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Hearing the Call
Posted: 9/14/07
Hearing the Call
By Ken Camp
Managing Editor
Hearing God’s call to vocational service may not be as easy in a Baptist church as it once was, but some congregations are determined to change that.
Once upon a time, a public invitation at the close of the sermon in many Baptist worship services routinely included an appeal to “surrender to God’s call” to vocational ministry. Not so today. And unless trends are reversed, some observers fear a clergy shortage in years ahead.
09/14/2007 - By John Rutledge
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East Texas church gives stamp of approval to 82-year-old’s ministry
Posted: 9/14/07
East Texas church gives stamp
of approval to 82-year-old’s ministryBy George Henson
Staff Writer
HALLSVILLE—First Baptist Church in Hallsville licensed one of its own to the gospel ministry earlier this year—Buck Lineberger, age 82.
Buck Lineberger It was 65 years after Lineberger initially felt God’s calling to ministry—and more than 60 years after he believed a brief, unsuccessful marriage disqualified him for service.
09/14/2007 - By John Rutledge
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When it comes to missions, there’s something in the water in Red Springs
Posted: 9/14/07
Red Springs Baptist Church Pastor Gary Godkin and long-time members Bobbie Morgan and Senna Winn stand before a brush arbor constructed for the church’s recent centennial celebration. Many of the former pastors who went on to mission service returned to participate. When it comes to missions, there’s
something in the water in Red SpringsBy George Henson
Staff Writer
ED SPRINGS—Hay fields surround Red Springs Baptist Church, stretching as far as the eye can see.
Looking out the front door of the church, located more than 60 miles southwest of Wichita Falls, some might become so entranced by the wide-open spaces of the Northwest Texas Plains that they never would want to leave. But at least 10 of its pastors have walked through its doorway with a missionary calling and a vision to change a much larger world.
See related articles:
• Hearing the Call
• Ministers hear call through many voices
• East Texas church gives stamp of approval to 82-year-old's ministry
• When it comes to missions, there's something in the water in Red Springs
• Call clarification important at Baptist schools09/14/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Ministers hear call through many voices
Posted: 9/14/07
A 1951 photograph shows 10 young adults from one small congregation, Fieldale Baptist Church near Martinsville, Va., who answered what they considered God’s call to full-time Christian service. (Photo courtesy of Virginia Religious Herald) Ministers hear call through many voices
By Jim White
Virginia Religious Herald
God uses a variety of voices in calling people to Christian service, veteran ministers agreed, pointing to their own experience.
In Joel Thielepape’s case, two voices figured prominently—a representative of the New York Yankees who delivered a discouraging word and a young preacher who presented a message of hope.
09/14/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Kyle Lake Foundations launches memorial golf tournament
Posted: 9/14/07
Kyle Lake Foundations launches
memorial golf tournamentBaylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary will serve as honorary sponsor the Kyle Lake Foundation's inaugural golf tournament, Sept. 28 at Cottonwood Creek Golf Course in Waco. Tee time for the four-man shotgun scramble is 1:30 p.m. after a free lunch for participants. Hole sponsorships selling for $250.
Individual players will be accepted, limited to the first 25 teams. The Kyle Lake Foundation was established as a nonprofit organization in March in memory of the former pastor of University Baptist Church in Waco. Lake was the author of two books—Understanding God's Will and (RE)Understanding Prayer. He was electrocuted on Oct. 30, 2005, before 800 worshippers while preparing to baptize a former Baylor University student. For more information, contact Arthur Hadden at (254) 717-3106 or Byron Weathersbee at (254) 772-0412.
09/14/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Texas Baptist Forum
Posted: 9/14/07
Texas Baptist Forum
Little impact upon lives
I find it somewhat unsettling that “faith changes little over a lifetime” (Aug. 6). I thought Sunday school, Training Union, prayer meeting and regular attendance at preaching services were to help the saints grow in the faith—put away childish things.
• Jump to online-only letters below Letters are welcomed. Send them to marvknox@baptiststandard.com; 250 words maximum.
“Too often the church today is slow to speak forcefully about right and wrong, about out-of-wedlock births, about AIDS, about acceptance of criminal behavior, even about being a good parent. If we can just get the church to find its voice, it will (be) a powerful part of the solution.”
Juan Williams
Author and radio/TV analyst (World magazine/RNS)“This clash (between evolution and creationism) is an absurdity because on the one hand there is much scientific proof in favor of evolution, which appears as a reality that we must see and which enriches our understanding of life and being as such.”
Benedict XVI
Roman Catholic pope, on the debate between creationism and evolution. He added evolution falls short of answering "the great philosophical question, ‘Where does everything come from?’” (Reuters/RNS)“Mother Teresa’s ministry with the poor won her the Nobel Prize and the admiration of a believing world. Her ministry to a doubting modern world may have just begun.”
James Martin
Jesuit priest and author, responding to a new book of Mother Teresa’s writings, in which she often struggles with faith and doubt (New York Times/RNS)If the research applies only to “religiosity in early adulthood” and later life, it seems we are not having much impact on adults.
A.T. Maker
09/14/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Book reveals Mother Teresa’s prolonged ‘dark night of the soul’
Posted: 9/14/07
Book reveals Mother Teresa’s
prolonged ‘dark night of the soul’By Shona Crabtree
Religion News Service
WASHINGTON (RNS)—Ten years after her death, a new book of Mother Teresa’s personal letters illustrates a profound and private spiritual struggle—much of it unknown to the world that would come to admire her for her work with the poor and outcast lepers in Calcutta, India.
Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light, released Sept. 4, is a collection of Teresa’s personal letters to her spiritual advisers. For the most part, they are letters she never intended to become public and—in fact—had asked to be destroyed.
09/14/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Texas Baptist Men feeding units called to aid hurricane victims
Posted: 9/14/07
Texas Baptist Men feeding units
called to aid hurricane victimsBy John Hall & Ferrell Foster
Texas Baptist Communications
Three Texas Baptist Men feeding units were sent to Southeast Texas to help victims of Hurricane Humberto.
The category 1 storm made landfall with 85 mile per hour winds and brought as much as 16 inches of rain. More than 110,000 people were without electricity Sept. 13.
09/14/2007 - By John Rutledge
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Texas Tidbits
Posted: 9/14/07
Texas Tidbits
Buckner collaborates with Hispanic San Antonio church. Buckner Children and Family Services entered a collaborative agreement with South San Filadelfia Baptist Church to provide community ministry programs in the congregation’s southside San Antonio neighborhood. Buckner and South San Filadelfia will provide after-school care, a food pantry, health clinics and youth mentoring. Buckner currently provides community programs in several Texas Baptist churches and one church in Knoxville, Tenn., but the collaboration with South San Filadelfia marks the first with a Hispanic congregation. Sara Rangel will serve as site coordinator at South San Filadelfia.
Baylor hospital CEO packs a punch. Joel Allison, president and chief executive officer of Baylor Health Care System, was named No. 26 among Modern Healthcare magazine’s “100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare.” More than 26,000 readers visited the Modern Healthcare website and voted for those nominees they believed had power to influence the nation’s health care delivery system. Allison also was ranked on last year’s list. Allison’s career includes more than three decades in health care management. He joined Baylor Health Care System in 1993, serving as senior executive vice president and chief operating officer before being named president and CEO in 2000. For the complete list of the “100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare,” visit www.modernhealthcare.com.
Children at Heart expands in Houston. HomeAid Houston, a project of the Greater Houston Builders Association, has agreed to partner with Children at Heart Ministries to build a second home for its Gracewood residential ministry to single mothers and their children in Houston. In addition, Gracewood plans to remodel its existing home to convert office space into more living space and add an additional living unit. When the two projects are complete, Gracewood’s capacity for single mothers and their children will expand from its current five families to 14, plus many others served through after-care and nonresidential ministries. Also, Children At Heart’s STARRY ministry will assume program responsibility for foster care services at Rio Bend, a residential foster care facility located in Richmond, southwest of Houston. Rio Bend, located in Fort Bend County, will be part of STARRY’s child placement program. STARRY operates foster care, emergency shelter and counseling programs in Round Rock.
09/14/2007 - By John Rutledge
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TOGETHER: Missions offering touches Texas lives
Posted: 9/14/07
TOGETHER:
Missions offering touches Texas livesIf you could make a difference in the lives of students, would you? If you could help put a church near people who need a church, would you? If you could share the gospel with people who have never heard of Jesus, would you?
Of course you would. Here’s some good news: You can!
Executive Director
BGCT Executive Board
Every year at this time, many churches collect money for the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions and make plans for their giving through the Baptist General Convention of Texas Cooperative Program in the coming year. As you do this, keep the following ministries in mind, because you will be a part of them:
• Camp Exalted. African-American teens pray and sing and make life-changing decisions.
09/14/2007 - By John Rutledge
