragement from his wife, Melissa. They are expecting their first child in December. He also attends chapel services.

“After a game, some guys go to a bar or out partying. I’m in my room talking to my wife. When you claim to be a Christian everybody looks at you that much closer; they are trying to find faults with you,” he said.

When asked how someone would know that Strait is a Christian, Chattanooga teammate Justin Turner took out Strait’s baseball cap from his locker and pointed to the top of it. Strait had written “7 (his number) To God Be The Glory.”

“He is real positive,” Turner said. “He is always in a real good mood. He talks about his life.”

Shaun Cumberland, a Lookouts outfielder, added: “Everybody knows he’s a firm believer. He is a good-hearted guy.”

After being all-state at Hardin-Jefferson High School, Strait was named 2004 Missouri Valley Conference Newcomer of the Year at Evansville and a MVC All-Star.

Cody Strait

Drafted in the 12th round (348th overall) of the First-Year Player Draft in 2004, Strait (6-1, 185) has played with Billings (Mont.) in the Rookie League, Dayton of the A Midwest League, Sarasota of the High-A Florida State League and three games with AAA Louisville. He went to Chattanooga in 2007. Strait, who lives in Marble Falls during the off-season, played in the Arizona Fall League in 2006.

“To get to the big leagues, you have to be a complete player. You have to have a good eye, play good defense, know the game and the situation,” said Strait. “In my opinion the most important thing is hitting which is also the hardest.”

This season in Chattanooga he batted .257 with 17 doubles, three triples and five home runs. He stole 50 bases while playing with Sarasota in 2006.

“He has a lot of power and he is a very good outfielder,” said Kennedy. “He is helping us by driving in runs which is what we were looking for when we acquired him.”

In spring training, Strait rubbed shoulders with major leaguers, including  Cincinnati superstar Ken Griffey Jr.

Major league players “have been able to perform on a more consistent basis than I have. I can hit for average and power,” said Strait. “I play good defense. I have a good arm and I can run. I have to stay more consistent with my hitting. The best thing to do is not to worry about that and do the best you can at whatever level you are at the time.”

Strait keeps his baseball cards in his pocket. A major league player usually sponsors a minor leaguer’s supply, which are printed by an organization promoting Christianity.

“When I was young, I would go to a baseball game and hang onto every word those guys said. I know how it is with little kids, you look up to those guys,” he said.

“If I give them a baseball card with an autograph, they’ll cherish it. They’ll read the back of it and hang onto every word,” said Strait, who still treasures a broken bat autographed by a Cincinnati player he got when he was a youngster.

Strait also distributes baseball cards when he speaks to church youth groups. “I may bring 200 or 300 cards and speak to 20 kids and they’ll all be gone.”

On his card is his favorite scripture, Luke 9:24, “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.”

“I stopped living for myself and started living for Christ. When I step on the field, I feel that I have nothing to lose because I have already lost my life for his sake.

“I’ve surrendered my desires to Christ and replaced them with his plan and desires for my life. I now have everything to gain because Christ has my best interests at heart.

“At the end of the day, no matter how I did or if everything is falling apart in my life, it’s going to be great because I always have the Lord. My strength comes from the Lord.”

Bill Sorrell, a graduate of Baylor University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, is pastor of First Baptist Church in Whiteville, Tenn., and a freelance sports writer.

HANOVER TOWNSHIP, N.J.—It is a weekly ordeal at Pastor Donald Mossa’s church.

The moment the youth choir sings its last note, a swarm of parents descends to rush their kids to soccer games. Or they call to say they’re skipping Sunday services because of a tournament.

“The anxiety of ‘Do I go to church or do I take my kid to the soccer game?’ is a weekly ordeal,” said Mossa, pastor at the Presbyterian Church of Whippany. “It’s letting the team down versus letting God down.”

Mossa is part of a group of ministers from eight local churches that is asking township officials to ban sports games on Sunday mornings.

Restoring sacredness

The group, called the Hanover Township Interreligious Council, approached the township committee for help in “restoring sacredness to the Sabbath.” The holy day, the group contends, is crucial during a time when divorce rates and substance abuse appear to be on the rise.

The group represents all the churches in town and spans five denominations, serving more than 5,000 parishioners. The pastors also planned to e-mail 63 churches in nearby counties to ask for their support.

The conflict between religion and sports is a long-fought battle that gained the spotlight in the late 1990s when Pope John Paul II urged Catholics to “swim upstream” and keep their Sundays “sanctified” from other activities. New York’s late Cardinal John O’Connor also criticized Little League baseball and children’s soccer leagues for scheduling Sunday morning games.

Earlier this year, Ireland’s Roman Catholic bishops asked local communities to postpone Sunday games until the afternoon, but the Gaelic Athletic Association said ending morning plays was not feasible.

In Prospect Park, N.J., officials enforced a ban on Sunday work and play activities for nearly a century until the early 1990s, when the American Civil Liberties Union filed a suit alleging that the law was unconstitutional because it violated the separation of church and state.

Still other churches have tried to accommodate busy Sunday schedules by adding weekday and summer services for families.

Is it feasible? 

In Hanover, township officials praised the pastors for their proposal but questioned its feasibility.

Mayor Ron Francioli said he agreed with the idea of more family time, but he felt banning Sunday sports would place Hanover kids at a disadvantage against outside teams unless other municipalities also enforced a ban.

A more realistic approach, he said, might be to enforce a half-day rule on Sunday. Games could begin at 12:30 p.m., for instance, giving families time to attend church in the morning.

Recreation director and committee member Judy Iradi also said with more than 600 kids participating in recreational sports, a Sunday ban could create a field shortage. The township currently has 18 playing fields, according to the recreation department.

“It should be pursued, but in reality it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to achieve,” she said of the proposed ban.

However, some township residents support the ban. Karen Melvin, whose 9-year-old son, Stephen, plays baseball, said they miss between three and four church services every season because of game conflicts. On those Sundays, choosing between church and the game can be agonizing, she said.

“In those cases where we went to the game, you feel guilty,” Melvin said. “But he’s my one and only, and he lives for baseball.”

Even if banning Sunday sports does not bring back churchgoers, Mossa hopes families at least spend a quiet day together.

“We’re not against sports,” said Mossa, who plays on the Whippany Fire Department softball team. “We’re really in favor of trying to provide a time of rest for this culture. How are you going to bring families back together?”

Leslie Kwoh is a staff writer for The Star-Ledger of Newark.

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Giving to religious charities and congregations passed the $100 billion mark for the first time in 2007, according to a recent report by the Giving USA Foundation.

Giving to religious groups increased 4.7 percent, bringing the total to $102.32 billion. Overall giving to charitable causes reached $306.39 billion in 2007, a 3.9 percent increase from 2006.

The report shows donations to religious causes accounted for half of all individual charitable giving.

Three-quarters of all giving in the U.S. came from individual donations to charity, the report said.

Del Martin, chair of the Giving USA Foundation , said, “And what you can’t forget is that the ‘little guys’—the families most affected by the economy—kept on giving despite any worries they might have about their personal situations.”

Charitable giving consistently represents 2.3 percent of the average American’s disposable income year-to-year, a figure that held up in 2007, according to the report.

The report, conducted by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, analyzed eight charity sub-sectors—arts/culture/humanities, education, environment/animals, health, human services, public-society benefit, international affairs and religion.

Each saw individual increases last year, according to inflation-adjusted estimates.

Though not considered public charities, community and private foundations saw a decrease in giving last year, the report noted.

Researchers asked charities in the Public-Society Benefit category if they were worried that giving to political campaigns during the 2008 election year would hurt charitable donations. Groups reported back they are more concerned about the lagging economy and volatile stock market.

Presidential campaigns in 2007 raised $580 million, according to the Federal Election Commission, a mere one-quarter of 1 percent of the $306 billion raised for charity.

ARLINGTON, Va. (RNS)—There seems to be a striking symmetry on the rolling green hills of Arlington National Cemetery—rows upon rows of identical white limestone markers, perfectly spaced in every direction.

But underground, Muslims are laid to rest on their right side, facing Mecca, according to custom.

A Jewish Marine, meanwhile, might be buried in a traditional wooden coffin with wooden nails, which can be quickly absorbed into the earth according to Jewish tradition.

For the families of Jewish and Muslim members of the armed forces, challenges often arise when religious tradition conflicts with explicit rules that govern U.S. military cemeteries. Sometimes, an individual or family must choose one over the other.

For example, Muslims and Jews generally are not buried alongside members of other faiths. At military cemeteries, however, servicemen are not segregated by religion.

But a desire to be buried with their units sometimes trumps religious tradition. Many Jews are regularly buried in places like Arlington. Observant Jews, however, “would tend not to be buried there,” said Col. Ira Kronenberg, an Orthodox rabbi and chairman of the military chaplains’ committee of the Rabbinical Council of America.

Abdul-Rashid Abdullah, deputy director of the American Muslim Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs Council, said the desire to demonstrate patriotism—especially in a post-Sept. 11 world—is a leading reason Muslim service members choose to be buried in Arlington.

This way, Abdullah said, a family makes an important final statement with their loved one’s final resting place, as if to say, “Hey, we are patriotic people, our child served this country.”

Abdullah, who is a veteran, understands the desire of a soldier to be buried with his or her unit. Still, he said, “I wouldn’t want to be buried there myself. This is not a proper Muslim cemetery.”

The two faiths share other requirements. Both Islam and Judaism take seriously the need for a body to be laid to rest quickly.

“A person’s body is made in the image of God,” said Kronenberg. “The body must be treated in an extremely dignified manner. … Burial must take place as soon as possible. A body is supposed to decompose into the earth, dust to dust.”

Islam has similar laws. Abdullah said the religious goal is “to bury it within a 24-hour period. … If you die in the morning, it should be buried in the afternoon before sunset.”

Brought home for burial 

In World War II, servicemen who died overseas were buried in Europe and elsewhere, but today’s service members are brought home for burial, which can make the two religions’ speedy burial tradition difficult to accomplish.

However, the military makes special accommodations to get the body to rest in American soil as soon as possible.

If a soldier dies close to a military base, the body can be transported from anywhere in the world to Delaware’s Dover Air Force Base in a little more than 24 hours, Kronenberg said.

“They go out of their way to treat the dead with the utmost respect,” he said.

In Iraq, sandstorms or lack of access to helicopters or other military vehicles could extend the wait for days. But the military moves so quickly and efficiently that a fallen comrade could receive full military honors, with an escort platoon and military band, immediately upon arriving home.

“If they get a call, (the honor guard) can be ready at a moment’s notice,” Kronenberg said. “Unfortunately, the military has had to do too many full honor funerals in the last five years,” he added.

Autopsy required 

Another factor comes from military law that mandates a “forensic pathology investigation,” or autopsy, is justified whenever a service member dies in an “unnatural” way, including being killed in combat.

Judaism and Islam strongly frown on autopsies for two main reasons: First, they prolong the time until a body is buried; and second, they are considered mutilation of the body and are therefore undignified.

“If you watch CSI and shows like this, there are a lot of gallows humor” during autopsies, Kronenberg said. If an autopsy had to be done, both Judaism and Islam would require an imam or rabbi to be present to ensure the procedure is done with care.

To comply with the Army mandate and still respect their religious traditions, some Muslim and Jewish groups are pushing for what is called a “virtual” autopsy. It involves using non-invasive methods like CT scans and MRIs to create a 3D scan that can be enlarged, rotated and, best of all, saved digitally.

“There are so many things that are shared between Muslims and Jews in regard to traditions. It behooves everyone to work together,” Abdullah said.

McCain, Obama together at Saddleback. In their most direct effort to court people of faith, John McCain and Barack Obama will make their first joint appearance of the presidential campaign this month at California pastor Rick Warren’s Saddleback Civil Forum on Leadership and Compassion. They will field questions from Warren for one hour apiece. “The primaries proved that Americans care deeply about the faith, values, character and leadership convictions of candidates as much as they do about the issues,” Warren said. “While I know both men as friends and they recognize I will be frank, but fair, they also know I will be raising questions … beyond what reporters typically ask.”

Heisman winner nixes Playboy lineup. One year after winning college football’s highest honor, University of Florida star Tim Tebow was pulled from consideration for Playboy’s pre-season All-American team because the magazine conflicts with his Christian beliefs. Tebow, who last year became the first sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy, comes from a family of missionaries and is a devout Baptist. As a teenager, Tebow made annual trips to the Philippines, where his father runs an orphanage. This year, he went on separate missions to the Philippines, Croatia and Thailand.

Dobson reaches Radio Hall of Fame. James Dobson’s 32-year “Focus on the Family Daily” radio show will become the first religious program inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame. Nominated in the “national active” category, contenders are broadcasting currently and have “at least 10-year history of significant contributions to the industry on a national level.” Dobson’s broadcast first went on the air in 1977, “calling for a return to conservative, Christian values.”

Hagee bows out of endorsement business. Texas megachurch pastor John Hagee declared he’s through endorsing candidates for political office. John McCain rejected Hagee’s earlier endorsement after comments surfaced in qhixh the Christian-Zionist pastor denigrated the Catholic Church and suggested the Holocaust was God’s plan to push Jews back to Israel. “What will I say the next time I am asked to endorse a presidential candidate? Never again!” Hagee told a gathering of supporters.

Lutherans to apologize for Anabaptist persecution. The Lutheran World Federation is asking forgiveness from Anabaptists for 16th century persecution, including torture and killings. The statement seeking forgiveness is expected to be ready for the federation’s 11th assembly in July 2010. The federation represents 68 million Lutherans in 141 member churches in 17 countries, including the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Lutheran churches in the United States, France and Germany have adopted similar statements.

Gay man sues Bible publishers. A gay man is suing two Christian publishers, claiming their versions of the Bible that refer to homosexuality as a sin violate his constitutional rights and have caused him emotional pain and mental instability. Bradley LaShawn Fowler of Canton, Mich., is seeking $60 million from Zondervan and $10 million from Thomas Nelson Publishing. Fowler, 39, alleges verses in the publishers’ Bibles referring to homosexuality as a sin have made him an outcast from his family and contributed to physical discomfort and periods of “demoralization, chaos and bewilderment.”

Pope calls for interfaith peace push. Pope Benedict XVI has called on the world’s religions to join forces for peace and disprove those who see religion as a source of conflict. “A harmonious relationship between religion and public life is all the more important at a time when some people have come to consider religion as a cause of division rather than a force for unity,” Benedict said. “In a world threatened by sinister and indiscriminate forms of violence, the unified voice of religious people urges nations and communities to resolve conflicts through peaceful means and with full regard for human dignity.”

Airport renamed for civil rights pastor. The Birmingham Airport Authority has voted to rename Alabama’s largest airport for civil rights leader Fred Shuttlesworth. The new name will be Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport. Shuttlesworth, 86, grew up in Birmingham and was pastor churches in Birmingham and Cincinnati. He helped Martin Luther King lead demonstrations that led to the Civil Rights Acts of the mid-1960s, as well as change racial attitudes nationwide.

Fourth-century Bible to go online. The Codex Sinaiticus, thought to be one of the world’s oldest Bibles, has gone online this week in a project led by the British Library to reconnect all its 1,600-year-old parts that are spread across Europe and Egypt’s Sinai desert. A preview of the manuscript, which dates from the 4th century and includes what’s believed to be the oldest surviving copy of the New Testament, available free at www.codex-sinaiticus.net. The Codex is a “unique treasure” that “only a few people have ever had the opportunity to see more than a couple of pages,” says Scot McKendrick, the British Library’s head of Western manuscripts.

British clerk wins discrimination claim. A city clerk who refused to conduct same-sex partnership ceremonies because they violated her Christian beliefs has won her legal action claiming discrimination against supervisors who threatened to fire her. Lillian Ladele declared it a “victory for religious liberty” when an employment tribunal ruled found the Islington Council in London guilty of religious discrimination, degradation and hostility. Ladele, who has held the job nearly 16 years, testified she “felt harassed and victimized” by the council when she insisted she could not and would not carry out gay ceremonies as a matter of religious conscience.

EEOC issues new religion manual on religion. Citing changing demographics and a steady increase in complaints from people of faith, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission released an updated compliance manual on religious discrimination in the workplace. It provides safeguards for workers who request time off for religious observances and protects workers whose faith requires they wear specific religious garments, such as a hijab, a head covering worn by some Muslim women. Allegations of religious discrimination still make a small fraction of the total number of complaints reported each year. Last year, just 3.5 percent of cases handled by the agency were religious in nature.

–Compiled from Religion News Service

RICHMOND, Va. (ABP) — Sandra Day O'Connor has had her say again on an important church-state decision, in this case saying a Virginia city council's practice of offering non-sectarian prayers does not violate the United States Constitution.

The retired U.S. Supreme Court justice, sitting by special appointment on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, wrote a July 23 decision for a unanimous three-judge panel. The judges upheld the city's policy against invoking the name of Christ while delivering prayers at council meetings.

In the case, Turner v. City Council of Fredericksburg, the judges said they did not violate the rights of one of its own members, Hashmel Turner, a part-time Baptist minister, who claimed in 2005 that the policy violated two parts of the First Amendment. He said it ran afoul of the establishment clause, which bans government endorsement or advancement of religion, and the free-exercise clause, which bans government from impeding the religious practice of an individual or group.

O'Connor and her colleagues disagreed with Turner.

"The council's decision to provide only non-sectarian legislative prayers places it squarely within the range of conduct permitted by" U.S. Supreme Court precedent on legislative prayer, O'Connor wrote. "The restriction that prayers be non-sectarian in nature is designed to make the prayers accessible to people who come from a variety of backgrounds, not to exclude or disparage a particular faith. The council's decision to open its legislative meetings with non-denominational prayers does not violate the establishment clause."

Not forced to pray

On the free-exercise argument, O'Connor said, "Turner was not forced to offer a prayer that violated his deeply held religious beliefs. Instead, he was given the chance to pray on behalf of the government."

Although he was unwilling to do so on the terms that his colleagues had set forth, O'Connor wrote, Turner "remains free to pray on his own behalf, in non-governmental endeavors, in the manner dictated by his conscience."

The dispute in the historic city, located about halfway between Washington and Richmond, began when Turner was elected to the council in 2002. Council members had, for years, taken turns opening meetings with an invocation of their choice. When his turn came around, Turner began offering prayers that invoked the name of Jesus Christ. After complaints from some residents and the threat of a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union, the council adopted the non-sectarian prayer policy in 2005.

When Turner's name came up again in the prayer rotation after the new policy was passed, the council chairman asked him if he planned to offer his prayer in Christ's name. When Turner said he did, the chairman called on another council member to offer a prayer instead.

City discriminated, attorneys charged

Attorneys for a Charlottesville, Va.-based conservative group, the Rutherford Institute, took up Turner's cause. They argued that the city discriminated against orthodox Christianity by allowing prayers in the name of "God" but not "Jesus Christ."

Turner said O'Connor's ruling was off-base, according to the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star.  "She didn't feel my rights were being violated, but my rights are definitely being violated," he told the newspaper. "It removed an opportunity for me to pray in the manner of my conviction and my belief."

Attorneys for Turner have said they would appeal the case to the Supreme Court. When O'Connor sat on that body, she regularly was the deciding vote on important church-state cases decided by a 5-4 majority.

Read more

4th Circuit decision in Turner v. City Council of Fredericksburg
(download as pdf file)

“What are we going to do?” the young pastor’s wife drew her infant closer. The baby was only a week old when some members of the church the couple served suggested the young man resign or they would lead the congregation to fire him.

“I hate being a minister’s wife, and I don’t want to talk about it,” the older pastor’s wife said and slammed down the telephone receiver.

The minister isn’t the only one who bears the pain when a congregation or a group within the church turns on him or her. The spouse does also, whether members have simply criticized the way the minister handles aspects of the job or have made a concerted effort to oust him or her.

And in some congregations, expectations placed on a minister’s spouse can be overwhelming. Members may have a stereotypical, idealized image of a pastor’s wife who can cook, clean and care for her family while also managing the church nursery, playing the piano for the choir, leading Vacation Bible School, hosting potluck dinners, attending every wedding and funeral, having a positive attitude—and still have energy to spare.

“It all depends on the internal culture of the church and biblical parameters that Jesus gave us,” said Kim Wenzel, director of Smoldering Wick Ministries, a nondenominational ministry to help burned-out, wounded and rejected ministry leaders. “A church that puts love and caring and living in the tree of life above everything else won’t have these problems.”

But some ministers’ spouses acknowledge congregations may fall short in the “love and caring” department.

“It seems like it comes down to just selfish behavior (rather) than really listening to what God wants you to do,” said Jill Stowe, pastor’s wife at First Baptist Church in Monahans and president of the Texas Baptist Ministers’ Wives Fellowship.

Obstacles 

Obstacles ministers’ spouses face include poor communication, judgmental attitudes and a sense that people are talking behind their backs—or openly confronting them, said Sharon Jeffreys, who served as a minister’s wife in Texas several years and now is helping her husband plant a church in Murrieta, Calif.

“It is hard when people very openly oppose your husband, because you love him,” Jeffreys said.

Spouses of ministers who serve isolated rural congregations face additional challenges—the expectations of people in the community as well as the congregation, plus lack of financial security.

“In a larger church, there is a little more give and take,” said Sherry Burrows, director of women’s ministry at PastorCare, a national clergy support network. “If it is a smaller church, she is expected to pick up where other people drop off, whether it is her gift or not.”

Young ministers’ spouses with children also experience much scrutiny. They have the task of balancing the needs of their family and the demands of ministry.

“My mission, being a mama now, is making sure my kids are taken care of,” said Darcie Hill, wife of the music minister at First Baptist Church in Garland. “As a minister’s wife, I first have to be a God-pleaser and first do what he has called me to do. And sometimes that means that I stay home from church on Sunday nights because my kids are exhausted and that’s what they need.”

Identity 

A minister’s wife for 36 years, Anne Bracken believes the best way to deal with the pain a spouse may face at church is identity.

Through surveys of ministers’ wives across the country, she discovered loneliness as a primary issue. Many women isolate themselves, either because of competition with other ministers’ spouses, their personality or a negative church experience.

“Many don’t have the social support they need,” she said. “The average woman has five to nine people she is close to, and she usually looks for more. But the average minister’s wife has from one to three, and she usually doesn’t look for more.”

Bracken’s studies indicate women who work outside the home are less lonely because they develop a social network outside the church.

“Find an identity outside the church, or find a time that is identity-related outside the church so that you have someone outside you can turn to for support,” she said. “But even then you have to be careful.”

Spouses can find identity not only in work, but also in hobbies, education or ministries outside their local church setting. Take a class, learn a new skill, or volunteer in a community or nonprofit event or program.

Mutual support 

The happiest ministers’ wives, she discovered, were those who felt their husbands were their best friends. Mutual support helped both husband and wife to weather church criticism and crises.

The idea behind developing a separate identity, she noted, allows empathy and concern without being totally consumed.

“You can say, ‘If someone insults my husband, it doesn’t affect me.’ Yes, it hurts, but you can help each other through it. If you only live through him, you can’t separate yourself from attacks on him,” she said.

“You are not him, and he is not you. That has to be established when you go to a church. With separate identities, you can be a help to each other, instead of trying to live his life for him. It’s overwhelming to take on both.”

Although few Baptist churches have female senior pastors, women serve in a number of church staff roles, including children, youth, worship, missions and discipleship ministers. Their husbands also can experience pain and frustration.

Tim Pennington-Russell, whose wife, Julie, is senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Decatur, Ga., believes his wife’s place in history has helped him.

“I can pretty much be myself (at church) because people don’t know what to expect from a pastor’s husband,” he said.

RALEIGH, N.C. (BP)—Uncertain times bring anxiety into the church and, as Wayne Oakes has observed, the conflict that often results can be traced to loss of control.

Oakes, minister/church relations consultant for the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina who spent 22 years in the pastorate, said pastors and staff often become targets for anger when anxiety leads to a sense of insignificance and loss of control.

“When someone is attacking, they’re really verbalizing their own pain,” Oakes said. “They feel freer to vent their pain in church because ‘the pastor is supposed to love them anyway.’”

Working through conflict 

Oakes has developed a process called “Spiritual Directions” that he has utilized in 75 churches to help them work through conflict. Calls for help have increased in recent months.

When everything around them is changing, Christians often cling to an unchanging local church for security, Oakes said. So, when church leadership suggests change, the anxious member feels the last leg of security kicked out from under him.

People want to feel they have control of at least one aspect of their lives during these times of economic recession; fighting two wars; unemployment rates creeping up; the cost of getting to work getting out of hand; presidential elections; climate change; inflation; and the security of Social Security, affordable health care and timely retirement suddenly at risk, Oakes said. So, they try to exert that control in church, which often causes conflict.

To avoid conflict that can disrupt ministry, split a church, ruin local witness and hurt individuals, Oakes suggests several cautions:

• Take a long view. Don’t react to the current situation as if it’s the first time such a thing has occurred in the life of your church.

• Communicate. “Almost without fail churches with a problem have a breakdown in communication,” Oakes said. “Our church culture has created an environment in which a ‘victim’ can make a few calls and put the church in absolute chaos.”

Oakes said the right response to such a call is to ask the caller if he has talked to the person with whom he is upset. If not, Oakes urges the church leader to take it no further. “If a person doesn’t have the personal integrity or level of concern to address his issue personally, the church should ignore it,” he said. “It’s petty.”

• Respect every voice. “A lot of what feeds anxiety in church is when people feel dismissed or marginalized,” Oakes said. “It comes when they feel their viewpoint doesn’t matter and no one cares what they think.”

Oakes has seen in the Spiritual Directions process that even if people don’t get their way, they appreciate being heard and their anxiety level is diminished.

“We respect every person’s perception of their reality,” he said. “We trust the congregation, under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, to find the line of truth through all the perceptions and commit to that.”

Concerned about corporate pain leading to problems in church? Look for signs of low energy, bonfires of controversy, rapid turnover in leadership, inappropriate use of religious language and scapegoating, Oakes said.

“Any conflict has Bible-quoting advocates on both sides,” he said. “And they stand by their verses.”

BARTLESVILLE, Okla.—After 18 years serving in hot spots around the globe, Kevin Turner finally was wounded in the line of duty—not physically, but emotionally and spiritually.

As president of Strategic World Impact and an ordained Baptist minister, Turner wanted to be “a soldier of the cross.” He traveled to war zones, disaster areas and regions where Christians are persecuted, convinced God had called him to provide emergency relief in Christ’s name to people “standing on the brink of eternity.”

In January, he had planned to accompany a 20-member medical missions team to Darfur. The team intended to deliver 1,000 kits containing tarps, mosquito netting, eating and cooking utensils, and basic hygiene supplies to displaced people in the war-torn region. They also meant to deliver a solar-powered water purifier and Bibles for distribution.

The Oklahoma-based crew was slated to fly into southern Darfur on a cargo plane by way of Kenya. But as the mission team finalized plans, the situation in Kenya deteriorated. Riots broke out after a disputed presidential election and allegations of vote fraud. Due to roadblocks and other transportation problems within the country, fuel was unavailable for the cargo plane originally scheduled to transport the team and their supplies from Ken-ya to Sudan.

“After Kenya flared up, I kept in the back of my mind that if we were needed there and couldn’t go into Sudan, we’d do something in Kenya,” Turner recalled.

Working with indigenous church leaders, the mission team made plans to deliver the emergency kits originally meant for Sudan to internally displaced people in Kenya. But at two sites where the team tried to work—Nakuru and Molo—they narrowly escaped violence.

“There were 11 fires burning in the city when we left Nakuru,” Turner said. “People were throwing rocks as we stood between two vans and prayed, just before we pulled out. And right after we left, a mob ran into the lobby of the hotel where we had been staying. People were being chased by a crowd with machetes.”

A man wipes his face in front of a church where about 30 people were burned alive in Eldoret, Kenya, in an outbreak of violence following a disputed presidential election. Kevin Turner’s experiences in Kenya, after 18 years ministering in crisis areas worldwide, triggered what doctors diagnosed as post-traumatic stress disorder. (REUTERS Photo)

The team saw cars set on fire and listened to reports from pastors of revenge killings and random acts of wanton violence. At one point, the team was located in a gated park surrounded by a machete-wielding mob, unsure how they would escape.

“It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. For me, I reached the pressure point,” Turner said. “I’ve been in so many flipped-out situations through the years. I’ve had to make decisions that affect other people’s lives—people I’m responsible for before God and people I love with all my heart.”

Although the team managed to get out of Kenya alive, Turner returned to the United States broken and depressed.

“I didn’t want to see anybody. I didn’t want to talk to anybody. I sat in the dark, not wanting to engage the world,” he said.

His trauma reached a crescendo one Wednesday night when his wife and children were attending church. He “whacked out and blacked out,” he said, finding himself disoriented and lost in his own garage for at least 15 minutes.

“I felt like my mind was shutting down—like I was melting down,” he said. When my wife came home, I told her: “I’m going insane. I’m going nuts. You need to throw me away.’”

Post-traumatic stress disorder

When his wife finally persuaded him to seek medical attention at an after-hours clinic, the physician on duty—an Army doctor who had returned recently from service in Iraq—diagnosed Turner as suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

In the weeks that followed, Turner’s family physician and counselors confirmed the PTSD diagnosis, stemming not just from the trip to Kenya but from the cumulative effects of 18 years of ministry in crisis situations.

Over the last few months, Turner reports progress, but he still feels like he’s far from fully recovered.

“My life has been in turmoil. The nights have been like hell for me,” he said. “I’ve been able to keep my thoughts in some perspective in the daytime. But nighttime is the worst. It all comes flooding in.”

Psychologist Dan McGee noted the symptoms Turner described, coupled with his prolonged exposure to trauma, fit the PTSD profile.

“The mind, in order to survive day to day, must assume the position of invincibility. It is a carryover—somewhat a gift and curse—from adolescence when none of us really believe any of the bad stuff will really happen to us. Without this defense mechanism, we would be compelled to live in a state of anxiety that would overtax our mind/body system, and make a normal life impossible,” McGee explained.

“Therefore, when life-threatening things really do happen around us, the adaptation is made possible through coping skills learned over time. The problem is that they are not meant by the Creator to be used as a permanent solution.”

When those coping mechanisms break down under overload, raw emotions and behaviors surface, he said.

McGee, a former director of Counseling & Psychological Services with the Baptist General Convention of Texas and now an independent contractor working with the state convention, noted ministers particularly are subject to overload, burnout and compassion fatigue. He cites three reasons:

• Ministers are expected to be the stabilizing force at times of illness, injury, death, divorce or other kinds of loss.

• They are “unfortunately believed to be immune from error, misjudgment, temptation or failure.”

• They tend to misinterpret “calling” to override their own needs and the needs of their families.

Even Jesus needed a break, McGee noted.

“One gigantic lesson that helping professionals must somehow grasp is the importance Jesus placed on regularly withdrawing to a quiet place for restoration,” he said. “Failure to do so results in overexposure, poor choices, damaged relationships and burnout—and eventually disqualification as a helper.”

Linda Beaty has traveled into global hot spots with Strategic World Impact since 2000, and she has served as Turner’s assistant the last three years. Like Turner, she and other staff members have experienced difficulty in dealing with long-term exposure to trauma.

“Kenya, particularly, rattled many of us in some very deep places,” she said.

Beaty sees recent months as a season of healing for the caregivers.

“We have realized the need to slow down” and spend time drawing strength from “a new level of interdependency,” she said.

Through the last several months, Turner said he has learned important lessons about God’s sustaining grace. But he had to jettison some trite clichés he once accepted.

“I’ve given up on pat theological answers,” Turner said. “There are a lot of things I believed that I’ve had to give up. But a lot of the other things I believe have gone deeper, down into the bedrock. … I used to have a lot more tools in the toolbox, but the tools I still have left, I definitely know how to use.”

Turner hopes what he has experienced will allow him to minister to hurting people in a new way—as a fellow sufferer.

Wounds have no value in themselves, he noted. But if they are sustained in Christian service, they signal credibility.

“I’m a bit remiss now to trust anyone who doesn’t have a limp,” he confessed.

“I’ve come to believe that God values brokenness. … In the past, I would have said a minister should hide his scars. Now, I believe he should be identified by them,” he added.

“In God’s economy, scars can be beautiful.”

RICHMOND, Va.—Statistically, a pastor stands a better chance of being fired than a coach in the National Football League.

Charles Chandler, executive director of the Ministering to Ministers Foundation, reports more than 2 percent of all pastors will be fired or pushed out of their churches during their careers.

Chandler formed Ministering to Ministers in 1995 after a small group of church leaders forced his resignation as pastor of a Baptist church in Richmond, Va. The foundation offers a five-day wellness retreat where clergy and their spouses meet others in similar circumstances and talk with support staff. A growing number of churches that terminate ministers include the cost of underwriting the retreat in severance agreements.

From the moment a retreat begins, Chandler knows he is fighting the clock. So much needs to be done in such a brief time, he noted. Couples assemble from varied denominational backgrounds, but they have in common the emotional bruises, spiritual scars and psychological pain caused by rejection.

“Our first objective is to get them to tell their stories,” Chandler said. “They come in with strong feelings of isolation and failure. Telling their stories helps them to know they are not alone. It is amazing how similar their stories are.”

As each person shares his or her story, others in the group provide that individual with the balm of empathy.

“It is hard to know for sure,” Chandler cautioned, “but according to the most reliable information we have, it seems that across denominational lines, about 1,600 ministers per month are being dismissed or forced to resign.

“Their trust has been shattered—and their dreams. They’re experiencing doubts about whether there is a place for them in the local church. Will they have to find fulfillment in ministry outside the parish setting?”

Lack of preparation 

Chandler believes more small churches currently are being affected by forced termination because seminary students are being prepared for larger churches by professors who often have little church experience. A small church dominated by members of a single family presents challenges for which many new ministers find themselves unprepared.

“Pastors come to these churches looking to make a difference, and they run into the matriarch or patriarch who doesn’t want anything to change,” he said.

An emerging trend Chandler has observed is music ministers, age-level ministers and others who are forced out of church staff positions by authoritarian pastors who either are insecure and inexperienced or who have adopted the leadership styles of megachurch pastors whom they have chosen as mentors.

Wellness retreats 

Wellness retreats concentrate on helping ministers and their mates understand some of the reasons for their circumstance.

“We administer the Myers-Briggs personality type indicator and acquaint them with family-systems theory in order to help them become more self-defined and self-regulated,” Chandler said.

A therapist always is on hand to guide discussions and answer questions in the group or privately. For most of the retreats, Ross Campbell—a psychiatrist from Chattanooga, Tenn., who also is a well-known Baptist author and conference leader—has volunteered his expertise.

Couples who attend the retreats usually have more anger than they have allowed themselves to express or even realize, Chandler said. They have “stuffed it rather than acknowledging it and dealing with it.”

Renew a sense of God's presence 

Chandler and his Ministering to Ministers associates also seek to meet other objectives. Because many participants feel isolated even from God, the retreats seek to renew a sense of spirituality and reliance on God’s presence in their lives.

Since they often have been crushed by the power structures in their churches, the ministers have come to distrust and avoid power, he noted.

“We use Bob Perry’s book Pass the Power, Please as the starting point and emphasize that power is simply the ability to get something done,” Chandler said. Ministers need to develop a healthy sense of power in themselves and their ministries, Chandler teaches.

Practical help 

Ministering to Ministers also helps teach ministers how to write a resume and prepare for a job interview, and the retreat includes a component designed to demonstrate that ministerial skills are transferable to non-church ministries and secular entities.

“This gives hope. Sometimes ministers feel there is nothing else they can do,” Chandler said. “And when you feel that you have failed at the only thing you are qualified to do, it takes away the joy of service. It is freeing to realize that you have skills that are transferable to secular positions.”

Chandler concedes a few ministers who attend the retreats simply are not well-suited to ministry, and the moral lapses of others—about 7 percent nationwide—require dismissal, but he insists most of the ministers with whom he works are gifted ministers. Many, he believes, are even better equipped for ministry following dismissals because they posses greater humility and empathy.

Overall, 54 percent of ministers who experience forced termination go back into church staff ministry. Among those who receive help from Ministering to Ministers, the figure rises to about 70 percent, Chandler reported.

“This has not dampened my enthusiasm for ministry. I would not want to discourage anyone from entering ministry, but the expectation that a minister will not face opposition is just not factual. Even in the church, a minister will experience opposition. Jesus’ greatest opposition came from religious people.”

Ministers’ wounds can cause them to question—or even abandon—their call to ministry. But what wounds a minister?

“There is a great deal of idealism wrapped up in a pastor’s desire to serve people through the church and to serve people in the church,” said Baptist General Convention of Missouri congregational health team leader Bob Perry. “The reality usually doesn’t match.”

This gap between expectation and reality often leads to a degree of disillusionment when pastors find their churches are less than the ideal they had hoped.

In seminary, pastors study this ideal, but often aren’t prepared to deal with the situations they actually encounter, Perry said. “Ministers sometimes lack some of the basic leadership skills.”

They need to know how to work with people and understand the power structure in the church, he said.

Ron Herring, director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas congregational leadership team, agreed. “Probably the thing they (ministers) do most often is assume they have more authority than they do.”

They try to make rapid changes without understanding the unspoken value system of the particular congregation, he said.

Young ministers don’t even know which questions to ask to help determine expectations, said Emily Row Prevost, BGCT associate coordinator of leader research and product development.

“We have thrown our pastors into this work sort of sink or swim, and it’s getting harder to swim,” Herring said.

Expectations 

Expectations—for both the minister and the minister’s spouse—need to be made clear, Herring said. The previous pastor and spouse often create expectations for the new couple.

Another reason ministers are wounded is disappointment with people. Pastors come to expect that they will come under criticism with certain church members, but “they don’t expect their friends and supporters not to defend them,” Perry said.

Church conflict also can lead to broken relationships. Even if the minister is not the cause of or central to the conflict, he or she naturally is the focal point, Perry said. The division can be painful and hurtful to the minister and his or her family.

Failure to set appropriate boundaries also can be a source of ministers’ wounds. “It’s very easy not to set boundaries to protect your family, health or spiritual development,” Prevost said. “You’re doing God’s work.”

Getting help 

But help exists for ministers hoping to survive the battle. Organizations, such as the Ministering to Ministers Foundation, facilitate the healing process and can help pastors take the next step, Perry said.

Local directors of missions respond when ministers are facing trouble or are in pain. Baptist conventions also have staff to help local pastors.

Ministers who make it through wounded situations often point to their calling as the reason they made it. They know this is what God wants them to do, Prevost said.

No one ever promised vocational ministry would be easy, said Michael Godfrey, executive director of True Course Ministries. That’s why he knew his mentoring program for clergy would meet an immediate need.

Godfrey’s 32 years experience in Christian ministry revealed to him a huge disconnect between seminary education and the practical demands of full-time ministry.

“I’ve had my own bumps and bruises along the way, in terms of just dysfunctional situations, relational situations … issues with self-awareness, perceptions of others,” Godfrey said.

After leaving one particularly difficult situation, Godfrey realized his struggles weren’t unique.

Caught in the middle 

“I came to the realization that people and systems can turn, and you can get caught in the middle of it. It just opened my eyes and I saw there was a whole lot of that,” he said.

In 2001, Godfrey began pursuing a doctor of ministry degree at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary. While enrolled at Truett, Godfrey found the direction he had been seeking during a visit to the Baptist General Convention of Texas minister/church relations office.

“When I was working on my D.Min., I went to Jan Daehnert’s office and asked him: ‘Where’s the hole? Where’s the need?’ He said we have plenty of after-care (for forced termination), but we don’t have any preventive care,” he said.

Godfrey developed True Course Ministries to find a way to offer support and continued education to ministers.

“About 90 percent of ministers feel inadequately trained,” he said.

The program, now completing its fifth year, earned the Malcolm S. Knowles Award for Excellence in Adult Education from the American Association of Adult and Continuing Education in 2007.

Isolation, loneliness and burnout 

Several months of informal survey showed Godfrey ministers were seeking mentors to help deal with feelings of isolation, loneliness and burnout. Godfrey also wanted his program to address church struggles and prevent forced terminations.

True Course Ministries focuses on issues of administration, leadership, social and emotional understanding, and communication.

One-on-one, personal mentorship with individually customized goals distinguishes True Course Ministries.

At the first meeting, mentors work with ministers to write a mutual covenant of responsibility. They continue to meet monthly to discuss issues, growth and future goals. Official collaboration can last up to two years, but many participants keep a close friendship with mentors long after the sessions’ completion.

True Course Ministries’ mentors are seasoned ministers themselves, well-experienced in the ups and downs of full-time ministry. Mentors also must remain active in church leadership. Some serve as interim pastors. Others focus on conflict management; some counsel ministers and their families following forced termination.

Pastor Taylor Sandlin at Southland Baptist Church in San Angelo contacted Godfrey, whom he met during seminary, after he entered full-time ministry. Sandlin wanted to continue his education after seminary, and the True Course program appealed to his desire for accountability and educated feedback, he said.

“Ministry can often be a lonely endeavor,” Sandlin wrote in a testimonial about True Course. The program helped connect him to other ministers and to transition from the close-knit community of seminary to full-time congregational ministry, he said. “Michael and (his wife) Susan have become for my family more than mentors; they have become our friends—kindred spirits in this life of faith,” Sandlin wrote.

In his sessions with Godfrey, Sandlin said, they focused on creating and maintaining long-term vision, a skill that has shaped his decisions ever since.

“Developing goals … is probably the thing that I’ve carried with me,” Sandlin said. “What do I want my ministry to look like? What do I want to look like, in spiritual or family life, in five years, and how do I get there? By developing those goals, and focusing on those goals, it’s allowed me to say ‘no’ to a lot of good things that nevertheless would have taken away from those long-term goals of family time and nurturing a healthy church.”