Posted: 7/20/07

Around the State

• Baylor University has announced a $1.2 million gift from the estate of John Reagan Harris of Center that will establish an endowed scholarship, as well as the John Reagan Harris Endowed Music Ministry Excellence Fund with the Baylor School of Music’s Center for Christian Music Studies. The scholarship was established with a preference to graduates of Harris’ alma mater, Center High School, or other Shelby County high schools.

• San Marcos Baptist Academy marked the 100th anniversary of the approval of its charter July 10. On that date in 1907, President J.M. Carroll also supervised laying the cornerstone of the first building, and a spontaneous collection raised $25,000. San Marcos Academy will commemorate its century of preparing young people for college during its Founder’s Day and Homecoming celebrations Sept. 14 and 15.

• Two missionaries with Texas ties have been appointed by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Christy Craddock, from Calvary Church in Waco, will serve with Touching Miami with Love in Miami, Fla., as a Global Service Corps volunteer. Janée Angel, from First Church in Burleson, will serve as an affiliate in Brussels, Belguim.

Bob Riley, president of East Texas Baptist University (left), was presented a gift by past board of trustees Chair D.M. Edwards of Tyler (center), for his 15 years of service to the university. The wrought-iron sculpture of a tiger’s face peering through bamboo and jungle foliage was created by an Italian artist, framed on a raw silk backing. Also pictured is Clint Davis, current board chair and pastor of First Church in Mount Pleasant. Riley became the 11th president of the Marshall university July 16, 1992. A celebration of his anniversary is scheduled to coincide with ETBU’s fall convocation, Sept. 7.

• Bettie Girling has been awarded an honorary doctor of humanities degree from Howard Payne University. The award was presented at a special ceremony at the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin. She was one of the last graduates of Daniel Baker College in 1952 before it consolidated with Howard Payne University. In 2006, HPU established the Bettie and Robert Girling Center for Social Justice, an undergraduate multidisciplinary initiative involving the departments of social work, sociology, psychology, legal studies and criminal justice. The center was named for the Girlings in recognition of their leadership gift to restore the Coggin Academy building that houses the center.

• More than 350 graduating high school seniors in Texas have been awarded scholarships totalling nearly $1.5 million to attend the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor this fall.

Anniversaries

• Robbie Sutton, 20th, as children’s minister at The Heights Church in Richardson, June 15.

• Rodney Bowman, 15th, as pastor of First Church in Angleton, June 22.

• Steven Hartwick, 10th, as executive pastor of First Church in Corpus Christi, July 11.

• Rod Payne, 20th, as minister of media at First Church in Wichita Falls, July 15.

• Oakland Heights Church in Longview, 50th, Aug. 4-5. A barbecue lunch will be held on Saturday from 11:30 a.m. until 1:15 p.m. in the Family Life Center. A concert featuring former and present soloists, groups and instrumentalists will follow from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. An open house will be held on Sunday beginning at 8:30 a.m. The morning worship service will feature a reunion choir and former Pastor Lavonn Brown. To make reservations for the lunch or for other information, call (903) 753-0291. Tom Roberson is pastor.

• Primera Iglesia in Bryan, 85th, Aug. 11-12. The celebration will begin at 3 p.m. Saturday with a time of fellowship and a look at the church history through photographs. A service of music and testimony will begin at 4 p.m., followed by a meal at 6 p.m. A worship service is scheduled for 7 p.m. Special music and a celebration sermon are set for 11 a.m. Sunday, to be followed by a meal. Julian Silva is pastor.

Retiring

• Dusty Rhodes, after 41 years of music ministry, June 30. He served a number of churches as bivocational minister of music, including Faith Church in Sweeny and First Church in West Columbia. The last six and a half years of his ministry were in full-time service at First Church in Seguin. He is available for supply and interims at (830) 491-1187.

• Dan Crawford, after 22 years as professor of evangelism and missions; chair of prayer at Southwestern Seminary, Aug. 31. He also was pastor of two Texas churches, director of Baptist Student Ministries at three Texas universities and national evangelism consultant with the North American Mission Board, plus short-term assignments with the International Mission Board in China, Germany, Canada, and Central and Eastern Europe.

Deaths

• Sonny Manuel, 71, July 1 in San Antonio. He was a pastor in Huntsville before moving to San Antonio, where he was pastor of Palm Heights Church 27 years. He also spent several years in Peru as a missionary. He was instrumental in organizing several stadium crusades in San Antonio. He also served as director of Palm Heights Baptist School and was president of the Texas Association of Baptist Schools for two years. He and his family made several gospel music albums and traveled extensively singing and preaching in revivals. He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Joy; sons, Charlie, Kerry and Terry; daughters, Bambi Rigal and Angela Carleton; brother, Ron; sisters, Paulette Muray and Jean Love; and 10 grandchildren.

• Ralph Lynn, 97, July 10 in Waco. Lynn was a professor of history at Baylor University from 1952 until retiring in 1975. A favorite of students, he was the recipient of the Herbert H. Reynolds Exemplary Service Award and the Retired Faculty and Staff Award in 1986. He was a member of the James Huckins Society of the Medallion Fellowship (cumulative gifts to Baylor greater than $250,000), a charter member of the Old Main Society and a lifetime member of Baylor Alumni Association. He supported numerous university causes, including an endowed professorship, the Baylor Libraries, Bear Foundation, Baylor/Waco Foundation, Alumni Association, History Excellence Fund and various academic scholarship funds. He was a member of First Church in Waco, where he taught a college men’s Sunday school class for about 30 years. He also hosted a reunion in conjuction with Baylor’s homecoming at his home every year since 1952. He contributed columns to the Waco Tribune-Herald for more than 40 years. Lynn was preceded in death by his wife, Bessie Mae, in 1992 and by his wife, Barbara, in 2000. He is survived by his wife, Dorothy.

• Willie Scott, 42, July 10 in Houston. Scott, a deacon at Rose of Sharon Church in Houston, was shot and killed by robbers at his clothing and shoe business. Scott was founder of Jails to Jobs, a nonprofit organization that trained ex-offenders to do construction work. He is remembered as a spiritual leader who had helped many former inmates on the road to a new life. Scott had himself escaped a life of criminal conduct and drug addiction many years ago. He is survived by his wife and 2-year-old son.

Licensed

• David Caldwell to the ministry at First Church in Haskell.

Ordained

• Curt Edgerton to the ministry at Liberty Church in Bridge City.

• Will Alley to the ministry at First Church in Belton.

• Charlie Brown, Coley Gatlin, Dan Pifer, Will Reid and Jon Sibert as deacons at Trinity Church in Kerrville.

• Jud Griffith and John Williamson as deacons at Tolar Church in Tolar.

Revival

• Elm Grove Church, Waelder; July 29-31; evangelist, The Seale Family; music, The Seale Sisters; pastor, Hoyt Hunnicutt.

Posted: 7/20/07

Baptist bloggers start hanging out
together in the same SBC ‘outpost’

By Robert Dilday

Virginia Religious Herald

ARLINGTON (ABP)—Reforming bloggers who have challenged the Southern Bap-tist Convention establishment for the past two years are consolidating their efforts to create a new Internet presence they say will be the “premier site for Southern Baptist news and commentary.”

Ben Cole, Marty Duren and other SBC bloggers—whose call to open the closely held power structure of the SBC prompted anger from the denomination’s leaders—have said they would reduce the focus on convention issues in their individual blogs.

But they have agreed to collaborate, continuing their calls for reform on one blog—www.sbcoutpost.com—a weblog that had been administered only by Duren, a Buford, Ga., pastor. He could not be reached for comment, but a news release said the site will “provide a forum for ministry ideas, missionary support, church revitalization and denominational reform.”

“I think most bloggers are stepping back to let the convention rest,” both for personal and strategic reasons, said Cole, a pastor in Arlington. “You can’t maintain a full offense for an undetermined period of time.”

At the same time, the conversation about SBC issues continues forward, he said. And he hopes to increase participation in the blogs.

“The new SBCoutpost is an effort to get the conversation in one place,” he said, adding 50,000 people visited the site in two weeks.

In addition to Cole and Duren, SBCoutpost will feature at least nine contributors, mostly pastors.

One prominent blogger who will not be closely associated with the new collaboration is Wade Burleson, the Oklahoma pastor whose writings about the SBC International Mission Board trustees brought blogging to the attention of many Southern Baptists.

“I may every now and then contribute to the Outpost, but I like the immediacy of having your own blog,” Burleson said.

The exact nature of SBCoutpost—whether blog or news service or some combination—still is undetermined. The bloggers’ press release noted “the day has passed for monopolies in news and information.” But at least initially, the site is less likely to generate and distribute news stories than to offer a forum to discuss them. Cole said SBCoutpost won’t replace existing news services.

One blog feature Cole said he expects SBCoutpost to continue is the distribution of “primary sources.”

“Largely, blogging has been providing documentation that has never been seen before,” Cole said. “This is different in that a whole document or a whole letter has been provided, rather than an edited version in a news story.”

Hannah Elliott of ABP contributed to this article.

Posted: 7/20/07

Book Reviews

Me to We: Finding Meaning in a Material World by Craig Kielburger and Marc Kielburger (Fireside)

This book is written by two brothers who caught the vision of service to others. Life is very simple when you choose to live the “me to we” philosophy. From the founding of charitable organizations to the testimonies from the famous and the common, the authors present examples of how to find meaning in a material world.

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

Craig Kielberger started the Free the Children organization in his home to combat child slavery and persecution. Marc Kielberger’s story begins with his immersion into the slums of Bangkok, Thailand. He co-founded the Leaders Today organization, which gives young people the opportunity for hands-on experience in schools and communities around the world.

This book is unique because the conclusion of each chapter lists action items for the reader. The authors’ intent is that the reader takes action to implement the “me to we” lifestyle. This is a great book for anyone interested in or being called to serve in missions.

Jerry Bradley, president

Children at Heart Ministries

Round Rock

The Divine Appointment by Jerome Teel (Howard Fiction

)

What does the murder of a young lawyer in middle Tennessee have to do with the appointment of a new Supreme Court justice in Washington, D.C.? It takes a young journalist, with the help of an anonymous caller, to fit the pieces of the puzzle together—if he manages to live long enough, that is.

Jerome Teel’s second book, The Divine Appointment, weaves together a murder in Tennessee and the political machinations revolving around the appointment of a new Supreme Court justice. As in any political thriller, what ensues is murder and intrigue that spans the entire East Coast. The president believes he is in the White House “for such a time as this.” Will he play the political games, or will he trust in God?

Teel has done it again. In the best tradition of Clancy and Grisham, The Divine Appointment keeps us guessing while reminding us God is in control. If you like the modern-day thriller minus “pepper words” and compromising situations, you’ll love The Divine Appointment.

Kathryn Aragon

First Baptist Church

Duncanville

The Sermon on the Mount: A Theological Investigation by Carl G. Vaught (Baylor University Press)

The late Carl G. Vaught, distinguished professor of philosophy at Baylor University, has provided a wealth of keen insights to the Sermon on the Mount. Although I have preached through Matthew 5-7 in its entirety on at least two other occasions, Vaught’s nuanced reading of the biblical text inspired me to prepare and preach a sermon series that would cover 10 months in 2006-07. It was a time that I will look back upon as being a marker in my own spiritual life.

While there is no shortage of commentary material on the Sermon on the Mount, Vaught avoids the verbosity that characterizes several of the more well-known, historical works in this genre. Having read Vaught’s book, I will forever read Matthew 5-7 with a different eye.

Bobby C. Dagnel, pastor

First Baptist Church

Lubbock

Posted: 7/20/07

Pieces fall in place to restore passion

By Whitney Farr

Communications intern 

LA LUZ, Mexico—As Texans Saul Roldan and his son Emmanuel prepared for a mission trip to Mexico, Philemon, a pastor in La Luz, was losing his passion for Christ, dropped out of the ministry and began questioning his salvation altogether.

Philemon prayed for restored passion, but he felt God was not listening.

And that’s where their stories connect.

The Roldans left San Antonio equipped with Bibles, EvangeCubes and magic tricks for La Luz, where their team was scheduled to do medical missions.

“Magic tricks helped me break the ice, because everyone likes to be surprised,” Emmanuel said. “The simplest trick would blow them away, and they would look at me like I was a celebrity, which I used as an avenue to explain how in life it’s easy to be fooled.”

Emmanuel made coins “disappear,” which captivated Philemon’s children. So, Emmanuel began sharing the story of Jesus with them as his father looked on.

Philemon came over to see what grabbed his children’s attention and met Saul Roldan. As Philemon spoke of tough issues concerning God’s sovereignty, losing his salvation and not feeling God’s presence in his life anymore, Emmanuel wondered if his dad would be able to give the man any answers or encouragement.

“When my dad finally got to speak, I was blown away,” Emmanuel said.

After Philemon shared with Roldan that he felt God had dropped him because of mistakes he made recently and his lack of fervor for Christ, Roldan explained that a Christian’s spiritual journey is not all about feelings. He then answered the question of abandonment by asking Philemon about his own children.

He asked if Philemon’s kids had ever disappointed him. After Philemon nodded, Roldan asked, “But they are still your kids, right?”

“We are God’s children, and no matter what we do or how far we stray, we are still his,” Roldan stressed.

The man asked again: If he were still a child of God, why wasn’t God listening to him? Why wasn’t God answering his prayers and pleas for a divine intervention and a spiritual renewal?

The puzzle was coming together. Everything was connecting.

“We’ve planned this trip for a year, and if the whole purpose of this trip was for God to use me to talk to you, it was all worth it. God has heard your cry and answered your prayer,” Roldan said. “He has orchestrated all this perfectly so that I could talk to you.”

Emmanuel was in awe, thinking about the big picture God was painting and the little, but important, role he and his father had played.

“I was like, ‘Wow, Dad, I had never thought of it that way.’ If I hadn’t gone up to those kids with the cube, my dad may have never come by,” Emmanuel said. “I was so proud of my dad—he never held back. I really admire that about him.”

The Roldans participated in a trip to minister to an unreached people group in Mexico through the Baptist General Convention of Texas Border/Mexico Missions. Such trips are supported by the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions and the BGCT Cooperative Program.

Posted: 7/20/07

Border, upstate churches team up
to press gospel deep into Mexico

By Whitney Farr

Communications Intern

A LUZ, Mexico—Sixty-two indigenous people groups call Mexico their home. And after 100 years of Baptist mission work, half of them still have not heard the Christian gospel.

The Baptist General Convention of Texas’ Border/ Mexico Missions program is changing that by connecting Texas Baptist churches along the Mexico border with Baptist churches in other parts of the state for mission trips to unreached people groups. The partnerships allow border churches with cultural and linguistic expertise to cooperate with churches that have money to support extensive mission efforts.

“For 38 years, Texas churches have gone to the border for mission trips,” explained Dexton Shores, director of BGCT Border/ Mexico Missions for the past eight years. “We thought it was time that the border churches be senders instead of recipients.”

Members of New Hope First Baptist Church in Cedar Park, Northwest Hispanic Baptist Church in San Antonio and Trinidad Baptist Church in Laredo traveled 29 hours by bus to the state of Oaxaca, Mexico, where they reached out to people through Vacation Bible School, leadership training, medical and dental clinics, hair cuts and evangelistic films in Santa Maria, San Marcos and La Luz.

“We made history here,” said Saul Roldan of Northwest Hispanic Baptist Church. “They had never experienced anything like this before.”

Just a week earlier, Christian evangelicals were kicked out of nearby Juquila, dumped 50 miles away and threatened with death if they ever came back.

Amazingly, city officials in San Marcos allowed the Texas Baptists to conduct their outreach from a basketball court in the center of the community, just behind the Catholic church, Shores reported.

“And even more amazing than that, … the village’s mayor offered his personal bathrooms for us to use, came to the Vacation Bible School and participated in the pledge of allegiance to the Bible and the Christian flag,” he added. “There was no hostility toward us as Christians, whatsoever.”

The BGCT’s effort to evangelize unreached people groups in Mexico is supported in part by the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions.

In the three villages, Guillermo Lozano, a physician, treated 218 patients; 129 people received dental attention; 101 people got haircuts; 85 Christians were trained in church leadership; and 131 people made decisions to become Christians.

A 27-year-old woman who visited the clinic described how extreme pain from arthritis had stolen her will to live. Elizabeth Ochoa of Trinidad Baptist Church told the woman how God healed her arthritis.

“She had given up on life,” Ochoa said. “We were able to minister to her and tell her about the Ultimate Healer. She accepted Christ and left happy. To see the expression on her face change was so rewarding. We saw the hand of God that day.”

In San Marcos, a five-foot-deep ditch in the road made travel to the clinic difficult. So, Saul Juarez of Northwest Hispanic Baptist Church and some men from the village brought two truckloads of rock and another load of dirt and filled in the hole.

“They were amazed that we would serve them like that,” Juarez said with a huge smile. “I attribute the salvations that night to all the hard work those men did that day.”

A drunken man who wanted to stop drinking alcohol because it was destroying his life and his family visited with Roldan and Rudy Cantu of Northwest Hispanic Baptist Church.

“Seeing him hand his life over to Jesus—that was something else,” Roldan said.

Something strong enough to offset many Texans’ reluctance to go deep into Mexico because of the long travel time, rough conditions and financial costs, Shores said.

“Not only is it worth the visible results and the privilege to minister to churches who feel so forgotten, but it is worth it for the change we will see in the people who were served,” he said. “You can’t put a dollar amount on that.”

Posted: 7/20/07

Posted: 7/20/07

Want your kids to keep faith?
Take a chance on college degree

By Michelle C. Rindels

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Apparently the ivory tower is not undermining the faith, after all.

A new study from the University of Texas indicates college graduates are far more likely to maintain their religious beliefs and practices than those who never attended college.

Researchers found four-year college students and graduates are least likely to neglect church attendance, say religion is less important in their lives or abandon their faith altogether. Those who do not pursue a degree are the most likely to leave religion behind.

“Many people assume college is public enemy No. 1 for religion,” said assistant professor of sociology Mark Regnerus, author of Forbidden Fruit: Sex and Religion in the Lives of American Teenagers. “But we found young adults who don’t experience college are far more likely to turn away from religion.”

Jeremy Uecker, a graduate student and lead author of the study, said the findings suggest the culture of campuses is changing.

“Religion and spirituality are becoming more accepted in higher education, both in intellectual circles and in campus life,” he said. “Religious students are encountering a much less hostile environment than in years past.”

Among those least likely to leave their faith are Jews, Catholics and black Protestants, who often tie religion to cultural heritage.

Women, Southerners and individuals whose parents still are married also are unlikely to abandon religion.

Researchers drew from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, which tracked more than 10,000 Americans from adolescence through early adulthood from 1994 to 1995 and again from 2001 to 2002.

The complete study, titled “Losing My Religion,” appears in the June 2007 issue of the sociology journal Social Forces.

Posted: 7/20/07

Ministry to children changes
moms’ & dads’ lives, too

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

Children’s pastors across the country continue to reach families by first reaching children.

Parents—Christian and non-Christian alike—want what’s best for their respective families, children’s ministry leaders report. Parents want their children to be brought up correctly and loved in a physically, emotionally and spiritually safe environment.

When churches provide that environment, they gain opportunities to minister to parents as well as their children, explained Art Murphy, director of Arrow Ministries, a children’s ministry consulting firm.

Adults are looking for services that assist them in raising their children, Murphy noted.

“We have so much opportunity to reach unsaved people because the world is looking for help,” he said.

Jeanette Harvey, minister to children and preteens at First Baptist Church in Port Neches, said she regularly sees families become part of her congregation after the church initially met the needs of a child.

Harvey told about a young girl who attended Sunday school with a friend and learned about the church’s upcoming Vacation Bible School. She enjoyed Sunday school and invited her brother to come with her to VBS. The children liked that and invited their mother to church. Now, the entire family is part of the congregation.

Harvey has followed the same principle in her own life, choosing to become a member of a church that first ministered to her children. “When the church reached out to my toddlers, that’s the one I wanted to go to,” she recalled.

To serve parents, churches must design children’s ministries to reach out to them as well, said Diane Lane, Baptist General Convention of Texas preschool/children’s ministry specialist.

The ministries may include parenting classes, keeping parents informed about what is being taught in Bible study and inviting parents to participate in children’s activities.

“The children are a gate to the family, but use that also to educate the parents,” she said.

A comprehensive children’s ministry that also reaches adults requires leaders to design the effort to achieve that purpose. “It’s not babysitting,” said Deborah Upton, associate pastor for children at First Baptist Church in Richmod, Va. “It’s a ministry where we are partnering with parents in the spiritual development of their children. We want to offer something that is quality and meets that need.”

Posted: 7/20/07

LET THE LITTLE CHILDREN COME:
Children need worship role models

By George Henson

Staff Writer

An increasing number of churches offer separate worship services for children, but that may not be what is best for either the children or the church, many children’s ministry professionals agree.

The faith formation of children is greatly enhanced by not separating them for children’s church but by letting them remain with adults, said Diane Smith, children’s ministry strategist for the Baptist General Association of Virginia.

Her advice to the congregations who call her about starting a children’s church is simple—“Don’t do it.”

“Cutting-edge churches … are equipping the parents to be the faith-formers for their children,” Smith said.

And children’s church typically begins at what is developmentally the worst possible time, said one children’s minister forced by the congregation’s pastor to hold a separate worship service for children.

“The age where you pull them out of worship is really the age where they are really modeling (behavior after) their parents,” he said. “There’s a time in the life of a child, around 5 or 6, when they are really looking for those models, and it’s just at that time that we’re separating them.

“Also, if you don’t have them in the bigger church, it takes them longer to transition into worship. At age 4 or 5, it may take them a year to adjust. At later ages, they may never adjust, because they’re always looking for something just for them.”

The minister—who feared he would be fired if identified—insisted the concept of a separate children’s worship service in itself does not trouble him.

“I don’t mind having another worship experience for children, but not at the time when families have the opportunity to worship together,” he said. “Sunday night or Wednesday night—I’m OK with that, but we need to keep families together for Sunday morning worship.

Still, more churches are moving toward a separate worship service for children on Sunday morning, said Diane Lane, preschool and children’s ministry specialist with the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

When they call for advice, she starts with a question: “Why are you thinking about doing this?”

“Sometimes, I hear, ‘We need to separate the children because sometimes we talk about adult issues,’ but I question what we need to talk about that children don’t need to be involved in,” she said. “And then some people say children need visual things to help them in worship. But my response to them is to give them a blank sheet of paper and a box of crayons, and oftentimes children will draw something that has to do with what the pastor is talking about.

“Really, what I suggest for churches considering children’s church is to include the children in worship, but most of them have already made up their minds.”

Involving children in worship also is Smith’s counsel. She advocates letting children be greeters in the foyer with their parents, as well as reading Scripture as a part of the service. While younger children might not have necessary reading skills, she said they enjoy seeing older children taking part and thinking of the day when they will be old enough.

Children’s songs as calls to worship also help them feel included. She noted a few churches have brought in rocking chairs for children who still enjoyed being held in their mother’s lap.

Lane said she did not know of any children’s ministers who advocated a separate worship service for children, but many have them because of the wishes of either the pastor or parents.

But since so many churches still continue with plans for a children’s church, Lane offers tips for those churches.

“They need to get a think-tank together of parents, workers and a staff liaison to talk about what’s going to happen before they do anything else,” she suggested.

“A set of constant elements (must be) present weekly, or it just becomes a play time.”

Each week, children need Bible study, singing, an offering and application of the lesson.

Another constant should be the adults involved, Lane said. “Many churches have teams who come in sporadically on a rotation basis, and those adults are not comfortable and don’t really know what’s going to happen. The children then act up because they are more comfortable than the adults are,” she said.

She also recommends a set curriculum and said LifeWay Christian Resources’ “Worship KidStyle” is the best she has seen.

Age limitation is vital, she stressed.

“When you get multi-ages of children in a room, it is hard to teach them to respect one another, and the older children will probably pick on the younger ones,” Lane said, specifically discouraging participation by children older than second grade.

“At some point, children are going to need to be included in the body of worship,” she said. “If they are in a separate worship service, are they going to see people walk the aisle, see people baptized? Are they going to witness the rituals of the faith?”

Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas has had success with preparing children for worship. Five-year-olds spend nine months learning how to understand and take part in worship. The program, designed by Tommy Sanders, now director of the master’s degree program in Christian education for children’s ministry at Dallas Baptist University, runs concurrent with the school year.

The children attend the first part of the worship service with their parents and then adjourn to another room, where they learn and discuss a different aspect of worship each month. Topics include prayer, the role of the ministers, the offering, baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

“It’s not children’s worship,” said Sanders, who developed the program while on staff at Park Cities. “It’s an educational format.”

The result has been positive.

“Children are getting more out of worship, and parents don’t feel their children are being dumped into the service for an hour all at once. This way, they get a taste of it each week and at the same time are being taught about what worship is,” he said, noting the end design is to prepare children to worship with their families.

“There are appropriate times for children’s worship, but in both the Old Testament and the New Testament, you see children worshipping with their families,” Sanders said.

One reason Sanders believes it is important to have children with their parents in worship is to increase their relationship.

Once, he noted, children grew up alongside their parents, who taught them everything—household skills like sewing and cooking, how to care for animals. They taught them spiritual lessons as well.

“I don’t want to say that children’s worship is right or wrong. Every situation is different,” Sanders said. “For our church, the real question was, ‘What’s best for the child long term?’ Parents are a child’s primary teacher, so who better to equip to teach and lead in worship than parents?”

Posted: 7/20/07

A truly ‘heavenly’ cup of coffee

By Whitney Farr

Communications Intern

Try to imagine coffee with a higher calling than jolting people awake.

Sam Say, a Baptist layman from Hong Kong, hopes coffee-lovers throughout the United States and Canada will bless struggling people in Southeast Asia by indulging in a gourmet cup of coffee, beginning next summer.

Say is teaching farming methods that will multiply crop production, provide food security and dignified income, and create sustainable access to poor farmers’ processed coffee.

The plan begins with meeting physical needs of the poor and moves to sharing spiritual blessings God wants everyone to hear, Say reported.

“It’s not just about conversion, it’s about transformation,” he said.

The plan offers farmers two options: A resident program allows landless families to work at a demonstration farm full-time for two years and eventually move to develop their own government-granted land. A nonresident program offers short-term training for farmers who already work on their own farms but need additional skills for maximum production.

“The overall goal is to provide practical training … to all subsistence farmers, help the landless farmers establish their own family farms and fund the good work with the income generated through the full supply-chain coffee business,” Say said. “The ultimate focus is to share the love of God and bring hope … and peace.”

On a trip to Texas, Say sought support for his ministry and information for improving the demonstration farm.

Say met with George Chapman, a cattle breeder from Amarillo; staff of the Baptist General Convention of Texas; pastors from the Dallas area; Amie Sarker, Wayne Russell and Randy Byers from Dallas Baptist University; and Dick Talley, Ron Mathis and Steve Paris of Texas Baptist Men.

Texas Baptist Men provided 16 water filters, which Say is taking back to the demonstration farm. They will provide pure drinking water on the farm for about a year. Say also discussed drilling wells and using surface water with his Texas hosts.

“We believe water is our entry—that we can go in and help people by providing water, so others can tell them of the Living Water,” Mathis explained.

Because Christians are persecuted in parts of Southeast Asia, he is careful about how he evangelizes. Besides aiming to show God’s love through his attitude and service to the people, Say offers to pray with hurting people. He also hopes farmers will see the love of Christ in Christian volunteers who come to serve.

“Short- and long-term volunteers who have experience in farming, medical skills, coffee processing and construction skills are needed,” Say said. “But mostly, I ask for prayers and future coffee subscriptions.”

A subscriber would pay $200 and receive two bags of coffee every two weeks for a year, directly from the farms in Southeast Asia. “If you are buying coffee from elsewhere, we can meet that need better,” Say said.

The money would go directly to the farm and its workers, he said. It will provide for needs of people who live on less than a dollar a day.

“This allows people to help the greater goal of reaching this closed country,” Say said. “We would like to see coffee-drinking being used for a bigger purpose.”

For more information, contact LaVern Plett at (972) 822-3380 or lplett@msn.com, or contact Say at samsay@netvigator.com.

Posted: 7/20/07

2nd Opinion: Immigration & evangelism

By Juan Castro

As a pastor of a Hispanic church, it always has confounded me how so many Christians can reject undocumented Latinos in this country.

I realize there is a great deal of discussion about legality and illegality. Nevertheless, as Christians, we should seek what the Bible has to say about immigration.

What would Jesus do with illegal immigrants? Would Jesus worry about the legal status of an individual, or would he first focus on their evident spiritual need and hunger? Is the Bible in favor or against illegal immigration? Unfortunately, the answers to these questions have been clouded by controversy within the church body.

Some will quote passages of the Bible, such as, “Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities,” (Titus 3:1) or 1 Peter 2:13, “Submit yourself to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake.” Many Christians use passages like these to indicate biblical support for ousting illegal immigrants.

Are these Bible passages absolute teachings against any condition, or are they subject to divine and evangelistic principles? For example, we all know of Christians who are residing in “forbidden” countries where Christianity is not accepted. Part of our church offering goes to missionaries who are imbedded in foreign countries where Christianity is illegal. Are Christians sharing the gospel in these countries breaking the law? Yes, they are. They are not respecting the laws of those countries that forbid the teachings of Jesus. This evangelistic undertaking in countries where Christianity is banned indicates we believe evangelism supersedes the government regulation against Christianity in those countries. Most of us pray continuously for these “illegal” missionaries.

We have a large group of immigrants who do not attend a Christian church. We have a great opportunity and responsibility to share the gospel of salvation with these illegal immigrants. God has sent them to our backyard so they may hear of the gospel that gives eternal life.

The Bible is clear in its support of aiding those “strangers in a strange land.” In several passages, God tells Christians what our behavior should be regarding foreigners. We should listen to the command issued in Leviticus 19:34, “The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself.” We read in the Old Testament that this was a law established by God in the context of his newly freed nation of Israel. Therefore, do God’s laws not supersede countries’ laws? Other passages such as Exodus 22:21, Leviticus 25:35, Numbers 35:15, Jeremiah 7:6 and Matthew 25:35 reiterate this command God gives us to show kindness to aliens. God does not make a distinction between illegal or legal immigrants.

Following the teachings of Jesus and the law established in Leviticus, we must love the immigrants just as we love ourselves. According to Matthew 25:38-40, Jesus teaches that when we open our home to an immigrant, we are doing it for him as well. He does indeed make a clear distinction between those with an open heart for the suffering stranger and those who would persecute them.

These passages are laws intended to be sealed in the hearts of God’s children. God assumed people could go from country to country without having to have special permission to live in those countries.

We should recall that Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus had to flee from the persecution of King Herod. The angel of God did not tell Joseph to go and get a visa to be able to enter Egypt, because it would be wrong to not do so. Jesus himself was preaching in different regions of Palestine in which he, as a Jew, was not welcomed to go.

A few days ago, I received e-mail from a person whom I consider to be a Christian, asking me how I would deal with an illegal immigrant. My answer was that as a Christian, it is not up to me to concern myself with an individual’s immigration status, but rather concern myself with their spiritual and eternal status. The Apostle Paul reminds us that we, ourselves, are strangers and pilgrims in this land, “But our citizenship is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20).

Juan Castro is pastor of Vida Abundante in Longview and professor of finance and international business at LeTourneau University in Longview.

Posted: 7/20/07

DOWN HOME:
It’s not too late to say some things

Do you ever feel so overwhelmed with relief and gratitude to God you just about don’t know what to do with yourself? If the highest mountain were nearby, you’d climb it, just to shout to God how thankful you are. I feel that way this evening.

Two weeks ago, my buddy Glen thought he had the flu. A week ago, Glen wasn’t in good enough shape to think about anything, but his family and friends feared he was about to die. His liver was failing. The doctors didn’t know why, but they considered just about every horrible thing you can imagine. Tonight, he’s still a pretty sick guy, but his liver is functioning and he told his wife, Nancy, he just wants to go home.

And tonight, the world looks misty and sparkly for all of us who love him. Tears do that.

Glen was a BMOC—Big Man on Campus—when I was a mere freshman at Hardin-Simmons University “back in the day.” He was president of the Baptist Student Union. I remember he had long hair (but we all did then), rosy cheeks and a warm, affable way of talking that made even freshmen feel like they mattered to him. Everybody knew Glen.

Thank God, I really got to know Glen about nine years ago, when he became pastor of a church not far from my office. We planned lunch because we thought we should, so we could talk about mutual friends and professors. But before we finished chips and salsa, we started talking about the stuff of our lives—our wives and children, our jobs, our aspirations and frustrations, our faith and struggles for faith, our dogs, our city and Baptists—all that really matters. By the time we argued over the check, we were deep friends.

Years later, I can’t tell you how many times Glen and I have met for lunch. We get together in other places, too, but our lunch conversations have enriched my life. We always laugh. Sometimes, because we’re funny; sometimes, to keep from crying. But we laugh. And talk. The wisdom of Glen’s perspective keeps me sane. His humor keeps me joyous. And his love for God and for people keeps me passionate, too.

As Glen lay in the hospital, I thought about him almost constantly, and I realized what I admire most about him and why I love him so much: He’s honest, transparent and vulnerable.

I remembered our friend George’s description, that Glen “preaches his guts out” because that’s who he is. He’s candid and honest and feels things intensely. Sometimes, he looks directly at hard things, but he makes others look at them, too, and we’re better for it. Selfishly, I mourned for how my life would be diminished if Glen weren’t around to make me look.

One of the things I regretted last week was that I might not get to tell him how much I love him and admire him—his courage, his transparency and vulnerability, his goofy humor, his loving passion. When he gets better, we’ll go back to that restaurant. And I’ll tell him.