Posted: 7/10/07

BaptistWay Bible Series for July 22

All for nothing

• Ecclesiastes 1:12—2:17, 22-23

By Emily Burrows

Hardin-Simmons University, Abilene

Have you ever tried to excel at one thing in particular? Have you ever endeavored to be the one with the most money, the nicest car, the best job or the highest status?

Competition is a way of life for many people. Take for instance reality and competitive television shows. “The Bachelor,” “Survivor,” “The Amazing Race,” “Grease: You’re The One That I Want” and “American Idol” all are shows based on winning and competing to be the best; and for what?

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If a woman is deemed the best on “The Bachelor,” she marries the bachelor, but will the marriage last? Past episodes have proven the marriages are easily dissolved. In “Survivor” and “The Amazing Race,” I cannot even tell you what the winner is awarded. “Grease” and “American Idol” are shows about climbing the ladder to fame and fortune, but several years after the fact, is the winner even remembered?

The underlying theme of these shows is winning affords no one complete happiness and meaning in life, but instead allows fame for a short time, a sum of money and the satisfaction of knowing that you have won.

Finding meaning

The writer of Ecclesiastes—commonly thought to be King Solomon, the wisest and most affluent king of Israel—noted this theme in his life as well. He evaluated his life and found everything to have been done in vain. The Preacher took it upon himself to search out all things done on earth by men (1:12-13). He set out to find what meaning these tasks might have, ending at the conclusion that “all is vanity and chasing after the wind” (v. 14).

The same elusive meaning in life is what we search for when we look to better our lives. The Preacher gained wisdom and knowledge, enjoyed every pleasure that wealth could afford, amassed great wealth and grew fantastic gardens and orchards, and to what end: a meaningless end (1:16-17; 2:1, 5, 8, 11). What the Preacher found was that even though these things can be good and pleasurable, they were not anything that could satisfy on a long-term basis.

In my own life, I compete for grades and knowledge, but in the end, obtaining an “A” in a class is a short-term satisfaction. I will not take that A to heaven with me, just as the Preacher could not take his wealth, pleasure, gardens and wisdom to heaven with him (2:16, 21).

Fools and wise men

The gravity of the situation only grows more dismal as you read through chapter 2. The king finds that in all his wisdom, he is no better than the fool, for he will die just as the fool will die (v. 16). He then concludes he hates life and the labor of life because it is vanity and that after all his work, he will die and someone else will take over his kingdom, and that person may be wise or may be foolish (vv. 17-19).

The immense despair felt here is not to be overlooked. His emotional response to this dark outlook on life leads him to discuss the meaninglessness of labor to the point that he proclaims it to be vain and evil (v. 21). If the same fate befalls the wise and the foolish, then what is the point? Should we then abstain from finding meaning in life? Do we despair at finding hope, and instead be content to go through life devoid of true fulfillment?

What it all means

In conclusion, we find the Preacher was correct—in all our searching and doing, we do not find lasting meaning or fulfillment. Rather, we find ourselves strangely empty and lacking that thing which makes us feel alive. He gives a partial solution to this emptiness in 2:24-26 in which he talks of eating, drinking and enjoying labor because that is from God. Next week more of the Preacher’s solutions will be uncovered.

But for now, the answer to the Preacher’s question, and indeed our own questions, lies in the hope of the New Testament. Taking into account Colossians 3:12-17, we find that Paul lists characteristics of a Christian, ending his account with the exhortation to the Colossians, and to us, to give thanks to God in all things done, serving God and thereby breathing meaning into all that is done.

Discussion question

• What activities, hobbies or pleasures do you engage in that leave you without lasting meaning?

• What activities allow you to see there is more than just the here and now—that there is a God who transcends our earthly endeavors and breathes meaning into what we do?

• Think back to a time when you despaired of all of life’s insignificant activities. Why did you despair? Why did your efforts for finding meaning seem to be worthless? What steps did you take that made a difference?

Emily Burrows is a master of arts in family ministry student at Hardin-Simmons University’s Logsdon Theological Seminary.

Posted: 7/10/07

Bible Studies for Life Series for July 22

Sharing Christ in All Places

• Acts 13:1-3; Acts 14:1-7; Acts 14:21-23

By David Harp

First Baptist Church, Stanton

Coach John Wooden is 95 years old and still going. His players still respect and revere him. But they still can recall those first practices when the legendary coach spent two practices teaching his players, some high school All-American’s, how to put on their socks correctly. The next practice was given on how to properly lace up the tennis shoe. Were they really in the right place? Had Coach Wooden lost his ability to coach today’s players? His record speaks for itself:

–Ten national championships in twelve years.

–88 consecutive wins. Over seven years a record of 205-5.

–38 consecutive wins in the NCAA tournament.

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Coach Wooden still had the stuff to coach young men of today.

Coach Wooden believed in his Pyramid of Success. Former NBA all-star Bill Walton says he still carries Coach Wooden’s “pyramid of success” in his wallet. When he experiences a bad day, he pulls it out, unfolds it and reads it again, and feels uplifted.

The key to Coach Wooden’s great success over so many seasons was his ability to bring individuals together to form a team and get the team to work together for a purpose – to win.

In the church we realize that we are many individuals who have come together to form a team. We have a goal in mind and that goal is to reach new people with the gospel.

We ask ourselves, “What does God want us to do with the Gospel?”

God calls local churches to be actively involved in the birth and the growth of other churches.

Go (Acts 13:1-3)

The church at Antioch was a worshipping, praying church. The Holy Spirit said to the Christians at Antioch, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them” (13:2). From the very beginning, this is the work to which the church has been called – to take the gospel to the world. We find this command in all four gospels as well.

If a church is not concerned with missions, they are ignoring the major task Jesus left with us in this world. A missions’ endeavor is not an isolated event, but it is to be done within the context of the church’s overall ministry and with the affirmation of the church body. Your church may be more involved in missions than you think.

Your church can give to missions to help financially. Your church can pray for missionaries and missions and this will help spiritually.

Your church can set apart many or few who are willing to go directly and this will help personally. Your church can develop share times and study groups which will encourage and develop young mission leaders for the future.

You can check out the IMB or NAMB or BGCT or other websites to gain ideas to share with your church of prayer needs about missions.

The BGCT sends out many student missionaries every summer across the United States and beyond to share the gospel. For many years now our church has worked with BGCT in sending out students with the Music and Missions Ministry. (formerly Texas Baptist All-State Youth Choir and Band)

Evangelize (Acts 14:1-7)

When we have the opportunity to share the gospel in a new setting, we must keep in mind that many people will not readily accept the gospel because of their own ingrained religious beliefs.

In spite of opposition, the gospel is shared in the New Testament. Paul and Barnabas left a loving, worshipping church back home in Antioch and now went from city to city on a missionary journey. Frank Pollard used to say that everywhere Paul and Barnabas went either a riot or a revival broke out. This is especially true as we read Acts 14:1-7.

Paul and Barnabas did not immediately leave Iconium simply because they faced opposition. They continued to proclaim the truth and left only when their lives were threatened. Their mission of evangelizing and sharing the gospel did not change. They kept sharing as they went from town to town.

Strengthen (Acts 14:21-23)

On their return to Antioch, Paul and Barnabas went through the towns in which they previously shared the gospel and planted churches. In each town, they encouraged the believers, taught them, and appointed leaders.

Mission work involves evangelizing but it also involves teaching and discipling new believers. Paul and Barnabas strengthened the new work also by encouraging new leadership within the church. We sometimes think of encouragement as saying positive things, but Paul and Barnabas offered encouragement by reminding the believers that they would experience troubles. We can offer encouragement by not glossing over difficulties but by helping people prepare for them.

We are individuals, yet we make up a team called the church. God gives us a mission in the world to follow. We are to share His love and His message of hope with the rest of the world. We must work together to accomplish this goal for the good of the team. One day Bill Walton decided he was tired of Coach Wooden and his “rules.”

Walton was going to grow a beard, which broke a team rule. Coach Wooden didn’t get upset at Walton. Instead, he told him, “Bill, I admire a man who takes a stand for something he really believes in. We are really going to miss you on this team.” By next practice, a clean-shaven and apologetic Bill Walton was back for practice – with the team!

Discussion Questions

How can you help your church identify ways to “Go” and share the gospel?

How does your church “set apart” persons for missionary purposes?

In what ways can we encourage believers today?

Posted: 7/10/07

Explore the Bible Series for July 22

Zechariah calls us to dependence

• Zechariah 4:1-14

By Kathryn Aragon

First Baptist Church, Duncanville

In a world obsessed with power and authority, independence is the goal. Success is associated with being your own boss and having the last word.

On the other hand, in God’s kingdom, greatness is achieved through total dependence on God. To the worldly mindset, this can seem like regression, not spiritual growth. Is God really calling his children to be immature and weak?

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God’s ways are not man’s ways. What appears as weakness in the world is considered strength with God. Our tendency to bring the world’s wisdom into the church, to relate to God according to the world’s values, causes us to miss the mark. God isn’t impressed by our work value or the number of hours we spend at church. God didn’t call us to be busy. He called us to be still and lean on him.

If we really want to glorify God, we need to slow down and get to know God. And then, once we have learned to lean on him for our strength, wisdom and direction, we will please him through our dependence on him and our commitment to him.

Dependence begins with trust

Let’s face it—leaning on someone demands a great deal of trust in that person. If our goal is easy religion, a concert-going mentality or punch-card religion performed through tithes and small chores, we aren’t going to achieve it.

Trust is dependence. It means placing your life in God’s hands, depending on him to keep you safe and lead you through life’s ups and downs. It’s the belief that God’s words are entirely true and trustworthy.

Sometimes the idea of God is more comforting than God himself. We want to believe in him because we need to know there’s someone out there stronger and more knowledgeable than we are.

But the actual presence of God isn’t comfortable at all. His holiness and perfection undermine our confidence and demand a response. Our relationship with him, therefore, is often stifled. At the point we decide we cannot become more like him, we raise a barrier that keeps us from having to deal with him.

If we are going to trust God, we must fully grasp his nature. His holiness isn’t meant to shut us down, and becoming more like him isn’t meant to limit us. God is good. He is nothing but good. And he desires only good for his children:

• Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. (James 1:17)

• And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

• Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things. (Psalm 107:8-9)

Dependence seeks God’s will

If we have tested God’s strength and faithfulness and found him trustworthy, we are much more able to depend on him. True dependence demands we also allow God to direct our lives to accomplish his goals rather than our own.

God created man to fellowship with him and to bring glory to himself. Each of us was created for a purpose. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). Outside the will of God, it is impossible for us to achieve that purpose.

Each of us is different, created for a distinct purpose and equipped with the temperament and skills to fulfill that purpose. But uniqueness is uncomfortable. It makes us stand out in a crowd. Our tendency is to fit in, to denigrate our differences and develop our similarities. To achieve the goal of fitting in, we must look to other people for guidance. We must read magazines and watch TV to see what is socially acceptable. Once again, we miss the big picture.

If all of us would depend on God to tell us what we are supposed to look like, the world would be a much more colorful place. Instead of a vase of identical flowers, we would be a rich bouquet—some flowers small, some big, some colorful, some fragrant.

But to be comfortable with such variety, we must trust God. Rather than depending on the world to tell us what is right for all of us, we must depend on God to show us what is right for each of us individually. “This is what the Lord says—your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: ‘I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go’” (Isaiah 48:17).

God has a plan, and he wants each of us to have a part in that plan. However uncomfortable it may be to adapt our goals to God’s, there is a joy in knowing we are part of something bigger than ourselves. But it requires we take our focus off ourselves.

Dependence gives all the glory to God

When we take our eyes off God and his will, we can become obsessed with our own goals. We may continue to serve God, but without his guidance, we will serve him in ways that draw attention to ourselves rather than him. In our own strength, we can accomplish many great things for God. But all the glory goes to us.

Imagine what we could do if we allowed God to direct our efforts, depending on his Spirit as we strive—not to serve—but to glorify God. “‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty” (Zechariah 4:6). God’s will can only be accomplished when we operate in the Spirit. And that kind of dependence on God’s leadership brings the greatest glory to God.

As stated earlier, God doesn’t care about our work ethic or the number of hours we devote to him. He cares about our hearts and our eternity. That’s why he tries to keep the “work” of Christianity so simple. We are the ones who make it difficult. But we can simplify the matter if we will learn to keep our focus on God. By trusting him, allowing him to direct our lives and giving him the glory for everything we do, we accomplish everything God desires.

• “But let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord (Jeremiah 9:24).

• Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will (Romans 12:2).

Discussion questions

• It’s one thing to say a wobbly chair will hold you up; it’s another thing to trust your entire weight to the chair. Do you see God as a wobbly chair, pretty enough to keep in the room, but too weak to sit on?

• What’s the standard you use to measure your actions: approval from your peers, social expectations, popular magazines, TV or the Bible?

• How do you serve God, through busyness or stillness?

• Who gets the glory?

Posted: 7/08/07

CBF meets with American Baptists
for centennial celebration

By Patricia Heys

Associated Baptist Press

WASHINGTON (ABP)—More than 2,500 Baptists gathered June 28-29 for the annual Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in Washington. For the first time, it featured a joint gathering with the American Baptist Churches USA.

The service in Washington’s convention center marked the end of CBF’s annual general assembly and the beginning of ABC’s 100th anniversary celebration. Program organizers noted the joint ABC/CBF session had been five years in planning.

“This is an awesome God moment,” Roy Medley, ABC’s general secretary told the crowd of almost 4,000 participants, divided almost evenly between representatives of both groups.

The Baptists celebrated religious freedom and participated in workshops about congregational life, HIV/AIDS, immigration, women in ministry global poverty and hunger. They also took the first step toward joining the United Nations’ campaign against global poverty and disease, called the Millennium Development Goals.

In a break from business-as-usual during the national meeting, participants voted overwhelmingly to instruct their governing body to consider ways CBF can join other Christian groups to reach the United Nations Millennium Development goals.

CBF’s Coordinating Council will spend the next year investigating “the feasibility and means by which CBF might be involved” with other religious and non-governmental groups rallying behind the U.N.’s long-term and comprehensive campaign to eradicate hunger, poverty, AIDS, and crushing Third World debt.

The group also gave more than $22,000 to the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Offering for Religious Liberty and Human Rights. The Baptist World Alliance receives one-third of the proceeds. The other two-thirds are administered through partnering organizations with existing initiatives relating to human rights and religious liberty issues.

CBF’s portion this year will be shared with the European Baptist Federation, which works with governments and leaders to promote religious human rights. The federation consists of 51 member unions in Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East. The funds from the Fellowship’s offering will allow the federation members to travel to countries where religious freedom is threatened.

Emmanuel McCall, who ended his term as CBF moderator, introduced Harriet Harral of Fort Worth as the next moderator. He also spoke to the assembly about covenant relationships.

“How does CBF fulfill covenant with God?” McCall said. “We continue doing more of what we are doing. We are evangelizing by loving people into a relationship with God. We are evangelizing by dealing with the needs that people have, which if not addressed obscure our message. We are evangelizing by challenging unjust situations, the disparities and inequities of life.”

The cooperative event served as a predecessor to another gathering of Baptists—the New Baptist Covenant Celebration to be in 2008 in Atlanta. It will feature Baptists from more than 36 organizations.

“There’s a great deal of energy about the convergence of Baptists who are coming together to find fellowship, community and address great issues of our day, particularly around the issue of poverty,” Daniel Vestal, CBF’s executive coordinator, said. “I’ve never experienced anything like this in my lifetime.”

In his report to the Coordinating Council, Vestal cited the need for relationship covenants between national CBF and the state and regional CBF organizations, strategic prioritizing, improving interactive communications tools and creating a collaborative culture between staff, the council and CBF partners.

Revenue concerns prompted Vestal to name among the challenges “developing a culture of shared fundraising.”

“I think staff has done a good job trying to contain cost, minimize administration, reduce overlap, doing what we have to do and nothing more, but to you as a council in all candor, we have done all we can do,” Vestal said. “If we’re going to reduce costs any more, we have to ask ‘What are we really going to do?’”

In a Coordinating Council business session, a $16,481,000 budget was presented along with the nominating committee’s recommendations. Nominations included North Carolina pastor Jack Glasgow as moderator elect, Arkansas college professor Hal Bass as recorder, and individuals to serve on the national Coordinating Council, council on endorsement, and trustees for the CBF Foundation and Church Benefits Board. Also, an amendment to the bylaws was proposed that would recognize a CBF regional organization in the Midwest. All items were approved during the general session.

At the concluding general session, CBF and ABCUSA co-commissioned two couples to global missions service: Marcia and Duane Binkley, who will serve in the U.S. among Karen refugees, and Nancy and Steve James, who have been serving in Haiti as CBF affiliates.

“I am delighted that we are cooperating with American Baptists in joint appointments of the Binkleys and the Jameses to their respective places of ministry,” Rob Nash, CBF’s global missions coordinator, said. “These joint ventures send the signal that mission engagement in the 21st century is about collaboration for the good of God’s kingdom in the world.”

The previous evening, CBF commissioned 16 other missionaries to serve among the world’s most neglected people. Baptist World Alliance President David Coffey affirmed and challenged the new field personnel to continue to “face the world of spiritual lostness” by knowing the world and knowing the Bible.

“If you are going to be the presence of Christ in a broken world, it will not happen without risk-taking,” Coffey said. “These people you’ve seen commissioned here tonight are risk-takers.”

The 2008 CBF general assembly will be June 19-20 in Memphis, Tenn.

Hannah Elliott contributed to this article.

Posted: 7/06/07

Truett’s famed religious liberty
sermon recreated at D.C. event

By John Pierce

Baptists Today

WASHINGTON (ABP)—Eighty-seven years after George W. Truett thundered a call for separation of church and state to more than 10,000 Southern Baptists gathered in the nation’s capital, a smaller but more diverse group of Baptists paid tribute to the legendary pastor’s message and called for a renewed commitment to full religious liberty.

Sponsored by the Washington-based Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, the speeches took place near the Capitol building, where Truett, pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, gave his May 16, 1920, address.

While George Washington laid the physical cornerstone of the Capitol in 1793, “its true foundation is on the first freedom—freedom of religion,” Congressman Chet Edwards (D-Texas) said at the June 29 event..

Edwards said former Baylor University Chancellor Herb Reynolds gave him a copy of Truett’s sermon several years ago. The sermon “made an indelible imprint” on him and caused the defense of religious liberty to become his “political calling in life.”

“Our religious freedom must be protected by each generation,” Edwards said. “There are politicians in each generation, in the name of religion, who would do it great harm.”

Edwards and Congressman Bobby Scott (D-Va.) addressed the crowd, composed mostly of those attending meetings of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the American Baptist Churches, USA. Baptist Joint Committee Executive Director Brent Walker introduced Edwards and Scott as leading members of Congress committed to preserving religious liberty.

Scott spoke of current church-state challenges like President Bush’s Faith-Based Initiatives program that “allows discrimination with federal funds.” He urged Baptists committed to full religious liberty to “continue to make your voices heard.”

Alliance of Baptists leader Stan Hastey referenced the “sunny May day” in 1920 when Truett, influenced by John Bunyan’s Pilgrim Progress and Baptist newspapers that came to his North Carolina home, gave his famed address.

“By every account, it was a remarkable occasion,” said Hastey, whose introduction was followed by nine Baptist leaders reading excerpts from Truett’s lengthy and influential sermon.

Readers included Amy Butler of Washington’s Calvary Baptist Church; Steven Case of First Baptist Church of Mansfield, Penn.; Quinton Dixie of Indiana University-Purdue University; Pamela Durso of the Baptist History and Heritage Society; Jeffrey Haggray of the D.C. Baptist Convention; Robert Marus of Associated Baptist Press; Julie Pennington-Russell of First Baptist Church of Decatur, Ga.; Bill Underwood of Mercer University; and Daniel Vestal of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

“Toleration is a concession, while liberty is a right,” Vestal read from Truett’s sermon. “…God wants free worshippers or no other kind.” Haggray echoed Truett’s affirmation that religious liberty “was preeminently a Baptist achievement.”

Large sections of Truett’s address, not read at the Baptist Unity Rally for Religious Liberty, dealt with Baptist doctrines and even challenged Roman Catholic theology and practice. Yet Truett concluded that “a Baptist would rise at midnight to plead for absolute religious liberty for his Catholic neighbor, and for his Jewish neighbor, and for everybody else.”

At the rally’s conclusion, BJC general counsel Holly Hollman said the religious liberty enjoyed by Americans today is worth the efforts of Truett and others before and since.

“Religious liberty is our right, and its protection our responsibility,” Hollman said.

Posted: 7/06/07

CYBER COLUMN:
Reading all the way through

This morning, I read a long hammerfest by the prophet Amos against a collection of evil nations—the Syrians, Philistines, Tyre, Edomites, Ammonites, Moabites … and so forth. I asked myself how this particular prophecy would speak to the rest of my day.

It was several years ago when I first decided I should try reading through the entire Bible in one year. I didn’t have a plan or a schedule. I just opened to Genesis and started reading, doing the same the next day, and the next. I stayed on task until Leviticus, where I ground to a halt about halfway through. I tried again a couple more times but never finished. I wondered why it was so hard to read through the entire Bible when I read a lot of books cover-to-cover every year, some of them way longer. Why was the Bible so different? Why was it so much harder?

A few years later, someone gave me a printed schedule for reading the entire Bible. It had a lot of little boxes, which were great fun to check after each day’s reading. The schedule helped solve the Leviticus problem by mixing passages from the New Testament and the Old Testament and from Psalms every day. It was a good plan, and I followed it for about six months, reading and flipping pages and checking boxes. Then I stopped out of exhaustion. Too much flipping.

I finally put myself in the camp of people who say, “Reading the entire Bible is OK for you, but I don’t need to do it.” I sat comfortably in that camp for years until my wife, Cyndi, bought a copy of “The Daily Bible” for me. It was a New International Version rearranged into chronological order and divided up into 365 dated readings. I didn’t want it at first. I already had a shelf of Bibles, and when you get a new Bible. you can’t throw the old ones away. (I think I could lose my church membership if they found out I threw away an old Bible.) So, they sit on my shelf. Forever. And now I had one more to worry about.

But Cyndi was so proud of this Bible I decided to give it a try. I started reading on Jan. 1 and kept reading and kept reading and stayed engaged all the way through Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy and rolled through the summer and fall until I finally reached Revelation 22:21 on Dec. 31. I was so happy with my success I started at the beginning of that same Bible the next morning and read it all the way through again the next year. And now, thanks to Cyndi’s gift, I’ve successfully gone through it many more times, enough times that it has become an essential part of my day.

So I ask myself: What changed? Why was I finally successful? I’m not sure, but I think it had more to do with changes in me than in that particular Bible. Henri Nouwen wrote: “The daily practice of sacred reading, over time, transforms our personal identity, our actions, and our common life of faith.” Somewhere down the line, my reasons for reading changed. I started out trying to read the entire Bible just so I could say I did. And so I could find a special verse for each day that would help me at work and play. And then one morning, I realized I was no longer reading to find good verses or to learn more facts about God, but I was reading because I loved it. I compared it to my life with Cyndi. When we were dating, most of my conversations were designed to learn more about her—more facts and data and history and dreams. But now, after almost 28 years of marriage, we talk more than ever, and very little of it is about facts or information. We talk all the time because that’s what people do who love each other. Somewhere, our motives shifted from information to relationship. I think in general, women make that transition much sooner then men—maybe by the second date—and it takes men a lot longer to understand the value of simply talking. But I eventually got there.

And so, my reading of the Bible moved from a system of information-gathering to relationship-building. It’s been easier to keep reading ever since. Even on days like this morning. Just as I’ve learned to anticipate my conversations with Cyndi, even when the topic is something as unromantic as wireless microphones, I also look forward to my conversations with God, even when it’s something as uninspiring as judgment against the Moabites.

And just like my lifetime of conversations with Cyndi have changed me—changed my thinking and my dreams and changed my heart—my reading of the Bible has changed me deeply. I’m not the same guy I used to be.

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: 7/06/07

Around the State

• Paisano Baptist Encampment will hold its 87th general encampment July 22-27. Morning worship will be held at 11 a.m. and evening worship at 8 p.m. Fellowship begins in the dining shed at 6 p.m., and choir practice starts at 7 p.m. Steve Wells, pastor of South Main Church in Houston, and Dennis Wiles, pastor of First Church in Arlington, will alternate preaching duties. Todd Still, a Truett Seminary professor, will be the Bible study leader. For more information, see www.paisanoencampment. org.

• Baptist Mission Centers has opened its newest facility. The Houston facility, named in honor of missionary Mildred McWhorter, will house up to 36 missionaries and will provide additional office space and parking for staff volunteers.

• The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor played host to first seminar on Academic Leadership in Baptist Universities. Leaders from each of the eight Texas Baptist universities interacted with a panel of national leaders on Christian higher education administration. The event was sponsored by the Center for Ministry Effectiveness and Educational Leadership at Baylor University and the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

• Howard Payne University has announced faculty promotions and awarded service pins in recognition of years of service. Mike Daub, accounting, and Tonya Horner, mathematics, both have achieved the rank of associate professor. Bobbie Price, administrative assistant to the registrar, received a pin marking her 35 years of service. Also recognized were Chuck Boland, Ann Smith and Beth Willingham, 25 years; Glen Hopp, Betty Lancaster and Sharon Riker, 20 years; Cherie Dail, Amy Dodson, Bill Fishback, Mary Hill, Wade Kinnin, Les Plagens and Groner Pitts, 15 years; and Bobby Anderson, Curly Cox, Marcie Drew, Millard Kimery, Dag Sewell, Vicki Vaughn and Terrie Wells, 10 years.

• Joni Irwin of San Angelo has received her master of arts in educational leadership from Golden Gate Theological Seminary.

• Keith Tekell of Beaumont has been endorsed as a hospital chaplain by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

• Houston Baptist University has hired David Shuster to lead its golf program. HBU will begin women’s golf this fall, and men’s golf will follow in the fall of 2008.

• San Marcos Baptist Academy’s history department is the beneficiary of a gift of audio-visual equipment given by former SMA student Pat Price. His gift has outfitted two classrooms with a multimedia cart complete with an LCD projector, DVD player and speakers. Two sets of social studies maps also were included in the donation.

Anniversaries

• Jay Fleming, 10th, as pastor of First Church in Karnes City, May 11.

• Ron Segers, 25th, as pastor of Victory Church in Marshall, June 25.

• Jimmy Tarrant, 20th, as pastor of First Church in Van Alstyne, June 21.

• Lowell Howard, 50th in ministry, June 24. He is pastor of Antioch Church in Bells.

• Larry Freeman, 10th, as pastor of Caribbean Church in Corpus Christi, June 26.

• Remigio Caballero, 10th, as pastor of Iglesia Nueva Esperanza in Corpus Christi.

• Sam Garrett, 15th, as pastor of First Church of Oakridge in Denison, July 5.

• Lamar Church in Beaumont, 60th, July 29. Steve Ford, who was ordained at the church, will preach in the morning service. A covered-dish luncheon and a look back at the church’s history will follow. Warren Wargo is pastor.

• Doole Church in Doole, 95th, Aug. 5. The worship service at 9:30 a.m. will incorporate the history of the church and participation by former pastors and members. A catered lunch will follow. Reservations for the lunch can be made until July 25 by sending an e-mail to pbrankin@verizon.net. Members unable to attend are asked to share a memory. Bob Gauer is pastor.

• First Church in Electra, 100th, Aug. 5. The celebration will begin at 9 a.m. with a time of fellowship. The worship service will begin at 10:45 a.m., with several former pastors and ministers expected to speak. A meal will follow. Paul Winegeart is pastor.

• Calvary Church in Bay City, 60th, Aug. 18-19. Former staff members Grayson Glass, Jeff Klutz and Aubrey Spears will speak. Chester Sassman is pastor.

Retiring

• Bill Chamblee, as minister of recreation at First Church in Denton, Aug. 15. He has served the church 35 years. A reception will be held in his honor from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Aug. 19. A brief program of thanks will be held at 4 p.m.

Deaths

• Jase Jones, 93, June 23 in Abilene. He was an Army chaplain in Europe during World War II, remaining in the Reserves until 1973 when he retired with the rank of colonel. After the war he attended Southwestern Seminary, and while completing his studies, he was pastor of churches in Fort Worth, Mansfield and Montague. In 1957, he was appointed by the Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention to the Department of Jewish Evangelism, which later became a part of the Department of Interfaith Witness. From 1957 until 1962, he was based in Dallas, and his work was jointly supported by the Baptist General Convention of Texas, Dallas Association and Tarrant Association. In 1962, he was transferred to Kansas City, Mo., where he stayed until 1974, when he returned to Texas, moving to Marble Falls. He retired in 1978, but stayed active as a consultant. He also was instrumental in founding the T.B. Maston Christian Ethics Foundation, named for his mentor and friend. He was chairman of the foundation 13 years. In 1992, at age 79, he went to Golden Gate Seminary as a visiting adjunct professor of Christian ethics, but stayed only one semester due to his wife’s declining health. He was preceded in death by his wife, Vivian, and sister, Beulah Geren. He is survived by his daughter, Patsy McCown; son, Bill; four grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

• Martha Gilmore, 71, June 24 in Dallas. In 1977, she was the first woman in Dallas, and the fourth in Texas to be ordained by a Southern Baptist church. She was ordained by Cliff Temple Church in Dallas so that she could serve as a hospital and jail chaplain. She later joined the United Methodist Church, and served on two Methodist church staffs. She is survived by her husband, Jerry; sons, Daniel and Charles; daughter, Susan Moore; and seven grandchildren.

• Sybil Armes, 93, June 29 in Dallas. An author and musician, she was known in Texas Baptist circles for her poems published in the Baptist Standard over a 40-year period. She wrote four books of religious poetry as well as hundreds of devotional poems for various church and denominational publications. She also wrote two books of religious meditations. A graduate of the Baylor College for Women, now the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, she became a schoolteacher and counted future Dallas Cowboy coach Tom Landry as one of her students. Her husband, Woodson, taught at Baylor University and then was a pastor 26 years, leading the congregations at Seventh & James Church in Waco, Polytechnic Church in Fort Worth and First Church in El Paso. She was the 1961 UMHB convocation speaker, and received an honorary doctorate of letters. She was a trustee of the school from 1972 until 1981. In 1976, she was named the school’s outstanding alumni. In 1987, she and her husband were honored with the Texas Baptist Elder Statesman Award. She was preceded in death by her husband of 61 years in 1999. She is survived by her sons, David and Paul; daughter, Nancy LeCroy; and two granddaughters.

Events

• Paul Powell will preach at 10:55 a.m. and 6 p.m. at First Church in Ropesville July 15. A reception will follow the evening service. Kyle Morton is pastor.

Revival

• Pawnee Church, Pawnee; July 22-25; evangelist Paul Cherry; interim pastor, Tommy Ingle.

Posted: 7/06/07

Book Reviews

Higher Ground: A Call for Christian Civility by Russell Dilday (Smyth & Helwys)

Russell Dilday’s latest book, Higher Ground: A Call for Christian Civility, is the best of his many good writings. It is an enlargement and powerful application of his prophetic message to the Southern Baptist Convention in 1984, calling for living out the gospel message in relationship to our fellow believers. It is filled with sound biblical interpretation and clear illustrations. It calls for “biblical obedience, not biblical defense.” Chapter two by that title is worth the price of the book alone.

Southern Baptists never were what we thought we were and will never be what we once were again. Had Dilday’s call to Christian civility been heeded, the slow decay that has been and continues to take place could have been avoided.

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

Anyone desiring higher ground in our life together as Christian brothers would do well to read and heed this book. My biggest regret is that it came 20 years too late.

Paul W. Powell, special assistant to the dean

George W. Truett Theological Seminary, Waco

The Expected One by Kathleen McGowan (Simon & Schuster) (A Touchstone Book)

If you’re looking for light Christian fiction, look somewhere else. The Expected One is the dramatic re-telling of Kathleen McGowan’s own spiritual pilgrimage, one that will raise hairs on the necks of most Baptists.

To give you a taste of some of some of McGowan’s beliefs, let me begin by saying she believes she is the blood descendant of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. She also believes John and Jesus were rivals for the position of Messiah and Judas did not really betray Jesus.

The Expected One will certainly challenge your belief system. McGowan is a skilled journalist and historian. Yet Jesus is portrayed as a self-made man who relies more on his own stratagems than on God’s leading. Jesus’ message of salvation and the miracle of his resurrection are reduced to a message that through love we can save ourselves and restore our world.

Honestly, I’m having difficulty understanding why McGowan’s book is being marketed as Christian fiction. Of course, its controversial subject matter may explain how it made the New York Times’ bestseller list. Nevertheless, this book is sure to confuse new believers and horrify staunch believers.

Read at your own risk.

Kathryn Aragon

Duncanville

The Dark and Bloody Ground by Roberta Webb (TurnKey Press)

The Dark and Bloody Ground is interesting fiction that covers a significant amount of Kentucky history. It lacks any clear central plot, but is written with vivid descriptions and engaging intrigue and excitement. 

Befitting its title, the book reveals a myriad of ways for generations of family members to die. Roberta Webb makes each primary character quite real. The intricate details of the book make it somewhat slow reading, but for those who enjoy historical fiction, this volume qualifies to be on the nightstand.

Pat McDanal, minister of education and discipleship

Woodland Heights Baptist Church, Bedford

Posted: 7/06/07

Free from debt, Breckenridge
now free to focus on ministry

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

TYLER—Breckenridge Village faced the greatest challenge in its challenge-filled history, but it got by with a little help from its friends. Make that $3.7 million worth of help in 12 months and friends ranging from the Baptist General Convention of Texas to a Jewish family foundation.

Breckenridge Village, a residential community for adults with mild to moderate developmental disabilities, recently retired its building debt in dramatic fashion—offering a new lease on life to the Tyler facility and lifting a burden from the shoulders of its parent agency, Baptist Child & Family Services.

Rosie Simmons (left), who coordinates many of the activities at Breckenridge Village at Tyler, helps Breckenridge resident Deborah with a project.

Breckenridge—built on donated land with volunteer labor provided by Texas Baptist Men—has struggled financially since it opened its doors nine years ago. Baptist Child & Family Services agreed to take on the ministry at the BGCT Executive Board’s request after a study committee determined the need for a Christian agency to care for mentally retarded adults.

But the original business projections “grossly underestimated the cost of care,” said Kevin Dinnin, president of the agency. Changes in governmental regulations—including requirements that Breckenridge be licensed as an assisted living facility, with a low resident-to-staff ratio and a registered nurse on duty—compounded the problem.

“While Breckenridge Village of Tyler has operated in a financially prudent manner, it has proven impossible to service the capital bond debt through operating revenue,” Dinnin explained.

“Historically, without the burden of capital debt, (Breckenridge Village) has been able to operate in a balanced budget position, exclusive of the non-cash item of depreciation. Tuition paid on behalf of the residents and fundraising for scholarships has proven to generate adequate income to provide for the care of those who call (Breckenridge) home.”

At a recent noteburning ceremony, Texas Baptist officials applauded the commitment of Baptist Child & Family Services to provide an important ministry to an often-forgotten segment of the population, in spite of financial challenges.

The celebration marked the successful completion of a yearlong fundraising campaign. The Rogers Foundation in Tyler had offered Baptist Child & Family Services a $1 million challenge grant on the condition Breckenridge Village could raise $2.7 million by May 31.

After receiving $1.05 million from Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler and many other smaller gifts, the campaign received a $250,000 grant from the Meadows Foundation in Dallas two weeks before the deadline. But it still lacked nearly $1 million to meet the goal.

A San Antonio donor gave $200,000, and the BGCT Executive Board approved $350,000 from an estate gift. Then on May 31, a Jewish family foundation in East Texas gave the final $450,000 that allowed Breckenridge to receive its challenge grant and retire its debt.

“We believe Breckenridge Village can be a financially viable entity now,” Dinnin said.

Four years ago, he brought a significantly different report to the BGCT Human Welfare Coordinating Board—the body that related to Texas Baptists’ benevolence institutions.

At that time, the BGCT allocated additional funds beyond the budget just to keep Breckenridge Village afloat. A shortfall in Cooperative Program giving, combined with the high cost of resident care and new state-imposed standards, had created a critical situation for Breckenridge. Baptist Child & Family Services had to lay off more than 15 employees and dismiss the executive director at Breckenridge.

“Baptist Child & Family Services was a different agency then than it is today,” Dinnin explained, pointing to its expansion in the last four years, both within Texas and internationally. Fifteen years ago, the agency’s annual budget barely topped $1 million. Next year’s proposed budget exceeds $20 million, he noted.

He also pointed out Baptist Child & Family Services has benefited financially from mineral rights on property in the Texas Panhandle, where two producing wells have provided significant income in recent years.

Four years ago, Dinnin told the coordinating board the long-term future of Breckenridge Village depended not only on increased Cooperative Program giving by Texas Baptist churches, but also the creation of a $5 million endowment.

The endowment stands nowhere near that goal yet, but with the debt on Breckenridge Village retired, the residential community now has a stability that should make it much more attractive to potential donors, Dinnin noted.

Already, several friends of Breckenridge Village have included the ministry in their estate plans, he said. The debt-retirement campaign gave the residential community an unprecedented level of positive visibility in the Tyler area, and it opened doors to new donors in the East Texas business community.

Breckenridge Village Executive Director Charles Dodson underscored the same theme.

“Eliminating our indebtedness will take pressure off of meeting debt service expenses in our operating budget,” Dodson said. “It will enable us to concentrate development initiatives on building our general scholarship fund.”

Roughly 95 percent of residents receive some scholarship assistance. Current cost of care is $3,200 a month for each resident, but $500 of that has been applied to debt service.

Debt retirement also allows Breckenridge to expand its ministries, including both its day-care program, teaching life skills and vocational skills to developmentally challenged Tyler-area residents, and its residential services.

“We will be able to open a sixth house and move our capacity from 40 to 48 residents,” Dinnin noted.

While he hopes the BGCT Cooperative Program allocation will be increased for scholarship assistance, Dinnin believes Breckenridge Village has moved beyond the point where the BGCT will have to step in to provide over-and-above financial assistance, as it has in the past.

“I do not anticipate any emergency kind of funding requests for Breckenridge. Never has our financial trouble been greater than our debt service. Without that concern, it should be financially viable,” he said, adding the institution has “weathered the storm.”

Posted: 7/06/07

Baptist Briefs

Southwestern Seminary trustee resigns. Dwight McKissic, who frequently has been at odds with fellow trustees at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, resigned from the school’s board. McKissic, pastor of the predominantly African-American Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, was the lone dissenter when trustees voted last October to forbid the seminary from employing professors who advocate speaking in tongues. Earlier, in a chapel sermon at Southwestern, McKissic said that since his days as a student at the seminary, he has used a “private prayer language,” considered by many a variation of tongues-speaking. In March, trustees tried to expel him permanently from the board, a move McKissic called “nothing but a 21st-century lynching.” Trustees later decided not to remove him. The debate over tongues “has taken a tremendous toll on my family and ministry, and my wife believes it has negatively impacted my health,” McKissic said in a letter to Van McClain, chairman of the seminary trustee board. He also said he has been “distracted and consumed” by the controversy and needs to refocus on his family and church.

Baptist college association elects leader. The International Association of Baptist Colleges and Universities board elected Thomas Corts, president emeritus of Samford University, as the association’s executive director. Corts, 65, succeeds Bob Agee, who announced last December he would retire at the June meeting. Corts served as interim chancellor of the Alabama College System last year. Prior to that position, he was president of Samford University from 1983 to 2006. He served previously at Wingate University in North Carolina, the Higher Education Consortium of Kentucky and Georgetown College in Kentucky. Corts is married to the former Marla Ruth Haas. They have three children and six grandchildren.

CBF church-starting specialist to retire. Phil Hester, a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship specialist for new churches, has announced he plans to retire at the end of this year. During his seven-year tenure at CBF, Hester helped start churches in 21 states, including a cowboy church in Texas and an emergent church in Florida. Hester also created and facilitated the annual CBF Boot Camp for Church Starts, held each August. Before coming to CBF, Hester worked as an advertising agency president, professor, consultant and church starter. He lives in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Missionary receives Whitsitt Society award. Lauren Bethell, an American Baptist missionary who has spent most of her adult life ministering to and rescuing women from prostitution and sexual trafficking, received the William H. Whitsitt Baptist Heritage Society’s annual Courage Award. The group met during the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship general assembly in Washington, June 28.

African-American convention tackles AIDS. For the first time, the nation’s largest African-American religious body corporately addressed the HIV/AIDS crisis. AIDS awareness and prevention figured prominently on the agenda for the annual meeting of the National Baptist Convention USA, Inc. in St. Louis. Leaders of the 7.5 million-member group said 45,000 National Baptists participated in the gathering. Organizers also planned to hold a forum to address 3,000 black youths on the topic of HIV prevention. Nationwide, African-Americans constitute nearly half of new HIV/AIDS diagnosis. HIV infection is the United States’ leading cause of death for black women aged 25-34, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Posted: 7/06/07

Posted: 7/06/07

Joint meeting of American Baptists,
CBF models newfound cooperation

By Robert Dilday & Marv Knox

Associated Baptist Press & Baptist Standard

WASHINGTON (ABP)—Worship infused with music and missions, cooperation and communion, and doses of laughter marked a historic reunion of Baptists in the nation’s capital city.

The American Baptist Churches USA and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship held their first national joint worship service—a long-awaited coming together of Baptists whose shared commitment to missions and Baptist principles once was shattered by slavery.

“This is an awesome God moment,” ABC General Secretary Roy Medley told the crowd of almost 4,000 participants, divided almost evenly between representatives of both groups. “It gladdens the heart of God. It makes God happy to see us working together. … What an awesome moment.”

The service in Washington’s convention center marked the end of the Fellowship’s annual general assembly and the beginning of ABC’s 100th anniversary celebration. Program organizers noted the joint ABC/Fellowship session had been five years in planning. Actually, it was 162 years in the making.

Baptists in the United States first united to support missions in 1814, but they divided acrimoniously in 1845. Baptists in the North, who later reorganized as the American Baptist Churches in 1907, opposed slavery. The Southern Baptist Convention split from them because of their support for slavery. The Fellowship formed out of the SBC in 1991 after more than a decade of conflict with fundamentalists. Although some Fellowship churches still relate to the SBC and some do not, almost all of them trace their roots to the Southern convention.

The strong presence of the Washington-based Progressive National Baptist Convention—one of four historic African-American Baptist groups—underscored the racial nature of the old division. But the Progressive National Baptists’ presence also projected an even larger reunion. The Fellowship, American Baptists and Progressive National Baptists are among the key groups promoting a “celebration” of the New Baptist Covenant, which will be held in Atlanta Jan. 30-Feb. 1, 2008.

The New Baptist Covenant convocation involves about 40 groups that comprise 20 million Baptists in America. It intentionally seeks to bridge the racial divide created by slavery. The rallying point is Baptists’ historic commitment to minister to those Jesus said he came to serve—the poorest and most helpless people.

The June 29 worship service represented the breadth of Fellowship and American Baptist diversity through music—from traditional hymns and newer praise choruses sung by the audience to a rousing gospel solo belted by Cheri Coleman, folk music by Kate Campbell and a raucous Caribbean beat blasted by the Haitian Alliance Choir.

Participants also keyed on their common focus on missions. Midway through the worship service, they celebrated the appointment of two couples that will serve under joint appointment of the ABC and Fellowship.

Duane and Marcia Binkley are former ABC missionaries among the Karen people group in Thailand. During their new term, they will minister to Karen people both in Thailand and in the United States.

Nancy and Steve James previously served as medical missionaries in Haiti and now are members of a Fellowship church in North Carolina. The Fellowship is helping the ABC send them back to Haiti.

The ABC presented its first Religious Freedom Award to the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. The Washington-based Baptist Joint Committee represents 14 Baptist bodies.