Posted: 10/12/07

The Spirit in Stone

By Greg Warner

Associated Baptist Press

AUSTIN (ABP)—If your sanctuary could speak, what would it say? The truth is, it does speak—every day, some experts note.

Whether a towering neo-Gothic steeple that knifes the suburban sky or a one-room clapboard chapel nestled in the woods, every church structure carries a message to the watching world.

“It’s God’s calling card—it’s all he has,” said Texas architect Tim Blonkvist. “People are going to make an evaluation based on what they can see before they hear anything.”

See Related Articles: • The Spirit in Stone • Spirituality in architecture gets boost from revival of arts • Stained-glass windows tell stories of faith • Timeless grace: After 52 years, chapel continues to bless • Historic sanctuaries: To be or not to be?

Whether they speak with bold clarity or subdued elegance, our church buildings are often the most prominent and persistent gospel message their non-Christian neighbors encounter.

“All architecture speaks, whether for better or worse,” said architect Larry Cook of Falls Church, Va., who has designed more than 200 church buildings during his 35-year career. “There are churches that definitely make a strong statement, and plenty of lousy ones too, and everything in-between.”

Almost everybody who commutes to work or school drives by one or a dozen churches every day. Those structures either grab the attention of passersby—and, like the Gothic cathedrals of old, perhaps steer their thoughts heavenward—or they blend into an increasingly nondescript urban landscape without a peep.

Christian architects like Blonkvist and Cook are passionate about their work with churches. But they are troubled by what many congregations have been building lately— “big box” churches that look like warehouses or office buildings, denominational cookie-cutter models, and prefabricated buildings built as fast and cheaply as possible.

“Church architecture today is not aesthetically pleasing,” Blonkvist said plainly. “Are you building something that is going to be an invitation and not a barrier? Is it beautiful and inspiring or ugly and economical?”

But after 300 years of mostly plain, utilitarian buildings—capped by three decades of what Cook calls megachurch “monster barns” devoid of Christian symbols—American Christians are poised for a revival in their church architecture. The architects say there is a hunger for spiritually expressive buildings that recapture a sense of sacred space, are rooted in a congregation’s specific location and lifestyle, use indigenous artwork and subtle symbolism, and are environmentally sensitive.

America’s church architecture has its roots among the Protestant reformers who came to America and built simple, functional buildings in reaction to the elaborate liturgy and iconography of European Catholicism.

River Bend Church, Austin. (Photo by Tim Blonkvist)

“They believed you should divorce yourself from all those distractions,” said Michael Crosbie, editor of Faith and Form, a magazine about religious architecture. “There is a real sense of plainness in those buildings, but the people who worshipped in those buildings saw that as a way to focus on their Creator and as a way to get closer to their Creator.”

Although other immigrants brought more expressive architectural styles with them, pragmatism remained the dominant American architectural theme. Particularly as settlers carried their faith westward, function always trumped form.

“That’s a very American way,” said Crosbie of Essex, Conn., chair of architecture at the University of Hartford.

“There was the attitude: ‘All we need is shelter and the word of God,’” explained Blonkvist, who lives in San Antonio.

When there were clear architectural styles, they often came in the form of denominational templates, as each denomination tried to establish its own identity on the pluralistic American landscape.

Utilitarianism went into overdrive as megachurches emerged in the 1980s. Seeker-sensitive churches particularly favored secular architecture—borrowing from corporations, theaters and shopping malls—and stripped out all Christian symbols in an effort not to alienate non-Christians.

Several megachurches that wanted to build a “monster barn” for a sanctuary have turned down proposals by Cook’s firm.

“They didn’t really care what it looked like on the outside, only about how many people they could seat,” he said. “That’s not my type of architecture.”

“If that way works (at reaching non-Christians) I don’t see anything wrong with that at all,” added Cook, a Catholic. “You could have a great spiritual building on the inside.”

The Pennsylvania native noted the Amish people are great examples of practicing Christians, “but they haven’t got a single church that I know of. They worship in homes, schools and barns. … Yet somehow there is a spiritualism that exists in the people.”

Crosbie agreed contemporary churches “don’t look like churches and don’t feel like churches, but people find spirituality in all kinds of environments. You can have a spiritual aesthetic without a building. You can have a church in a field somewhere.”

Nonetheless, contemporary churches are “too secular” for many people who crave art and architecture that is more spiritually expressive, Crosbie said.

The architects agreed the tide is turning—both in the church and culture—toward more overt spiritual values, and the days of spiritually neutral churches may be ending.

“We have gone that direction, and people have become dissatisfied,” said Blonkvist, whose firm, Overland Partners of San Antonio, designed a Texas Baptist megachurch in Austin that typifies this new approach.

Riverbend Church has won numerous awards and been featured nationwide for its innovative architecture, which blends subtle religious symbolism into an architectural style called “regionalism.”

Build into a slope overlooking the Texas Hill Country, Riverbend’s $12 million facility was constructed from indigenous materials like local limestone and sandstone, giving it a permanent link to the land.

“We wanted to create the feeling that this was growing up out of the ground, not dropped down from the sky,” said Blonkvist, an Episcopalian.

Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Silver Spring, Md. (Photo by Larry Cook)

The sanctuary is a half circle, modeled after a Greek amphitheater, and the 2,500 seats follow the slope of the land, which is intended to recall the hillsides on which Jesus taught the crowds. Across the entire front of the sanctuary, behind the pulpit and platform, a massive window in the shape of a rainbow greets worshippers with a panoramic view of the countryside.

The window—symbolizing God’s promised hope—was the idea of former Pastor Gerald Mann, who opposed adorning the sanctuary with traditional Christian symbols and suggested: “Why can’t we just put what God put out there?”

The building’s other Christian symbols are likewise subtle. The exterior front, Blonkvist said, is framed by two towers symbolizing the crosses of the two thieves crucified with Jesus, a central terra cotta crown of thorns representing Jesus on the cross, and a row of twelve small windows.

But it doesn’t cost multiple millions to incorporate a spiritual aesthetic into church design and decor, architects say. Larry Cook’s firm designed Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Silver Spring, Md. The 300-seat sanctuary, a modern variation on the cruciform design that uses clerestory windows to maximize natural light, was completed for $2.4 million—about average for a church project in the pricey Washington, D.C., area.

Even many smaller congregations that can afford only rented or renovated space are nonetheless determined to make that space an authentic expression of the congregation’s location, life and values.

They may be immigrant congregations or small emergent churches. They may gather in warehouses or storefronts. But the next generation of Christians, like every generation before them, will create their own architectural legacy, said Cook, whose father and son also are architects.

Artists and architects say that legacy likely will include a renewed interest in Christian symbolism and spirituality.

“I think that’s going to become more of a trend,” said Crosbie. “People are ready for that.”

In American culture, both sacred and secular, there is a new openness to aesthetic spirituality, said Judith Dupré, a writer and design consultant, whose oversized 2001 book, Churches, is am pictorial account of two millennia of religious architectural innovation—from the Pantheon and earliest Christian basilicas to the Gothic invasion and the gleaming American megachurch.

Christians have found that symbols, in art and architecture, “are doorways into a prayerful state for some people,” she said.

“People are becoming aware that the structures they enter every day do have an impact on their physical and spiritual well-being,” said Dupré, a Catholic and a student at Yale Divinity School. “Instead of the stripped-down model (of architecture), people reconsidering the power of symbols, and are selectively including them. That said, there is more awareness of the abstract expression of the gospel message.”

That message can be expressed not only in historic Christian symbols but in more subtle ways—the use of light, the way architectural lines steer the eye, the quality and fineness of the furnishings, and the carving on the front door, she said.

“All these things convey very subtly to the human being that we are entering a different place, a sacred space, that is different from any place else in their lives,” said Dupré, who lives outside of New York City.

The architects said the congregations that seek their services increasingly are interested in cultivating the spiritual message of their buildings.

“It’s almost an architect’s dream client,” said Crosbie. “Most architects are trained to be sensitive to what architecture and art can add to people’s lives.” However, he added, “A lot of architects are let down when they feel that their clients are not interested in those things, that they’re too focused on function and the utilitarian side of building.”

Gothic style cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres in France. (Photo licensed by Creative Commons)

Americans are hungry for meaning and burned out on materialism, and that is affecting how and where they want to worship, Dupré said.

“I think that we are turning a very large corner in terms of our consumerist obsession,” she said. “We are exhausted of objects.”

Americans have been left numb by the “homogenization” of the cityscape, she said. With big-box retailers on every corner, surrounded by endless identical subdivisions, a new suburb in Scranton looks identical to one in Sacramento.

“There is a visual identity crisis happening in our country,” Dupré said. “People are looking to establish and develop a unique identity.”

They are getting some help from the architectural trend called regionalism that is helping communities cultivate architectural styles emphasizing the values and materials of their specific geographic area.

Regionalism rebels against the cookie-cutter homes and McMansions that dominate the American landscape. The new trend driving homebuyers “is the idea that their neighborhood should be unlike any other place,” Crosbie said. So many homebuyers now are looking into small towns and gentrified urban areas for “an authentic place to identify as their home.”

Creating buildings that are rooted in a certain place is a reaction to the culture’s prevailing sense of rootlessness, particularly for younger Americans, Crosbie said.

“The way they have experienced the world is more and more placeless,” he said.

In a world shrunk by television, cell phones, e-mail and instant international communication, many younger worshippers are drawn to smaller, more intimate congregations.

“It is a subconscious recognition that in their spiritual life they need a special place, different from any other place they experience in their week, and that mentally allows them to be spiritual,” he said.

The trend toward regionalism in church buildings, such as Riverbend and Good Shepherd churches, “is a spiritual expression” of that desire for rootedness, he added.

A companion trend to regionalism, the architects and artists said, is environmental sustainability. Increasingly, congregations want to build “green churches.” They are using local, natural and recyclable materials, and they’re becoming sensitive to energy consumption.

“People want to know there is a stewardship of God’s creation, so they want to design churches that are more sustainable,” said Douglas Hoffman, an architect from Cleveland, Ohio, who has been designing churches for 30 years. More sanctuary designs are using natural light, such as clerestory lighting, to save energy. And since light is also a Christian symbol, Hoffman said, “people will begin to appreciate that aesthetic.”

A few congregations are using renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power, in an effort to build “carbon neutral” buildings. Sarah Hall, a stained-glass artist from Toronto, Ontario, is experimenting with “photovoltaic” glass in her creations.

Churches “need to take the lead” in sustainable construction, Dupré said. But so far, it is architects who have. Most have signed onto the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED standards—Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design—a voluntary national benchmark for high-performance green buildings.

Cook said there was an effort in the 1970s to make churches environmentally conscious but it died out. Now it’s government buildings and schools leading the revolution.

Cook and the other architects are hoping Christians will step up to the plate and help create a new spiritual aesthetic for their buildings. Creating churches that are spiritually expressive, geographically indigenous and environmentally sustainable is no small task.

But the end result—as Blonkvist says, “something that is rich with symbolism, not overly adorned, and includes natural light and nature”—is worth the effort, even if only for an audience of one.

“It makes you feel proud to invite God into that worship space with you.”

To learn more, visit:

Judith Dupré www.judithdupre.com

Christians in the Visual Arts www.civa.org

Stained-glass artist Sarah Hall www.sarahhallstudio.com

Riverbend Church of Austin www.riverbend.com

Posted: 10/12/07

Historic sanctuaries:
To be or not to be?

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

DALLAS—When maintaining a sanctuary with a long history, congregations must look long into the future, according to Keith Crouch, Baptist General Convention of Texas church architecture director.

Decisions about maintaining a historic sanctuary need to be made with the long haul in mind, Crouch said. If a congregation wants to remain in the sanctuary and can support it financially, the church should use licensed technicians when doing repairs. Maintenance must be done properly to ensure a safe facility.

Calvary Baptist Church, New York City

If a congregation does not want to remain in the sanctuary or cannot financially support it, a move may be needed, Crouch said. That would enable another congregation to use the facilities for ministry, opening the doors for possible kingdom growth.

“The church really needs to look at its mission and its vision,” he said. “That’s what’s going to drive what to do about the facilities.”

If a church cannot afford its facilities, they typically become dilapidated in time, Crouch said. Minor maintenance either is not performed or performed cheaply, leading to other issues.

Ultimately, the building is closed down a section at a time until the church dies. Crouch would prefer to see churches looking ahead to ways to revitalize ministries.

“We’re not about saving buildings for buildings’ sake,” he said. “We’re about saving buildings for new ministries’ and congregations’ sake.”

Trained church architecture planning experts can help congregations make decisions about their facilities and understand their remodeling, rebuilding and relocating options.

“Our advice is based on the life cycle of the church and the ministries in which they are involved,” Crouch said.

Posted: 10/12/07

Baptist Child & Family Services recently formally dedicated its South Texas Center, located in San Antonio. The center clusters together a wide range of independent family and child services. Its centerpiece is the AT&T building, named for the organization that gave $1.75 million to seed the $10 million fund-raising effort needed to complete the project. The South Texas Center offers office space to agencies ministering to children and families at about half the rate of comparable buildings in the area. Tenants include agencies that deal with family violence, alcohol and drug abuse, health issues and education. Baptist General Convention of Texas staff also are housed in the facility.

Around the State

• Dallas Baptist University has announced several additions to its faculty. They include Deborah Balyeat, assistant professor of Spanish; Ron Harris, assistant professor of communication; Jim Lemons, assistant professor of biblical studies and leadership; Joanne Morgan, assistant professor of communication; David Notgrass, assistant professor of management; and Tommy Sanders, assistant professor of Christian education and childhood ministry.

• Hal Cornish has been elected chairman of the board of trustees of East Texas Baptist University. David Massey, pastor of First Church in Hallsville, is vice chair, and Joy Howell is secretary.

• Clint Davis, pastor of First Church in Mount Pleasant and then-chairman of the East Texas Baptist University board of trustees, prays for ETBU President Bob Riley and his wife, Gayle, at the school’s 90th convocation service last month. The school’s trustees, faculty, staff and friends presented the Rileys with a 15-day cruise to Hawaii. The gift was in honor of Riley’s 15 years of service to the university.< • Laity Lodge has announced a new leadership team. Mark Roberts has been named senior director and scholar-in-residence, and Steven Purcell is director. The Laity Lodge is a Christian ecumenical retreat center located in the Texas Hill Country. It integrates theology and Scripture with a strong emphasis on artistic expression and emotional health as an avenue for spiritual renewal. • Roger Paynter, pastor of First Church in Austin, has been named the recipient of the Durstan McDonald Teaching Award at the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest. Paynter has taught at the school since 2000. • Houston Baptist University has established of an honors college. The program will provide students a general-education core curriculum in the liberal arts, social sciences and natural sciences. Anniversaries

• Don Parks, 20th, as minister of music and senior adults at Central Church in Marshall, Sept. 16.

• Trey Turner, fifth, as pastor of Canyon Creek Church in Temple, Sept. 22.

• Tony VanDerWilt, fifth, as minister of youth at First Baptist Church in Paris, Oct. 1.

• Cari Nix, fifth, as children’s coordinator at Longbranch Community Church in Midlothian, Oct. 1.

• First Church in Joshua, 125th, Oct. 7. Pastor Emeritus David Hampton will preach at 8:30 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. An outdoor barbecue will follow at Benson Ranch. For more information, call (817) 558-8585. Jeremy Green is pastor.

• Stan McNutt, 15th, as pastor of Liberty Lighthouse in Sherman, Oct. 11.

• Emmanuel Church in Weatherford, 50th, Oct. 20-21. There will be a fellowship time Saturday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Former Pastor Bob Farrell will preach in the Sunday morning service. A catered meal and an afternoon program will follow at Texas Star. Call (817) 594-3566 for more information. Steve McCaslin is pastor.

• Wendyl Glenn, 10th, as pastor of First Church in Sherwood Shores, Oct. 26.

• Comunidad Casa del Alfarero in Houston, 35th, Oct. 27. Guest speakers will be Cindy and Dario Parish and Antonio Zuno. For more information, call (281) 459-1245. Leopoldo Mata is pastor.

• First Church in Ingleside, 100th, Oct. 28. A meal will follow the morning service. Forrest Smith is interim pastor.

Events

• Yorktown Church in Corpus Christi will hold its global impact celebration Oct. 18-21. Fifteen missionaries from nine countries will share their stories at various events. The weekend will culminate with Randy Newberry, mobilization specialist with the International Mission Board speaking at 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Sunday. The theme of the event is “From the Harvest to the Harvest.” Reservations are required for the Friday night banquet, sponsored in part by Outback Steakhouse. To make reservations or for more information, call (361) 993-9675 or visit yorktownbaptist.org.

• First Church in Midland will hold its annual classic car show Oct. 20 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Visitors also will be entertained by an assortment of live music from jazz to mariachi. Participants also will be invited to vote for the People’s Choice Award. The event will include jumpers and a mini race course for children. Drawings for prizes will be held. For more information, call (432) 683-0612. Gary Dyer is pastor.

• Reliance Church in Bryan will celebrate 132 years of service to the community with homecoming services Oct. 21. The church is striving to have 132 people in attendance. Kenneth Kelly will preach in the morning service, and the Reliance Quartet will provide Southern gospel music. A barbecue lunch will follow. Ray Marshall is pastor.

• “Beyond the Grave,” a dramatic performance of the consequences of never accepting Christ as Savior, will be presented Oct. 27-29 at First Church in Wink. For reservations or more information, call (432) 527-3831. Richard Ray is pastor.

• The Singing Men of Texas will present a concert Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. at Calvary Church of Oak Cliff in Dallas. The 75-minute concert is free, but an offering will be taken to help the group record a new CD. Ted Kiser is pastor.

Licensed

• Aaron Connor to the ministry at Waller Church in Waller.

Ordained

• Joshua Broughton to the ministry at First Church in Center.

• Robert Dailey to the ministry at Pearl Church in Gatesville.

• Jesse Latham to the ministry at Mount Carmel Church in Tioga.

• Donald McCaig to the ministry at Waller Church in Waller.

• Garry Stephens as a deacon at First Church in Yancey.

• Alice Church, Jennifer Davis, Julie Griffin and John Gilbert as deacons at Broadway Church in Fort Worth.

• Rick Copp and Larry Crouch as deacons at Live Oak Church in Gatesville.

• Donald Mauney and Gary Mauney as deacons at First church in Gorman.

• Ronnie Blair and Randy Ratliff as deacons at Immanuel Church in Paris.

• Mark Powell, James McGwier and William Buckner as deacons at Canyon Creek Church in Temple.

Revivals

• Highland Lakes Church, Kingsland; Oct. 21-25; evangelist, Paul Cherry; music, The Cherry Family; pastor, Ron Langley.

• First Church, Devers; Oct. 21-25; evangelist, Frank Aragon Jr.; music, His Band; pastor, Harry McDaniel.

Posted: 10/12/07

Baptist Briefs

Christian bookstore manager in Gaza murdered. The Palestinian Baptist manager of a Christian book store in the Gaza Strip has been murdered. Authorities reportedly found the body of Rami Ayyad Oct. 7 in Gaza City. He died from a gunshot wound to the head and numerous stab wounds, according to officials from Open Doors, an agency that supports persecuted Christians worldwide. He had been missing since Oct. 6, when he phoned his family to say he had been kidnapped. Ayyad managed the Palestinian Bible Society bookshop and had received several death threats from people angry about the store. The bookshop is Gaza’s only Christian bookstore, according to the Baptist World Alliance. It shares a common building with a library and community development center, the base for one of the largest relief agencies in the Gaza Strip. Police have yet to identify suspects in the murder.

Corts will coordinate education initiative. Thomas Corts, executive director of the International Association of Baptist Colleges and Universities and former president of Samford University, has been named to a new position related to President Bush’s international education initiatives. Corts, 65, will be responsible for coordinating U.S. foreign aid efforts to support education around the world. The initiatives include a five-year plan to provide education to 4 million children in six countries—Ethiopia, Ghana, Honduras, Liberia, Mali and Yemen. The foreign aid education programs are administered through the U.S. Agency for International Development and coordinated with the State Department, the Department of Education and other agencies.

Kent Parks to lead missions group. Kent Parks, a longtime veteran of Baptist mission service in Southeast Asia, will become international director of Mission to Unreached Peoples, effective Nov. 1. Parks, 50, will establish an international office in Dallas. The 25-year-old agency focuses on providing spiritual and physical care for people groups around the world who have not been exposed to Christianity. It currently has 300 personnel who raise their own support and work in 22 countries. Parks, born in Indonesia to Baptist missionary parents, served 12 years in Indonesia and seven years in Malaysia as a missionary, first with the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board and later with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. He served six years as pastor of Megargel Baptist Church in Archer County. Parks completed his undergraduate degree at Hardin-Simmons University and earned both his master’s and doctoral degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Former executive for three state conventions dies. Dan Stringer, believed to be the only person to serve as chief executive of three Baptist conventions, died Oct. 2 at age 79. Stringer, who served the Florida Baptist Convention, Arizona Southern Baptist Convention and Northwest Baptist Convention, was diagnosed with cancer two weeks prior to his death. Doctors had found cancer in Stringer’s liver, lungs, lymph nodes, pancreas and kidneys. A native of Cordell, Okla., Stringer graduated from Baylor University and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He was pastor of churches in Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico.

BWA president meets with leaders in Middle East. Baptist World Alliance President David Coffey called on Israeli President Shimon Perez to help shorten the process of applying for formal registration as a recognized Christian denomination, and he expressed concern that Palestinian pastors living in the West Bank are not allowed to travel to Jerusalem or other parts of Israel without permits. Coffey also met with Abdel Razak Al-Yahya, the minister of interior for the Palestinian National Authority in Ramallah, Lebanon’s President Emile Lahoud and King Abdullah II bin Al Hussein of Jordan as part of his Middle East tour.

Missions advocate Snell dead at 66. Jack Snell, director of global field ministries for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, died Oct. 2 at age 66 after a nine-month battle with pancreatic cancer. Snell served 40 years as a pastor, including 20 years at Hendricks Avenue Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla. A Florida native, Snell completed his undergraduate degree at Samford University, two master’s degrees at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a doctorate at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Snell is survived by his wife, Anita; his son, Charles, of Atlanta; his daughter, Stephanie, and son-in-law, Henry Kahler, of Jacksonville, Fla.

Nashville pastor survives vote. A former nominee for president of the Southern Baptist Convention will remain pastor of a prominent Nashville, Tenn., church, the congregation decided Oct. 7. Jerry Sutton, who for more than two decades has served Two Rivers Baptist Church, survived an ouster vote 1,101-286. He has been at the center of a controversy over his leadership since the summer. In September, a group of 54 church members sued Sutton and other church officials for alleged financial improprieties. Sutton has repeatedly denied the allegations.

Posted: 10/12/07

2008 BGCT Operating Budget Explanation

I. The BGCT Operating Budget presentation has been reconstructed over the past two years in order to better reflect the Cooperative Program operating funds and to remove designated funds such as Mary Hill Davis Offering and North American Mission Board monies from the Operating Budget. This new presentation will enhance reporting and accountability regarding the various funding sources.

II. There are four categories of BGCT income:

1. Cooperative Program

2. Investment Earnings

3. Fees/Revenues (used to defray costs of specific events or ministries)

4. Designated/Allocated Funds (designated ministry funds from various sources, such as the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions, the SBC North American Mission Board, Disaster Response gifts, etc.)

III. The only sources of income presented in the 2008 Operating Budget are Cooperative Program and Investment Earnings — $43.3 million from Texas CP and $6.8 million from investment earnings for a total of $50.1 million. The proposed Operating Budget comes from the BGCT Executive Board and will be voted on by messengers to the BGCT Annual Meeting. Other sources of BGCT income are not presented in the Operating Budget because they are distributed to specific ministries as designated by WMU of Texas, NAMB, and others who make designated gifts.

IV. Comparing the 2008 Operating Budget to the 2007 Operating Budget is complicated due to restructuring of the sources. In 2007, the Operating Budget was made up of Texas CP and Investment Earnings, but also included some Fees/Revenues, NAMB, and some MHD Offering sources. These last two funding sources have been reflected through designated funding categories in 2008 in order to utilize best accounting practices. Here is the comparison:

V. MHD Offering, NAMB and Fees/Revenues sources will be allocated to the specific ministries for which they have been designated, with none of the funds paying for BGCT staff salaries. NAMB funding is expected to be about $635,000 in 2008. Fees/Revenues are expected to be about the same. MHD Offering funds support mission efforts of the WMU of Texas, BGCT institutions, and approximately $3.6 million is for direct BGCT missions and ministry projects.

VI. In 2008, the Missions, Evangelism and Ministry operating budget appears to be down $505,813. Actual spending on MEM efforts will be down $85,183. The difference is caused by two changes in the budget approach:

1. All promotion expenses for the convention have been moved into the Communications budget. That amounts to $211,000 in this year's budget that will be spent on MEM projects but is in the Communications budget.

2. NAMB money is no longer reflected in the MEM Operating Budget, but $49,000 of these funds will be used for MEM Evangelism efforts and $160,000 for MEM Missions efforts.

Not all missions and evangelism efforts are in the MEM budget; there are also missions and evangelism projects that are reflected throughout the budget, for example in Congregational Relationships and Collegiate Ministry.

VII. In 2008, the Congregational Relationships operating budget appears to be down $188,321.

Spending on Congregational Relationships ministries actually will increase $266,069 for two reasons:

1. All promotion expenses for the convention have been moved into the Communications budget. That amounts to $37,390 in this year's budget that will be spent on Congregational Relationships projects but is in the Communications budget.

2. NAMB money is no longer reflected in the Congregational Relationships operating budget, but $417,000 of these funds will be used for church starting, which is in Congregational Relationships.

VIII. In 2008, the Christian Life Commission budget shows an increase of $102,610. Actual CLC spending will be down $36,781 because the CLC historically has been the recipient of Investment Earnings from endowment gifts that did not appear in the budget. That is no longer the case. All CLC operating funds, including those from Investment Earnings, are now included in the budget.

IX. In 2008, the Communications Operating Budget shows an increase of $412,593. Since all promotion costs for the convention ($602,000) have been moved to the Communications Operating Budget, there actually will be $189,407 less in Communications for operations.

X. In 2008, the Financial Management budget is up $461,171. This is a reflection of $200,000 to fund the Executive Board-mandated internal audit function; $103,000 to fund the Baptist Standard quarterly report of Church CP giving (which previously was paid out of supplemental income); and $174,000 for increased property taxes, required building and IT maintenance and equipment.

XI. New and expanded initiatives will be enabled by the 2008 Operating Budget. A few of those initiatives are as follows:

1. Hold six "Engage: Evangelizing Texas" conferences around the state;

2. Launch a Spanish-language web site;

3. Educate churches and staff concerning issues of sexual misconduct in Baptist churches;

4. Develop a network of church-based medical/dental clinics, pregnancy care clinics and church wellness ministries;

5. Develop a strategic, cutting-edge mission engagement program involving Texas Partnerships and Baptist Student Ministries students and leaders;

6. Develop an evangelistic witnessing tract that can be used in a variety of cross-cultural bilingual witnessing;

7. Develop religious liberty resources for use in churches.

Posted: 10/12/07

BGCT budget proposal
reflects change in reporting

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

The proposed 2008 Baptist General Convention of Texas operating budget looks different than in past years—and not just because the total is smaller.

The $50,126,400 recommended operating budget includes $43.3 million in anticipated Cooperative Program receipts and $6.8 million from investment earnings—but not any funds made available through the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions, the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board or fees received to defray the cost of specific events or ministries. Those three categories totaled 896,500 in the 2007 budget.

The $43,326,400 in projected Texas Cooperative Program receipts represents about a 2 percent increase over the $42,441,000 budget for 2007. Chief Financial Officer David Nabors characterized the increase as “somewhat of a challenge but not an unreasonable challenge.”

The proposed 2008 operating budget relies less on investment earnings—$6.8 million in 2008, compared to $7,262,500 in 2007, a drop of $462,500.

“The proposed operating budget comes from the BGCT Executive Board and will be voted on by messengers at the BGCT annual meeting. Other sources of BGCT income are not presented in the operating budget because they are designated to specific ministries as designated by Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas, NAMB and others who make designated gifts,” according to a document released by the BGCT Executive Board staff administration.

The new approach “will enhance reporting and accountability regarding the various funding sources,” the document asserts.

Funds from the Texas missions offering, NAMB and fees “will be allocated to the specific ministries for which they have been designated, with none of the funds paying for BGCT staff salaries,” the document says.

Revenue from NAMB in 2008 is estimated at anywhere from $635,000 to nearly $700,000.

Elaborating on the change in reporting, Nabors explained the rationale that Mary Hill Davis Offering funds and NAMB dollars are designated funds, and Texas WMU and NAMB define the designation.

“In addition, these monies are subject to change each year by these entities, so it does not lend itself to a consistent BGCT budget treatment,” he said. “The bulk of fees and revenues have always been reported net in the budget, since these are revenues that offset various events or programs. Bottom line, what results in the approved budget are gifts required from the churches, and gifts—or wills and trusts earnings—from individuals that support BGCT ministries/infrastructure.”

The $50.1 million 2008 proposed budget includes:

• $4,726,062 for congregational strategists and related ministries.

• $1,471,055 for congregational leadership.

• $4,364,045 for missions, evangelism and missions.

• $876,892 for the service center.

• $867,918 for research and development.

• $19,984,879 for institutional ministries.

• $4,165,748 for collegiate ministries.

• $2,627,641 for communications.

• $676,494 for the Texas Baptist Missions Foundation.

• $1,071,777 for the Christian Life Commission.

• $552,923 for associational missions.

• $329,661 for the chief operating officer’s office.

• $5,528,560 for financial management.

• $995,284 for the executive director’s office.

• $782,862 for Texas Baptist Men.

The 2007 budget figures provided to the Executive Board differed somewhat from the amounts approved by messengers to the 2006 BGCT annual meeting in Dallas, a matter Nabors attributed in part to organizational changes during the year.

Also, the budget presented to messengers showed merit increases in salary concentrated in a couple of areas within administration, but the operating budget the board used for comparison purposes showed how the raises were disbursed.

Compared to 2007 budget figures given to the board, the missions, evangelism and ministry area appeared to show a $505,813 reduction—the largest cut of any section. Congregational strategists who provide field services to churches appeared to suffer a $109,372 cut, part of a larger apparent reduction of $188,321 in the congregational relations section.

The document released by the BGCT administration explained $248,390 that appeared in the 2007 budget for those areas represented promotion costs such as printing, postage and advertising. Those costs were transferred to the communications budget for centralized management.

Factoring out the transferred promotion money and the removal of NAMB dollars from the operating budget, the actual reduction in missions, evangelism and ministry was $85,183, and congregational relations increased by $266,069, according to the document.

The Christian Life Commission budget shows an apparent $102,610 increase, but it does not reflect the shift from reliance on investment earnings to total dependence on the Cooperative Program budget.

“Actual CLC spending will be down $36,781 because the CLC historically has been the recipient of investment earnings from endowment gifts that did not appear in the budget. That is no longer the case,” the explanatory document says. “All CLC operating funds, including those from investment earnings, are now included in the budget.”

The communications budget, which appears to show a $412,593 increase, actually drops $189,407 when the $602,000 is considered that was moved to communications from the promotional budgets of individual program areas, the document explains.

The apparent $461,171 jump in the financial management budget reflects a new $200,000 internal audit function mandated by the BGCT Executive Board in the wake of the investigation into misused church-starting funds in the Rio Grande Valley.

It also includes $174,000 in property tax increases, $103,000 to print the quarterly report of receipts in the Baptist Standard—an expense previously paid from supplemental income—and required building maintenance and information technology equipment.

The document produced by the BGCT Executive Board administrative staff also highlights several “new expanded initiatives enabled by the 2008 operating budget,” such as six regional evangelism conferences, a website in Spanish and an initiative to educate churches and staff about clergy sexual misconduct.

Posted: 10/12/07

Among first missionaries in Burma,
Baptists now helping refugees in U.S.

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

NEW YORK (ABP)—If any group in the United States has a reason to care about the people of Burma, it is Baptists.

That’s what Duane Binkley, a Baptist missionary to the region, said Oct. 4, the day the Burmese government admitted it has arrested more than 2,000 people since the start of pro-democracy demonstrations in the country now officially known as Myanmar.

Baptist history in Burma stretches back hundreds of years, to the efforts of a pioneering U.S. Baptist missionary couple.

Duane and Marcia Binkley, with Sean, Erin and Shannon.

The Myanmar protests peaked the last week of September, when an estimated 100,000 people took to the streets to protest rising fuel prices and the military regimes that have held power since 1962. Reports of prisoners taken varied from 4,000 to 6,000, with human rights organizations publishing lists of at least 43 protestors presumed killed.

Intimately familiar with the tenuous political stage in the region, Binkley praised the “pure courage and determination” of the protestors, who knew they would risk their lives by hitting the streets.

“You just ache for the whole country, really, because it has amazingly great people, and it’s just a very sad situation that they have to live with so many restrictions and such fear,” Binkley said. “We pray that these demonstrations will lead for some positive change … and that (the government) realizes there can be a peaceful solution.”

In a country where only 6 percent of the population is Christian, Baptists make up approximately 35 percent of the Karen people group. Binkley and his wife, Marcia, have worked with the Karen since the 1980s.

Baptists should care about Burma because of their long history with the country, Binkley said. After spending time in India, Adoniram and Ann Judson, the first Baptist missionaries sent from the United States, settled in Burma in 1813. By 1834, they had translated the Bible into Burmese.

The Judsons also helped form the first-ever convention in Baptist life—the General Convention of the Baptist Denomination in the United States for Foreign Missions. The organization served as a support agency for American Baptist missionaries, both from the North and the South, until the Southern Baptist Convention was formed in 1845.

Adoniram Judson

Two hundred years later, many Christians in Thailand and Burma are conscious of their Baptist heritage, and American Baptists are looking once again to pool their resources to help the more than 12,000 Karen refugees now living in the United States.

The refugees come from nine camps housing over 150,000 Karen and Karenni people who have fled Burma. At least 100,000 Burmese refugees from other ethnic groups live in Malaysia and India. The camps were formed when the current military rulers took power in 1988, after killing more than 3,000 protestors in a pro-democracy movement.

Karen are being resettled in America through the Federal Refugee Resettlement Pro-gram, which works with the United Nations and Thai government. As a result, Church World Service, along with other resettlement agencies, has processed the first of tens of thousands of refugees and is settling them in various cities around the United States.

As a first step to the resettlement, the American Baptist Churches USA formed the Burmese Refugee Task Force, which seeks funding for refugee work and to build support networks among congregations. That’s where the Binkleys come in.

Now living near Akron, Ohio, the Binkleys entered a joint partnership with American Baptist Churches and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Within the ABC, they coordinate with national and international ministry branches to help bridge the cultural gap between Ameri-can churches and the Karen groups resettling in their communities.

Their goal is twofold—to help churches relate and minister to the refugees while helping the refugees acclimate to their new environs.

It’s quite an adjustment for rural people to move to the urban centers where they’re often sent, Binkley said. They don’t know English, and many have hardly ridden in a car, let alone driven one or ridden on a bus.

St. Paul, Minn., and Utica, N.Y., have two of the largest Karen populations, although the refugees are spread through 136 cities nationwide. Currently, more than 500 live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area; almost 200 live in Jacksonville, Fla.; more than 200 live in Decatur, Ga.; and nearly 700 live in Phoenix, to name a few. Gaston Oaks Baptist Church in Dallas has an ongoing—and rapidly developing—ministry to the Karen people in their part of the city.

No matter where the refugees end up, providing a sense of community is “a strong role that the church can play,” Binkley said. “It gives them a spiritual base, certainly, but it can also give them a strong cultural base.”

Other Baptist workers have joined the cause as well. Michael Westmoreland-White, husband of a Baptist minister in Louisville, Ky., and a “former soldier converted to gospel nonviolence,” has spoken out about the plight of Burmese refugees and of their Baptist roots. He recently wrote on his blog that the current crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations demands solidarity—both for Christians and for national governments.

An author and theologian affiliated with the Alliance of Baptists, he urged Christians to attend vigils, sign petitions, pray, and boycott Burmese goods in an effort to pressure Burmese officials.

“Let the military government of Burma know in every way that the whole world is watching,” he wrote. “They cannot repress democracy forever and we will not treat their actions as ‘purely an internal matter.’”

Several faith-based agencies have acted on that call for solidarity. Each week, representatives from 10 agencies meet with the State Department in order to distribute the latest group of refugees. The agencies include Church World Service, Episcopal Migration Ministries, Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, Lutheran Immigration and Refugees Service, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Via their affiliates across the nation, the 10 organizations could potentially resettle Burmese refugees in 450 different cities across the country.

Duane and Marcia Binkley plan to remain in the United States until the wave of resettlement abates.

“It’s an amazing story that has come full-cycle,” Binkley said. “As Baptists, if we don’t become involved with the Burmese, we’re really missing something.”

Posted: 10/12/07

Posted: 10/12/07

DOWN HOME:
Procrastination or patience?

Remember the dead section of our favorite maple tree? I told you about it before.

Well, it’s not there anymore.

A recap: The top eight or 10 feet of the center branch of our stately maple tree turned bitter brown and died. A boar squirrel scraped the bark off all the way around the trunk about 20 feet up, sprayed it to mark his turf, and waited for the leaves to die so he could use them to build the nest for his first offspring.

Following the advice of our local “tree doctor,” I sprinkled red fox urine on the trunk. The squirrel, fearing its mortal enemy, decided a few leaves weren’t worth becoming the main ingredient in a fox version of burgoo. So, he stayed away.

But his handiwork remained—a gigantic rust-colored banner of rodent sabotage, a swaying symbol of squirrel vandalism, a fluttering flag of fiendish fecklessness.

Every time I looked into that tree, the blight made me mad. I kept thinking about how much money I’d have to spend to remove the dead parts. At least $150, I figured, maybe much more.

In the afternoons, when I got home from work, I’d walk back there and look into the tree, trying to decide if I thought I could take the damaged area down myself.

If it had been a branch that swayed out, I wouldn’t have worried. Lop it off and let it drop. But this was part of the core trunk. It grew straight up and then branched out. Even if I got a clean cut, I guessed, it might knock me out of the tree as it fell. Or scrape me as it passed. Or both.

Cheapskate that I am, I kept putting off calling the “tree doctor.”

Turns out, I didn’t need to.

Joanna called me while I drove home from work. “Remember the dead section of our favorite maple tree in the backyard?” she asked. Like I could forget. “It fell down. Well, most of it fell down.”

When I got home, the top third of the middle section of the tree lay in the backyard. It just missed crushing the swing Jo’s daddy built.

After dinner, I climbed up in the tree (which the little boy in me loved) and cut down four remaining small branches. Then I cut the big section into smaller pieces and carried it all to the alley. And it didn’t cost me anything.

Now, unless you know what to look for, you’d never realize a squirrel nearly ruined our maple tree. It’s still beautiful, and all of it is green.

This little episode reminded me my timetable isn’t always best. While I won’t go so far as to claim the hand of God knocked down the damaged part of our tree to save me money, I do know that if I had followed my normally compulsive timetable, I would’ve shelled out a lot of cash to pay somebody for a chore I did myself in about an hour.

So, patience is a virtue. And sometimes, even procrastination pays.
–Marv Knox

Posted: 10/12/07

EDITORIAL:
Confession comeback? Let’s hope so

Thirtysomething years ago, a young couple “got in trouble,” as we used to say back then. The girl was a bright, outgoing high school cheerleader, the delight of her prominent church, where her father was the pastor. The boy was a friendly, polite football player, not a star but good enough to make the team, and a member of the church’s youth group. They were well-liked and respected—the kind of kids you’d want your children to hang out with. But since biology is impervious to whether the participants are “good” or not, they did something scandalous, and she got pregnant.

Have you ever noticed how nothing travels faster than bad news about good people? All our school and half the town must’ve known about her condition before she got home from the doctor’s office.

If the next Sunday wasn’t High Attendance Day at their church, you couldn’t convince the ushers otherwise. A huge crowd turned out. Human nature being what it is, the worshippers’ motives were mixed. Some attended to support the humiliated pastor and wife. Others showed up to feast on their shame.

What happened that morning shocked every student in our school. That pastor-father commanded his daughter and her boyfriend to stand before their church and confess their sin. Their tears outnumbered their words, but they got it out: We disobeyed God. We brought shame upon our families, our church, ourselves. We are sorry.

As their classmate, I found their public confession both mesmerizing and appalling. They stood before hundreds of people who had known them their whole lives and admitted aloud to something about which proper people only whispered. I could not comprehend their humiliation. And I thanked God I did not have a father who could be that cruel.

As you can tell, those classmates and their Sunday-morning confession made quite an impression. I have recalled that episode countless times. But many years ago—probably shortly after my own first child was born—my feelings toward that father changed drastically. No hearts broke more violently that morning than the four hearts of those children’s parents. No words scorched a throat more painfully than that father’s introduction of his precious daughter and his soon-to-be son-in-law. Yet he knew their public pain would pay the toll of forgiveness. They cried and writhed in agony. They wore their sorrow for sin like ragged robes of shame. And then that congregation rose up and did what those kids never expected. They hugged them, cried with the, visibly loved them. And forgave them. Nobody ever said conceiving a child outside marriage was right. But they received permission to leave their sin behind, and they became productive once more.

That young couple came to mind the other day. A Wall Street Journal report claims confession is making a comeback, especially in the Roman Catholic and Lutheran churches, as well as some evangelical congregations.

Of course, Baptist doctrine sets us apart from Catholics and some other groups. For example, we don’t believe confession is a sacrament, and we don’t require a priest to intercede to God on our behalf. But a serious re-evaluation of confession would serve us—individual Christians, congregations and a denomination—well.

Massive confession would be needful only occasionally. The scale of the confession should match the scale of the sin. Still, confession within the bonds of accountability and trust—Bible study classes, small prayer groups, one-on-one sessions with a trusted spiritual confidant—can light the path toward restoration and redemption, as well as shine a beacon that signals danger and warns against temptation.

Beyond this, we as the body of Christ need to transcend the world’s refusal to acknowledge fault. When we are willing to say, “I was wrong; please forgive me,” we restore integrity sorely missing among Christians today.

Posted: 10/12/07

Faith Digest

NCC nominates new leader. The National Council of Churches has nominated a veteran educator and ecumenist to be its next general secretary. If affirmed next month by the council’s governing board and general assembly, Michael Kinnamon will assume the helm of the New York-based ecumenical agency in January. Kinnamon, a Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) minister and professor of ecumenical studies at Eden Theological School in St. Louis, serves on the NCC’s governing board and chairs its justice and advocacy commission.

Conservative Episcopalians explore alternative church. Some Episcopal bishops and more than 200 Episcopal congregations have taken a first step toward forming a new alternative to the Episcopal Church that will unite conservatives irked by the church’s liberal drift. Meeting in Pittsburgh, the Common Cause Council of Bishops brought together nine North American splinter groups to lay the groundwork for a conservative counterpart to the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada. Conservative Episcopalians, a minority in the American church, have decried the church’s stance on gay rights, especially the 2003 election of an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire.

Mormons launch PR campaign. Prompted by interest generated by Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is mounting its own campaign to help journalists better understand what it means to be Mormon. This month, two spokespeople for the Salt Lake City-based church hosted an online news conference with religion reporters. Church leaders are planning meetings with editorial boards and may schedule additional online news conferences.

Brits OK teaching creationism; just don’t call it ‘science.’ The British government has given teachers the go-ahead to discuss creationism with their pupils—but only if they stress the controversial theory has “no underpinning scientific principles.” The Department of Children, Schools and Families issued the guidelines after several teaching unions and civic groups said science teachers were unsure how to tackle the issue of creationism in their classrooms. Under the government’s guidelines, teachers are expected to contrast the belief that God created the world in six days with Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, which teaches life on earth evolved over millions of millennia.

Ecumenical body rejects military force in Iran. The World Council of Churches has cautioned the United States and its allies that the dispute over Iran’s nuclear programs must be settled through negotiations and not military force. In a statement on Iran and the Middle East regional crisis, the council’s executive committee said, “Threats to begin another war in the Middle East defy the lessons of both history and ethics,” referring to the “belligerent stance” of the United States toward Iran and of Iranian threats against the United States and Israel. The group also called for withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Iraq and urged the implementation of “alternative Iraqi and multilateral political, economic and security programs.”

Posted: 10/12/07

Southerners give more
to religious organizations

By Heather Donckels

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)—The numbers prove it: Southerners are more generous to their churches, while lagging in other categories of giving.

Using data provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, a new study by empty tomb inc. shows that in 2005, Southerners gave an average $816.81 per household to church and religious organizations while Northeasterners gave only $453.84. And the South has been outpacing the Northeast in religious giving almost 20 years.

“One point that often ‘defends’ the Northeast is that the region has higher living expenses,” said Sylvia Ronsvalle, executive vice president of empty tomb, a Christian research organization in Champaign, Ill.

That reasoning only goes so far, though, because “although the Northeast has the second-highest level of expenditures … it also has the second-highest level of income,” she said.

The study found the Midwest came in second in religious giving, at an average of $784.16 per household, and the West came in third, at $665.61.

However, in giving to “charities and other organizations,” the South ranked last, at $176.69 per household, while the West came in first, at $221.75. In giving to educational institutions, the South also placed last, at $22.49, while the Midwest came in first at $53.77.

In other words, the South leads the nation in religious giving but barely leads in overall charitable giving. Other parts of the country, it seems, just direct their charitable dollars elsewhere.

So what would explain the difference? Observers say it’s not entirely clear but offered several possibilities.

In religious giving, there may be a denominational link.

The North American Religion Atlas, using data from the 2000 census, shows a high concentration of Protestants in the South while Catholics dominate the Northeast. For example, only 8 percent of people in the South are Catholics, compared to 42 percent of New Englanders.

Francis Butler, president of the Washington-based Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities, said research shows Catholics give about 1 percent of income to charity. Protestants, meanwhile, generally give double that, he said.

Charles Zech, director of the Center for the Study of Church Management at Villanova University, wrote a book addressing that very topic—Why Catholics Don’t Give … And What Can Be Done About It.

In it, Zech says Protestants give more than Catholics because their churches do better at teaching the concept of stewardship and because Protestants are more transparent about their finances.

Also, since one parish may be home to as many as 2,000 Catholic families, parishioners don’t experience the same feelings of community as Protestants do. And ultimately, as Zech said, “people give to people.”

Ronsvalle suggested there also may be political reasons behind regional differences in giving. She said people in the red Southern states generally want to minimize government while promoting private industry and philanthropy. The blue Northern states, on the other hand, stress the government’s responsibility and government-led social welfare programs.

Charles Reagan Wilson, professor of Southern studies at the University of Mississippi, came to a similar conclusion. “The South’s approach to giving has stressed private charity over governmental assistance,” he said.

Southerners have “long tended to be conservative on issues of government,” stressing provision from family and churches rather than government intervention in times of crisis, he explained.

Melissa Brown, associate director of research at the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, said education levels play a role in giving, regardless of region.

“College and above, you really do start to expect a higher level of giving,” Brown said, adding college graduates will give away more of their income because of their social networks, work affiliations and ties to more than one community.

Ronsvalle said the survey may prompt more questions than answers.

“I don’t think we have to have all of the answers at this point,” she said, “But we have to establish the truth that there are trends, and these trends … have occurred over multiple years.”