Posted: 10/05/07

One verse memorized for the
last 79 years—and counting

By Toby Druin

Editor Emeritus

WAXAHACHIE—Lucile Manning considers Romans 12:1 her life verse: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (KJV).

The verse has guided her life since August 1929, when at age 18 she responded to her pastor’s plea to “give everything to Jesus.”

Manning turns 97 on Dec. 17. She finds it difficult to get around now and quit driving a few years ago. Even though in a Waxahachie retirement center, there is nothing retiring about her mind—especially regarding Scripture. Almost every sentence she utters of any length is laced with Bible verses.

“I usually have a verse for almost any situation,” she said. “If I don’t, it bothers me, and I keep working until I find it.”

Beginning with Romans 12:1, she has memorized a verse each year for the last 79 years. This year it’s Jeremiah 31:3. Last year it was Matthew 6:15. In addition to the annual verses, she has systems of verses on various subjects such as trees, flowers, plants and animals. Currently, she is finding—and memorizing—all verses with the phrase “one another” in them.

Her memorization technique is simple. “I read a verse, pray about it, visualize what it says and what it means, and I find a key word or two and put it on paper and carry it with me until it becomes a part of me,” she explained. “You have to love God’s word; you have to feel it,”

she said.

A few years ago while recuperating from surgery, she was given a pillow to press against any painful area. She began making pillows with Bible verses on them and has given away hundreds of them.

Manning was born in 1910 in Bogard, Mo., northeast of Kansas City, the daughter of Frank and Delia Brody Mattox. Her father was a farmer and her mother had been a schoolteacher before marriage. Mrs. Mattox taught Sunday school and at home read Bible stories to Manning and her younger brother.

“She was a great teacher,” Manning said of her mother. “Dad was a farmer and lived the Bible. Three times a day he gave thanks.”

Manning accepted Christ as her Savior when she was 9. Nine years later, when she committed her life to serve Christ, her parents took her to their pastor, who said she needed to go to college and recommended Simmons College—now Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene—where he knew the president.

She completed college during the Depression and was able to go home only once during the four years due to lack of funds. When she graduated in 1934, she returned to Missouri and got a job in the Missouri Baptist Orphanage. She cared for 33 girls and got $30 monthly and her room and board.

One day several months later she got a letter from Simmons College stating she was one of five women who had been selected for scholarships at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth. To keep it, however, she would have to work at the seminary and maintain an average grade of 90 or above.

“I looked for assurance in the Bible that I could do it,” Manning said. She found it in Philippians 4:19: “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

“ I thought that ‘all your need’ meant mental, too,” she reasoned.

She wanted a degree in theology from the seminary, even though women didn’t usually major in the course, which prepared men to preach, teach and serve as pastors. One asked her if she planned to get a soapbox and go down to the corner and preach.

“I said, ‘No, Sir, I want to learn the Bible,’ and he replied that I would have to study Hebrew and Greek. I said, ‘If the preachers can learn it, I know I can.’”

An evangelism course in the theology curriculum required memorization of 300 Scripture verses. She made the highest grade in the class, which won her recognition at commencement and a gold medal and $22.50 that she promptly spent on a New Testament and devotional books.

In addition to getting her degree in theology, she also found a husband at the seminary. She met Jack Manning early in her years there and they were married on Aug. 23, 1938. He served as a pastor in Texas and Oklahoma and as an Army chaplain in Europe in World War II and for many years was professor of church history at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in Mill Valley, Calif. Mrs. Manning taught school in Berkeley.

They retired in 1976 and moved to Waxahachie. They had been married 67 years when he died in 2005. They have two children—daughter Ruth Turpin, a travel agent in Fort Worth, and son Jack Jr., an attorney in Dallas.

Though the Bible is obviously central to her life, Manning has many other interests. She is an active member of the Waxahachie Garden Club, Shakespeare Club and Century

Club and was honored as First Lady of Waxahachie in 1999.

She studies the Bible daily using several translations, but her favorite for reading is the New King James Version, she said. For many years she taught a Sunday school class at First Baptist Church of Waxahachie. At present, she is leading one of her church members, Mitzi Marshall, in a study of Jeremiah.

When her granddaughter was a foreign exchange student in London, she became familiar with e-mail. Now, she daily sends and receives e-mails from missionaries and others around the world.

In 1998, at 87, Manning accompanied a team of fellow members of First Baptist Church of Waxahachie on a mission trip to Estonia. Leroy Fenton, pastor of the church at the time, led the mission volunteers on the trip.

“She endured like a champion,” Fenton said. “At an age when most people are sitting in a rocking chair or in poor health, she had remarkable strength and stamina. At one point, we went the wrong way and would have had to walk back about a mile or climb about 195 steps, almost straight up. She was adamant that she could climb the steps, and she did, stopping only once to catch her breath.

She proved herself to be “an ideal church member” during Fenton’s tenure, he added.

“In church, I don’t know of anyone who could out-work, out-pray or out-study her,” She has a phenomenal mind, is a great witness and is going to be involved in anything she can to make a difference. … No one is more committed to God’s work. She is courageous, always verbal when she needs to be, but always cooperative, with a sweet spirit.”

Posted: 10/02/07

CYBER COLUMN:
To the very edges

A few months ago, I read a passage from Leviticus, and ever since that morning, I’ve been wondering about my life—wondering where the edges are; wondering when I should be generous; wondering what I should be giving away.

The verse I read was Leviticus 23:22, which says: “When you reap the harvest of your land do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your harvest a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and alien. I am the Lord your God.” This verse is located among a collection of rules about how to present offerings to God, so I’m assuming the command to leave some of the crop behind was more about worshiping God than about sharing with the poor. I wrote in the margin of my Daily Bible: “I wonder what the equivalent is for me? What are my crops, and where are my edges?”

God wasn’t encouraging the people to be sloppy farmers when he told them not to harvest to the very edges; he wanted them to live a generous lifestyle. He expected them to not be greedy, even with the fruit of their own labor, but rather to be generous and free. He also meant that they shouldn’t make needy people beg for help—don’t make them stand in line to ask for the leftovers, but leave them respect and honor along with the crops.

So my questions: What is the harvest of my land? What do I produce? What is it that I should leave behind, around the edges, for others to glean?

Well, as a petroleum engineer, I’ve created a large library of spreadsheets and economic analysis reports and recommendations and cost estimates and workover procedures. You could say those have been my crops. I thought about scattering some computer printouts and a couple of data-filled CDs around the corners of my yard, but that seemed tacky, not generous. And it would get me in trouble with Cyndi for cluttering up our yard.

But all that engineering stuff isn’t my crop, it’s the finished product created from my real crops. My real crops are ideas, insights, influence, good will, teaching, writing and personal stories. Maybe the most valuable crop I have is my time. According to Leviticus 23:22 I should be generous with my time. The command to “not go over your vineyard a second time” means I shouldn’t plan my time all the way out to the edges. I should intentionally leave some slack in my schedule so I can be generous with my time as the need arises.

That’s a lot harder to do than it is to write. There are always too many good things to do with my time. For years I’ve used my noon hours as the time when I worked on my Bible study lesson for church or wrote in my journal or did other stuff that seemed very important to me. And because it was important to me, I resented any intrusion into the time. I balked if someone wanted to meet me for lunch because I thought it was too great a sacrifice to give up my study time. After all, my time was important. In fact, spending my noontime alone working on my stuff was my sacrifice to the world, my gift to my many students, and like that.

Until one day when it occurred to me how arrogant I was. I realized the greatest thing I had to offer was not the quality of my teaching, but the gift of my time. Maybe it was more important to hang out with someone than to teach a class. Nowadays, I almost always say yes when someone asks for a meeting or wants to meet for lunch. And I’ve learned the value of that time. That sounds so goofy when I write it out, and I’m sorry to be such a bookish nerd, but such is my life. I think one of the ways I leave the edges of my field for others to glean is to give away my time.

But leaving the edges for someone else takes courage. What if we’re giving away too much? What if someone thinks we’re being lazy instead of generous? What if our boss thinks we aren’t dedicated if we don’t give every available hour? Can we thrive if we don’t harvest every nook and corner of our field?

Leaving the edges takes gratitude, which is a mature grown-up emotion. We can’t be generous if we aren’t thankful.

And leaving the edges takes faith—faith that God will bless the part we harvest more that we can imagine.

Berry Simpson, a Sunday school teacher at First Baptist Church in Midland, is a petroleum engineer, writer, runner and member of the city council in Midland. You can contact him through e-mail at berry@stonefoot.org.

Posted: 9/29/07

RIGHT or WRONG?
Prayer in schools

In the spring, a mass e-mailing circulated at the school where I teach. It reports a teacher’s presentation to a school board. She says all the things expected from the teacher on a relatively small salary, and closes with “… and why can’t I pray in school?” I believe material like this actually demeans prayer rather than uplifts it. Am I right?

First, let’s examine what the law actually says in this area. A helpful booklet titled A Teacher’s Guide to Religion in the Public Schools, published by the Freedom Forum’s First Amendment Center, says: “As employees of the government, public school teachers are subject to the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment and thus required to be neutral concerning religion while carrying out their duties as teachers. That means, for example, that teachers do not have the right to pray with or in the presence of students during the school day.

“Outside of their school responsibilities, public school teachers are free like other citizens to teach or otherwise participate in their local religious community. But teachers must refrain from using their position in the public school to promote their religious activities.

“Teachers, of course, bring their faith with them through the schoolhouse door each morning. Because of the First Amendment, however, teachers who wish to pray or engage in other religious activities—unless they are silent—should do so outside the presence of students. If a group of teachers wishes to meet for prayer or Scripture study in the faculty lounge during their free time in the school day, we see no constitutional reason why they may not be permitted to do so as long as the activity is outside the presence of students and does not interfere with their duties or the rights of other teachers.”

Public school teachers, like all other citizens, have the right to pray. They simply do not have the right to use the power and machinery of the state to facilitate and sponsor those prayers.

As you suggest, the teacher’s statements are wrong in other ways as well. Do Christians really want public school teachers leading their children in prayer? We have no idea what those prayers would sound like, or from what religious traditions they would come. The government certainly would have a measure of control over those prayers, and one need only glance at history to see that managing religion is not something the government does well. Prayer is a sacred act, not one to be ruled and regulated by government. Likewise, religion never is something to be coerced. Thus, we should oppose all attempts by the state to pressure people, especially captive audiences of children, along religious lines.

Melissa Rogers, director

Center for Religion & Public Affairs

Wake Forest University

Winston-Salem, N.C.

Right or Wrong? is sponsored by the T.B. Maston Chair of Christian Ethics at Hardin-Simmons University's Logsdon School of Theology. Send your questions about how to apply your faith to btillman@hsutx.edu.

Posted: 9/29/07

Move over She-Hulk. Make room for Samson.

By Mary Warner

Religion News Service

HARRISBURG, Pa. (RNS)—Jesus and Moses were sold out, but consumers still could line up at the checkout counter to pay for Mary, Noah, David and a ferocious-looking Samson, packaged with Delilah in hot pink.

The world of posable action figures has traditionally belonged to hulking heroes such as Spider-Man and He-Man. But this latest crop—heroes and heroines from the Bible, on local Wal-Mart shelves since mid-August—are a testament to central Pennsylvania’s proclivity for religion and Wal-Mart’s marketing savvy.

Wal-Mart chose to test-market biblical action figures in its Carlisle, York, Lebanon, Swatara and Silver Spring township stores, displaying them on the preschool and stuffed animal aisle—not the Bratz and Barbie Beach Glam dolls aisle.

Given the area’s conservative impulses, the dolls should be a natural fit, some observers noted.

“Central Pennsylvania is conservative religious turf,” said Doug Jacobsen, religion professor at Messiah College in Grantham, Pa.

So far, the dolls have generated a measure of revulsion at the idea of Jesus and She-Hulk tumbled together in the toy box, and hope that the toys will help children absorb the stories of their faith.

“That’s how children learn—by playing with things. They begin to own the story,” said Coleen Cotton, director of children’s ministry at Carlisle Evangelical Free Church. Others had more fixed feelings.

“My concern is kids are going to equate them with other action figures,” said Jane Beachy of Carlisle Brethren in Christ Church. “Superheroes aren’t true. Jesus is true.”

Americans spend billions of dollars each year on Christian products, though the Internet and big-box retailers like Wal-Mart are absorbing more and more of the market growth. That growth has shuttered some local Christian bookstores, and some who sold similar action figures saw sleepy sales.

Wal-Mart said it studied the concentration of churches around its stores and their previous sales of faith-based products to select 425 stores nationwide—most of them in the South—for test markets. Together, they represent about 13 percent of all Wal-Marts.

Wal-Mart does not discuss sales of individual products, but David Socha, CEO of manufacturer One2believe in Valencia, Calif., said the early word from a few stores sounded promising.

Target also will test-market the figures on its website, www.target.com, a One2believe spokesman said.

In some ways, though, Wal-Mart is a totally different world for biblical action figures, said Anne Borden, assistant professor of sociology at Morehouse College in Atlanta.

Mass merchandising opens them to “‘multiple interpretations,”‘ she said. While some people view the dolls as creative tools for religious training, others might see kitsch or gag gifts.

“Once something is put out there, we don’t know what the audience is going to do with it,” Borden said.

Socha, who calls himself an “evangelical Catholic,” said he’s fighting a “battle for the toy box.” Too many toys these days seem to encourage promiscuity and violence, he said.

The One2believe line includes 13-inch Spirit Warrior Samsons and Goliaths ($19.97 apiece with little story books). Socha said violence is found in “‘true stories from the Bible, and there are tremendous lessons there.”‘

Most of the toys are 12-inch figures that talk at the push of a button in their backs. (“With God all things are possible,” says Mary, among other things.) They cost $14.97.

There also are smaller Tales of Glory sets (Samson, Delilah and a little pillar like the one Samson dislodges in the Old Testament story) for $6.97.

Focus on the Family, Samaritan’s Purse and other prominent evangelical groups have endorsed the toys.

Jacobsen, from Messiah College, said the biblical toys find their obvious market among evangelicals, who have a long history of adapting pop culture to their purposes.

Years ago, it was marrying drinking tunes with pious new lyrics to create hymns, Jacobsen said.

Now it’s action figures from the Bible.

Posted: 9/29/07

Around the State

• Fielder Road Church in Arlington and Dallas Baptist University are partnering to bring the “Lead Like Jesus” conference to North Texas via satellite. The Oct. 19 conference will feature Ken Blanchard, Erwin McManus, John and Nancy Ortberg, and other Christian leaders from around the country. The simulcast will begin at the Arlington church at 10:15 a.m., but the doors will open at 9 a.m. Tickets are $25, or $10 for students with a current student identification card. Lunch is included in the ticket price. For more information, call (817) 460-2234 or (214) 333-5103.

• JoAnne Ivy has been appointed an apprentice missionary by the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. She will serve in West Africa. Southcliff Church in Fort Worth is her home church, where she served as a preschool associate.

• Eleven new board members have been appointed by the Baylor Health Care System Foundation. They are Glenn Callison, Tom Dunning, Stan-ford Finney, Gini Florer, Bill Miller, James Miller, Beverly Nichols, Wallace Reed, John Tolleson, Michelle Valdez and Terry Worrell.

• Catherine Crawford has been named vice president for institutional advancement at East Texas Baptist University.

• Derek Davis, dean of the College of Humanities and the graduate school at The University of Mary-Hardin Baylor, was the speaker at the school’s 162nd fall convocation.

• Nancy Ferrell has been named director of clergy and congregational care at the Pastoral Counseling and Education Center in Dallas. A member of Royal Lane Church in Dallas, she worked as a consultant with the Baptist General Convention of Texas since 1995.

Anniversaries

• Brenda Shuttlesworth, fifth, as minister of administration and church ministries at First Church in Conroe, Sept. 1.

• First Church in Gholson, 135th, Sept. 16. Brad Moore is pastor.

• Beth Sheffield, 15th, as youth music assistant at First Church in Longview, Sept. 16.

• Jeff Williams, 10th, as pastor of First Church in Denton, Sept. 30. A special progam and celebration was held.

• Bob Gauer, 10th, as pastor of Doole Church in Doole, Oct. 1.

• First Church in Kilgore, 105th, Oct. 14. A catered barbecue lunch will follow the morning service. An afternoon worship service will feature musical guests David Berryhill, David and Vickie Hampton, and the Celebra-tion Choir. Make lunch reservations by Oct. 5 by calling (903) 984-3531. Eddie Hilburn is pastor.

• Calvary Church in Pilot Point, 100th, Oct. 20-21. The festivities will begin at 7 p.m. Saturday with singing groups and testimonies. Sunday will include a meal following the morning service and a 2 p.m. service. Philip Riegel is pastor.

• Monte Byrd, 10th, as pastor of Mill Creek Church in Bellville, Nov. 4.

Retiring

• Truett Kuenstler, after 11 years as a chaplain at Hendrick Medical Center in Abilene. He also was a pastor 45 years. He and his wife live in Paint Creek in Haskell County.

• Maurice McLeroy, after 27 years as pastor of First Church in Raymondville. He also was pastor in College Station, Gatesville, Corsicana and Houston. He lives in Cypress and is available for supply and interims at (281) 304-2005.

Deaths

• Jerry Johnson, 66, Aug. 16 in Liberty. A Baylor University graduate, he was pastor of several churches prior to coming to First Church in Liberty in 1981, where he served 25 years. He is survived by his wife, Brenda; sons, Jeffrey, Kerry and Timothy; brothers, Ronald and Robert; sister, LaJuan Pessarra; and three grandchildren.

• Jimmie Clemmons, 61, Aug. 21 in Liberty. He was the founding pastor of North Main Church in Liberty in 1987, and served the church until his death. He was pastor of Hardin Church in Hardin from 1977 to 1987. He is survived by his wife, Vicki; mother, Hazel; daughters, Angela Bruyneel and Kristi Sterling; sons, Jimmie, Jeffrey and Kevin; brothers, Gary and Randy; sister, Peggy Satherly; and 10 grandchildren.

• Amanda Barfield, 32, Sept. 20 in Cabot, Ark. While on her way to participate in the building of a church in a small Arkansas town, a woman driving on the wrong side of the road hit the vehicle Barfield was travelling in head-on. Barfield’s husband, William, and another passenger, Brad Jordan, 37, were also injured seriously. The driver of the other vehicle also died. The mission trip was part of the ministry of Southern Oaks Church in Tyler, where she had been a member since childhood. She is survived by her husband; daughter, Kaylee; parents, Tina and Darrell Crymes; brother, Dillon; sisters, Jodi Nipper, Sarah Crymes and Amanda Carson; grandmothers, Patsy Ross and Ruby Crymes; and great-grandmother, Ouida Wall.

• Eunice Means, 85, Sept. 22 in Austin. After serving as an associate in the division of student work for the Baptist General Convention of Texas, she became librarian and secretary to the president of Baptist Theological Seminary in Zurich, Switzerland. In 1952, she became director of the Baptist Student Union at the University of Texas and remained in that position until 1955. At that time, she became coordinator of international student ministries for the BGCT, where she remained 10 years. She maintained her interest in the spiritual life of students throughout her life, and in later years was especially supportive of the student and prayer ministries of Dallas Baptist University. She was preceded in death by her husband, Scott, in 2001, and her sisters, Naomi Parker and Lois Lunsford. She is survived by four step-grandchildren.

• Linda Townsend, 58, Sept. 23 in Slidell, La. A native of El Campo, she and her husband moved to Slidell 20 years ago, where he serves as associate pastor of adults at First Church. She is survived by her husband, Carroll; son, Carey; brother, John Nelson; and sisters, Helen Grothman and Leona Nelson.
Robert; sister, LaJuan Pessarra; and three grandchildren.

Events

• First Church in Gorman honored Frances Warren and Jean Lasater for their years of service as nursery Sunday school teachers Sept. 8. Warren has taught since 1960 and Lasater since 1972.

• Pastor emeritus status was conferred on Ben Clayton by Fellowship Church in Longview Sept. 30. He was pastor from 1993 until 2003.

• Central Church in Round Rock will hold an open house for its facility expansion Oct. 7 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Mark Wester-field is pastor.

• The Well Community, a congregation of mentally ill people in Dallas, will host the annual National Alliance on Mental Illness interfaith worship service Oct. 9 at 7 p.m. The congregation is a mission of Cliff Temple Church in Dallas. The worship service will be held in Bassett Chapel at the church. Joel Pulis is pastor.

• First Church in Sanger will hold a grand opening for its multipurpose gym and full-service kitchen facilities Oct. 14 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. E.L. McNeal is pastor.

• First Church in Denton will hold its annual House of Judgment beginning Oct. 17. The evangelistic Halloween alternative will be held each Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday through Halloween. Reser-vations are required for groups of 10 or more, but reservations are strongly suggested for all since many performances sell out. Tickets for the $5 drama can be secured by calling (940) 382-2577, ext. 194.

• The women’s ministry of New Hope First Church in Cedar Park will hold a conference with the theme “True Contentment” Nov. 2-3. The cost is $25 for reservations made before Oct. 14 and $30 after. The fee includes lunch. Rhonda Kelley is the keynote speaker, and Scent of Water will lead the music and drama. For reservations or more information, call (512) 259-1590.

• Prairie Hill Church in Prairie Hill will honor Pastor Fred Sain for his 58 years serving the church Oct. 14 at 2:30 p.m. The occasion also will mark the church’s 122nd anniversary. Sain first started preaching at the church in 1949, while a student at Baylor University.

Revival

• Preston Highlands Church, Dallas; Oct. 7-10; evangelist, Herman Cramer; music, Paul and Christy Newberry; pastor, Jeremy Johnston.

Posted: 9/29/07

BSM director arrested, accused of wife’s death

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

KERRVILLE—The part-time Baptist Student Ministries director at Schreiner University was arrested Sept. 21 for allegedly killing his wife in 2006.

According to The Daily Times in Kerrville, McLennan County authorities obtained a warrant for Matt Baker, 36, that claims he drugged and smothered Kari Baker in their Hewitt home. Her April 7, 2006 death was initially ruled a suicide.

The cause of death was later changed to “undetermined,” according to media reports.

Baker has been suspended with pay and Greg and Merydwen Peschel are temporarily leading the Schreiner BSM.

Baker is employed by the Hill Country Baptist Association and the director position is funded by the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

Jim Leak, Hill Country Baptist Association director of missions, said his association was “shocked and heartbroken” when it learned of the charges. Baker has done a “good job” guiding the Schreiner BSM and is a highly regarded substitute teacher in Kerrville, he added.

“Hill Country Baptist leaders are praying for Matt, his two daughters aged seven and 11, as well as for Matt’s family and the family of his deceased wife Kari,” Leak said.

Posted: 9/29/07

Book reviews

Premium Roast with Ruth by Sandra Glahn (AMG Publishers)

In Premium Roast with Ruth, the newest addition to the Coffee Cup Bible Study Series, award-winning author and seminary professor Sandra Glahn brings the biblical character Ruth to her reader’s front doorstep.

Glahn presents a panoramic picture of Ruth’s world, the history of Israel and Moab—spiritual climate, Levitical laws, Israelite customs and past relationship between the two nations—while showing how it all correlates with the world of the “21st century woman with cell phones, washing machines and SUVs.”

Other Bible studies cover the book of Ruth, but the rich blend of warm anecdotes, engaging questions, in-depth extra-biblical research, aesthetics and sensitivity to the current reading audience, as well as the audience of biblical times, is where Premium Roast uniquely shines. At the author’s website (www.aspire2.com), we even find recipes that use barley!

What are you reading that other Texas Baptists would find helpful? Send suggestions and reviews to books@baptiststandard.com.

Premium Roast with Ruth will not only plunge you in the Bible, but also move you to explore the way you see yourself and the diverse world around you. If you’re looking for a Bible study that teaches you the Scripture and is relevant to the 21st century woman, or if you simply want to know what Oprah Winfrey and Ruth’s sister-in-law have in common, Premium Roast with Ruth has your answer.

Millicent Martin Poole, director

Christian Women’s Job Corp of Grand Prairie

Grand Prairie

Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places: A Conversation in Spiritual Theology by Eugene H. Peterson (Eerdmans)

Eugene Peterson, the pastor and scholar best known as the translator of The Message, takes the reader on an exploration of spiritual theology in this first book of a five-volume series.

Using Scripture as his unequivocal foundation and imagery from a Gerard Manley Hopkins poem, Peterson challenges Christians to dig below the surface of theology and actually do what good theology is intended for—living.

“Spiritual theology is the attention that we give to the details of living life on this (Jesus-revealed) way,” he says. “It is a protest against theology depersonalized into information about God; it is a protest against theology functionalized into a program of strategic planning for God.”

This “lived theology” is reveling in the fact Jesus Christ is playfully present and dynamically active in creation, history and community.

Peterson’s pastoral heart and poetic command of the original biblical languages make for thoughtful reflection and exciting depth of application. May we, as Christ’s disciples, join in living adventurously as we watch him at play!

Greg Bowman, minister to students

First Baptist Church

Duncanville

Dwelling: Living Fully From the Space You Call Home By Mary Beth Lagerbog (Revell)

Turning a house into a home that is both peaceful and functional can be a challenge. Mary Beth Lagerborg, director of media for the Mother’s of Preschoolers organization and co-author of the best-selling Once-a-Month Cooking, offers the advice for a more inviting home in Dwelling.

Through personal stories and interviews, the book allows readers to catch a glimpse into the homes of people from across the nation. The suggestions on cleaning, decorating, cooking and hosting provide ideas for improving their own home life.

Dwelling lets readers find a place of community among people from different locales and backgrounds. It offers a reminder that everyone needs a place to call home. And it suggests creative ways the readers can make theirs better—for themselves as well as guests.

Dwelling is a good read, whether the home is for one or for many. It offers readers inspiration for creating homes they can enjoy. For a home ready to host a dinner party to a place to seek refuge, this book can help make those dreams a reality.

Rebekah Hardage

Communications intern

Waco

Posted: 9/29/07

Baptist Briefs

ABP Names Interim Development director. The Associated Baptist Press board hired an interim development director at a recent meeting. Todd Heifner, managing partner of Charles Heifner Associates of Birmingham, Ala., will work six-to-nine months as development director for ABP and the strategic alliance formed between ABP and three Baptist state newspapers—the Baptist Standard, the Virginia Religious Herald and the Missouri Word & Way. Heifner, who holds master’s degrees in business administration and institutional advancement, previously worked in development for the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty and Samford University.

Candidate claims Baptist identity. Republican presidential candidate John McCain raised questions about his religious affiliation with a comment at a recent campaign stop in heavily Baptist South Carolina. The Associated Press reported McCain answered a question about how his Episcopal faith affects his decision-making by saying: “It plays a role in my life. By the way, I’m not Episcopalian. I’m Baptist.” McCain previously had identified himself as Episcopalian and is listed that way in several congressional directories. But he also has acknowledged that for years he and his family have attended North Phoenix Baptist Church when at home in Arizona. He had said in the past his wife and family had been baptized at the church, but he had not. However, Associated Press reported McCain indicated in his South Carolina comments he was an “active member” of the North Phoenix church.

Ethics commission honors Fu. Trustees of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission recently voted to honor Bob Fu, a leader in the student democracy movement that ended in the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. Trustees named Fu the 2007 recipient of the John Leland Religious Liberty Award. Fu was imprisoned after Chinese authorities discovered he had started a Bible school in an empty factory building. Fu and his wife fled from China in 1996. In 2002, Fu founded China Aid Association, an organization that seeks to draw international attention to human rights violations against house-church Christians in China.

Judge declines to drop suit against Southwestern. A U.S. District Court judge refused Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s request to dismiss an employment lawsuit filed against the school and its president by a former theology professor. The judge ruled the case can proceed with an amended complaint against the seminary. Sheri Klouda claims she was wrongly denied tenure because she is a woman after she was hired for a tenure-track position in 2002. The seminary maintains her tenure denial is consistent with a policy enacted after her hiring that stipulates only men should teach men in theology.

Way paved for GuideStone to offer its own insurance. The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee approved legal documents to allow GuideStone Financial Resources to set up five new subsidiaries providing investment financial advice, its own property and casualty insurance, and its own life insurance. GuideStone President O.S. Hawkins said with its own insurance company, GuideStone will be able to lower costs for church property and casualty insurance, and it will be able to expand what it offers participants in terms of life insurance.

Posted: 9/29/07

Posted: 9/29/07

2nd Opinion:
A better way to find pastors

By Roger Olson

Recently, our church was invaded by a group of thieves. Well, not exactly, but that’s how it felt to us. We only discovered the deed later when our beloved pastor announced her resignation. The group of thieves were a pastoral search committee from another state. They infiltrated our Sunday morning worship service and conspired to persuade our pastor to move to their church.

It’s a little difficult to be very hard on them. That’s how we got her to come to our church nine years ago! Our pastoral search committee flew hundreds of miles to the church she was then pastoring in another state and infiltrated its Sunday morning worship service and conspired to persuade her to come to our church.

You might think I’m being a little hard on pastoral search committees. And, of course, I am—for the purpose of provoking thought about a tradition that needs re-consideration.

I don’t really believe pastoral search committees are “groups of thieves.” At least that’s not their intention. They’re simply following custom. And how else does a Baptist church find a pastor?

But to defend my opposition to this tried-and-true method, let me use an analogy. Suppose you found out that a neighboring Baptist church in your own association had formed a committee to “persuade” some of your members to move to their church? They were infiltrating the church and inviting well-established members to come to their homes and visit their church with the intention of “sheep-stealing,” as it is generally called. Wouldn’t you be incensed? I think every Baptist would be.

We consider sheep-stealing a serious offense, and any church that engages in it will probably be censured by the local association. Certainly other churches will turn their backs on it. But, then, why do we think it’s OK to steal another church’s pastor? We say, “But it was God’s will, or else he wouldn’t have accepted our church’s call.” But what if we said that about a family we “persuaded” to move from another church to ours? Who would take that seriously?

The plain fact of the matter is that the present method is wrong. It amounts to pastor-stealing. It’s no better than going out to steal members from sister churches. Why do we do it—besides it’s the custom? (Customs are often wrong.)

We do it out of ignorance of a better method of finding a good pastor, and we want to make sure we get the best there is. But isn’t that the sin of coveting? When we “invite” a pastor to leave his or her church and come to ours, aren’t we coveting that church’s pastor?

Fortunately, there is an alternative way of calling a new pastor. The Baptist General Convention of Texas sponsors a program called LeaderConnect that helps churches find a pastor who already wants to move. That way, the church isn’t stealing a pastor from another congregation. And Truett Seminary and the BGCT jointly sponsor a person located at the seminary who does much the same—Judy Battles.

I urge all churches to consider using these resources when seeking to fill their pulpits rather than invading a sister church to steal its pastor.

Roger Olson is professor of theology at Baylor University’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary in Waco.