Updated: 5/11/07

Leaders discuss missions
opportunities & challenges

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

WACO—In a meeting organizers hope will strengthen and encourage mission work, Baptist leaders described a need to create a culture where missions is integral to the Christian lifestyle.

About 100 missions leaders from agencies, institutions, conventions and churches gathered at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary at the invitation of Baptist General Convention of Texas President Steve Vernon and Executive Director Charles Wade.

Conference participants voiced a need for a culture where mission work is central to how Baptists express their faith.

“We have spent a lot of time the last several years reorganizing,” Vernon said in discussing the need to focus on missions. “Now we’re ready to move on.”

In a series of panel presentations followed by small-group discussions, participants outlined a missions landscape that—at best—was viewed with mixed reviews. Many applauded the willingness of Baptists to engage in missions. Some described today’s Baptist mission work as chaotic, with churches doing what they want without knowing what other groups may be doing regarding the same issues.

An increasing number of churches in recent years have engaged in direct mission work without going through an agency such as a mission board or institution. They discover mission needs through relationships they build and set out to meet those needs.

Other congregations continue working through conventions, institutions and agencies. They pray for missionaries and take short-term mission trips through traditional Baptist channels of mission work.

Some churches prefer to focus on giving to missions offerings such as the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions as their primary expression of their commitment to missions.

“We’re in very different places. We have 5,000-plus congregations, and they are very different,” Wade said. “But there is at the heart of churches a passion to be on mission, even in very small churches. Some of our most passionate people are in small churches.”

Several participants indicated a need to make mission opportunities more accessible, especially through a website that would list all opportunities for Baptists to do mission work. They wanted the information on the site to be sortable by location, type of project and number of people needed.

Rob Sellers, a professor at Hardin-Simmons University’s Logsdon School of Theology, suggested Texas Baptist leaders produce a book on new missions paradigms that would educate ministers and laypeople.

Participants also encouraged the BGCT to create avenues for churches to share missions experiences to inspire other churches to become more involved in mission work. One small group asked convention leaders to allow churches to have a free exhibit during the BGCT annual meeting.

Vernon said he was encouraged by what he heard during the Missions Exchange conference. Convention leaders will take some of the suggestions made by conference participants and incorporate them into this year’s BGCT annual meeting in Amarillo, which will focus on missions, he said.

Wade also committed the BGCT staff to helping Texas Baptists do the mission work God is calling them to do.

“I sense that the potential of Texas Baptist churches to touch the world has never been greater,” he said. “But there are a lot of paradigm shifts going on and issues to deal with.”

Updated: 5/11/07

Kimball responds to 'Allah' controversy

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

A religion professor’s statements at a Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission conference that Christianity and Islam talk about “the same God” prompted two associations of churches to ask Baptist General Convention of Texas leaders to clarify the convention’s doctrinal position.

At a February Christian Life Commission conference in Austin, Charles Kimball of Wake Forest University said regarding Islamic teaching about Allah: “It’s the same God that Jews and Christians are talking about.”

His comments sparked resolutions by associations of churches in the Beaumont/Port Arthur and Midland/Odessa areas. Those statements, in turn, prompted a May 2 letter from the BGCT Executive Board’s executive director, saying, “Texas Baptists can be assured that the BGCT and the CLC are committed to and worship the God of our Lord Jesus Christ and him alone.”

Leaders in Basin Baptist Network approved a resolution April 5 refuting the “false and precarious” teaching that God as revealed in the Bible and Allah as presented in the Quran are the same—and calling on Baptist General Convention of Texas leaders to do likewise.

The resolution signed by 14 representatives from eight churches in the Midland/Odessa area and by Network Coordinator Wayne Keller asked BGCT Executive Director Charles Wade, CLC Director Suzii Paynter and the BGCT Executive Board to “formally distance themselves and our convention from, and publicly denounce such false teaching and reaffirm the commitment to the doctrine of the triune God as clearly and correctly articulated in the Baptist Faith & Message.”

The resolution went on to say, “We further emphasize our conviction that any persons in convention leadership who adopt or permit the theology that Jehovah and Allah are one and the same are not in step with Texas Baptists on the whole and need to carefully evaluate whether continuing their role in Texas Baptist leadership is in the best interest of our state convention.”

In a letter to Basin Baptist Network Moderator Jeff Box, Wade affirmed Texas Baptists’ commitment to the doctrine of God as stated in the 1963 Baptist Faith & Message. He quoted from the doctrinal statement’s affirmation of the Trinity and of Jesus Christ’s divinity.

“Not only is this the theological position of the convention; it accurately reflects my own theology and that of every BGCT employee. Anyone who knows me and knows our staff should know this to be true,” he said.

Any suggestion that Kimball’s comments signal “creeping universalism and relativism” in the BGCT “could not be farther from the truth,” Wade wrote.

“The Baptist Faith & Message clearly affirms that salvation comes only through Christ,” he said, quoting from the statement of faith.

“Nothing has changed. This is who we are and what we believe, and both leaders of the BGCT and the CLC staff agree on these affirmations.”

Wade characterized Kimball’s statement as “a bit jarring” and “not how we Baptists normally talk.” But he asserted Kimball was referring to the idea that Christians, Jews and Muslim all trace their theological heritage to “the God of Abraham,” and the word “Allah” is used by Arabic-speaking Christians to refer to God.

“Dr. Kimball made these points in order to say there is some common ground that Christians and Muslims share as we seek to relate in a world filled with tensions, violence and misunderstandings between religious and cultural groups,” he wrote.

“While I’m sure I wouldn’t agree with everything Dr. Kimball has written or said, what he said at the conference was not a radical theological statement. It recognized our theological uniqueness while pointing us toward some common good.”

Wade cited a statement by Joe Haag, program director for the CLC.

“God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit in real and important ways for Christians that God cannot be for Jews or Muslims. And because Muslims affirm the Quran as God’s revelation even as Jews and Christians do not, we are, in fact, three distinct religions with insoluble theological differences,” Haag said.

Kimball’s point was that, in spite of real theological differences, “Judaism, Christianity and Islam hold some things in common, and accordingly, Jews, Christians and Muslims should be able to talk with and live beside one another without killing one another,” Haag explained.

“We can understand, respect and even love Muslims and Jews without theologically capitulating to them.”

Wade sent a copy of his letter not only to Keller and Gary Dyer, pastor of First Baptist Church in Midland, but also to Montie Martin, director of missions in Golden Triangle Baptist Association. At a called meeting March 20, the Southeast Texas association unanimously adopted a statement affirming the Trinity and urging Baptist state and national conventions to “distance themselves from any theological mindset” that undermines the distinctive Christian doctrine.

“The God of the Bible is who we worship—the triune God. The God of the Bible is not the God of the Quran,” the statement approved by Golden Triangle Baptist Association said.

“The God of the Bible is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit—three yet completely one. They are inseparable. You cannot have one without the whole. If you deny part, you deny the whole. If you take away any part of the Godhead, you no longer have the God of the Bible, and, therefore, the two, God and Allah, cannot be the same.”

Statements equating the Christian view of God with Allah as presented in the Quran have “compromised the Bible in the name of tolerance and political correctness,” the associational statement said. “This kind of thinking is another step toward universalism or at least is highly influenced by it.”

The association requested “the executive committees of our state and national conventions” reaffirm the doctrine of God as stated in the Baptist Faith & Message and to “firmly identify this doctrine as the accepted belief for the leadership of our state and national conventions, as well as our Baptist schools.

Golden Triangle Association sent the statement not only to the BGCT, but also to the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention and to the Southern Baptist Convention, Martin said.

BGCT President Steve Vernon replied, affirming his commitment to the biblical doctrine of God as expressed in the 1963 Baptist Faith & Message, Martin noted.

The SBTC Executive Committee approved a resolution April 24 affirming its commitment to the doctrine of God as articulated specifically in the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message, according to a news release posted on the convention’s website. The SBTC requires all affiliating churches, employees and institutions with which it partners to affirm the statement of faith adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention in 2000. The SBTC Executive Committee resolution went on to affirm that “the God of the Bible” is different from Allah as presented in the Quran and historic Islamic teaching.

There’s no final decision yet about whether any action regarding the issue will be placed on the May 21-22 BGCT Executive Board agenda, Wade noted.

“We are still looking at whether or not this needs to be considered by the Executive Board. We are certainly willing to take this to the board, but we’re not sure that is necessary since our doctrinal statement is clear and we have affirmed that in various communications,” Wade said. “I will be visiting again with board leaders before we make a final decision.”

In an interview, Kimball expressed some surprise at the degree of furor sparked by remarks not significantly different than “anything I’ve been saying for 30-something years.”

Jews, Christians and Muslims have radically different understandings of God, but all three religions trace their beginnings to a common heritage, he said.

“When you’re talking about the God of Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Mohammad, you’re talking about the same God. It’s not Vishnu. It’s not Krishna. It’s the God of Abraham,” he said.

Clearly, Christians’ belief in the divinity of Jesus and the triune nature of God sets Christianity apart from Islam, but it also sets Christianity apart from Judaism, he noted.

Acknowledging common ground between Christianity and Islam is “not the same as declaring they are equally valid paths to salvation,” Kimball stressed.

“To say that Christians, Muslims and Jews are talking about the same God is one thing. To say that they are worshipping the same God, or that it doesn’t matter—that’s a whole different set of questions,” he said.

Posted: 5/10/07

Evangelicals unite to push immigration reform

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)—A broad variety of evangelicals and other Christian groups and leaders launched a new campaign May 7 to get Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform.

With a Washington press conference and ads in two major Capitol Hill publications, Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform launched a campaign that will include both a media strategy in states with large numbers of immigrants and a grassroots organizing campaign.

“The current U.S. immigration system is broken, and now is the time for a fair and compassionate solution,” said a letter signed by dozens of Christian leaders who support the new effort. “We think it is entirely possible to protect our borders while establishing a viable, humane and realistic immigration system, one that is consistent with our American values and increases national security while protecting the livelihood of Americans.”

The group did not endorse any particular immigration proposal but agreed on a set of principles—undergirded by Scripture references—that it says should guide immigration reform. They include:

• Acknowledgement that all people “are made in the ‘image of God’ and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect,

• Affirmation of God’s command to God’s people “to love and show compassion for the stranger among us” and “to love our neighbors,” and

• “Respect for the rule of law but also an obligation to oppose unjust laws and systems that harm and oppress people made in God’s image, especially the vulnerable.”

Progressive evangelical leaders and mainline Protestants have long advocated immigration reform that includes ways for illegal immigrants already working in the United States to earn citizenship. What’s new is that conservative evangelical leaders have increasingly taken up the immigration-reform cause.

However, polls show that rank-and-file white evangelicals are more likely to take a hard line on immigration than the U.S. population as a whole. Many oppose any path to citizenship for undocumented workers, calling such plans “amnesty.”

For example, Richard Land, head of the Southern Baptist Convention’s public-affairs agency, recently was forced to clarify his comments on use of the term “amnesty” in a Capitol Hill press conference that advocated comprehensive immigration reform. Some conservatives accused him of supporting “amnesty” programs for illegal immigrants.

But Hispanic evangelicals’ steady growth—in size and influence—within U.S. Christianity has helped to drive the concern to the forefront of evangelicalism.

Participants in Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform include several Hispanic evangelical groups and leaders, such as Samuel Rodriguez of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference and Noel Castellanos of the Christian Community Development Association.

Among the other signatories to the effort are Joel Hunter—the suburban Orlando megachurch pastor who recently stepped down as head of the national Christian Coalition— and the American Baptist Churches USA.

Congress took up immigration-reform legislation last year, but it became bogged down by internal struggles in the then-Republican majority. The party was torn between anti-immigration hardliners and those, including President Bush, who wanted more comprehensive reform. The comprehensive reform would have included opportunities for undocumented workers in the United States to earn permanent status and start the process toward citizenship.

Several members in both chambers of Congress are working toward passing immigration reform this year.

Posted: 5/10/07

BaptistWay Bible Series for May 20

Sharing the gospel with skeptics

• Acts 17:10-11, 16-34

By Leroy Fenton

Baptist Standard, Dallas

Sharing the gospel is work, and hard work, if it is taken seriously. There is no substitute for personal, verbal witnessing.

In chapter 16, the Apostle Paul, for the first time, experienced Gentile hostility, not from religious sources but from secular ones. The opposition was strong and determined with unfounded charges. Paul encounters a crowd that had little knowledge or respect for the Scriptures or the worship of God. What happened would have sent most people packing for home and security.

The Holy Spirit had led Paul out of the frying pan and into the fire. Struggles and persecution do not signify a mistake by Paul. Paul could have been the inspiration for our saying, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” Confronting a more secular crowd brought out the courage, desire and perseverance of Paul.

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Paul had come to the base of the hardest and highest mountain of skepticism and began his climb through frigid glaciers of adversity to the crest. The miraculous release from the dungeon jail in Philippi gave him encouragement that nothing would deter the work of the Holy Spirit, not even the hardest and most skeptical mindset.

The studied genius of Paul welcomed the intellectual challenges to his faith in Christ as he longed earnestly for their salvation. The Macedonian call would require a great effort in persistence and faith.

A skeptic is a skeptic, whether Jew or Gentile. Skepticism crosses all life views. A skeptic will deny the possibility of real knowledge and generally will doubt, question or suspend judgment on accepted truths such as religious beliefs.

The Pharisees were skeptical of Christ, relying on their traditions and covenant law. The philosophers were skeptical of Christ, relying on human reason. Both law and reason have their respective places but are inadequate as a complete guide to life. Both need faith to function with astuteness and fairness. Thomas was skeptical of the resurrection and would not believe until he could touch the wounds of the risen Christ.

1 John 1:1 attacks skepticism by referring to that “which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched.” An open mind is needed for Scripture or reason to overcome skepticism and will lead to faith. Faith supports law and reason and then searches for what lies beyond them. Law and reason are human, while faith is divine.

Scripture as the primary tool in witnessing (Acts 17:1-15)

After the earthquake at Philippi, the magistrates released Paul and Silas to “go in peace” (16:36). Paul did not slink out of town but rebuked the magistrates, accusing them of violating his rights as a Roman citizen by beating and incarcerating him without a trial. Returning briefly to Lydia’s home, Paul and Silas left, taking Timothy with them, leaving behind Luke to assist the new little congregation at Philippi (16:38-40).

Leaving Philippi, this missional team traveled about 100 miles west, through Amphipolis and Apollonia to Thessalonica, the central city of the area. The local synagogue was his first stop, and he preached to them on three successive Sabbaths, striving to prove to them the Scriptures had been fulfilled, and Christ was the suffering Messiah who had risen from the dead. Paul “reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead” (17:2-3).

Luke describes his success: “Some of the Jews were persuaded … a large number of God-fearing Greeks and not a few prominent women” (v. 4). Jealous Jews, opposing Paul and Silas, “rounded up some bad characters … formed a mob and started a riot in the city” (v. 5) with a similar kind of accusation as at Christ’s crucifixion that “they are defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus” (v. 7). The opposition was radical, making it impossible to continue the mission.

Paul and Silas are sent away by the brothers from Thessalonica to Berea, where they would find a more “noble” crowd. Reason told them to seek safety, but in spite of the previous uproar, these two went to the synagogue to preach, and their hearers “received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true” (vv. 10-11). An honest and open search of Scripture revealed to the seekers the identity of Christ, and many, both Jews and Greeks, responded.

People who have a respect and appreciation for God’s word are easier to bring to faith. Scripture becomes a vital participant because it is “living and active.” “Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates … and … judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). When Christians go and share the truth of Scripture, the Holy Spirit can pierce the open heart and bring people to faith.

The angry, evil rowdies from Thessalonica came to Berea and stirred up opposition. Paul was escorted 200 miles to Athens. Silas and Timothy stayed in Berea to reunite with Paul “as soon as possible” (Acts 17:13-15).

The Jewish synagogue in Thessalonica and Berea provided Paul with a congregation knowledgeable of the sacred text. Those who worshipped God, practiced monotheism and were familiar with the contents of Scripture were better equipped to understand and grasp the meaning of the expected Christ.

Paul’s rabbinical studies in Scripture gave him the tools to logically show Jesus was the Christ, along with sharing his testimony of salvation. The Bible is God’s word, the revelation of God, God-breathed by the Holy Spirit, and the authoritative guide for faith and behavior. Notice Paul’s messages were scrutinized, tested and evaluated on the basis of God’s word. Our authoritative source for God’s teachings is the Holy Scriptures.

Reason as the primary tool in witnessing (Acts 17:16-34)

Athens was and is an awesome city, the mother of culture and brilliance, of art and architecture, of politics and power, of philosophy and reason, and the sacred seat of paganism. The accomplishments of Greek civilization was so extraordinary and famous that the people had every reason to be proud. One of the most extraordinary sights in the world is the majestic Parthenon, alluringly dominating the Acropolis. Under profound and brilliant leadership, Greek independence developed its democracy, art, science, philosophy, institutions, poetry and architecture. Statues of idol gods were everywhere made of marble, stone, wood, silver and gold, artistic symbols of man’s search for spiritual meaning.

Athens was the glory of sophisticated civilization, though its significance had waned some by the time of Paul. At this time, the Athenians lived mostly in past glories. Together, let’s note Paul’s assessment of Athens, his passion and boldness for his purpose, his appropriate strategy, and his intended results.

Paul was alone in Athens waiting on his missionary mates to come. His eyes saw the beauty of the city, but his mind was on the idols, which were an affront to God who declared in Scripture: “I am the Lord your God … You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything” (Deuteronomy 5:6-8).

Paul’s spirit was stirred and he was “greatly distressed to see the city was full of idols” (17:16). What Paul saw provoked a holy rage within his spirit. Paul understood that by worshipping many gods, the Athenians worshipped nothing at all.

Paul was not on vacation in Athens, taking tours around town while he waited for his colleagues. His spirit provoked, Paul took the initiative to look for his audience, starting “in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks” (v. 17). Next, the marketplace, the focus of public life, provided daily opportunity to discuss his Christian faith with “those who happened to be there” (v. 17). Paul also challenges the “Epicurean and Stoic philosophers” who “dispute with him” (v. 18).

Paul takes on all levels socially, spiritually and intellectually. His confidence in the Lord and his preparation emboldened him to share with anyone who would engage him in conversation. He was fearless of opposition, mockery, insult, debate or failure. He used different methodologies in different situations and different groups. His “reasoning,” his “preaching” and his disputing attracts considerable attention (v. 18). As he witnesses, he must have researched their mindset, arguments, logic, devotion, carnality, family life, world view, education, values and issues.

The Epicureans, accepting the teachings of Epicurus of Athens, believed pleasure was the highest good of all and should be the god of life. They were materialists, fond of luxury and excess, who acknowledged distant gods who were uninvolved in human affairs.

The Stoics, founded by Zeno of Cyprus, harmonized life through reason, believing that all things are governed by unvarying natural laws. A wise man must follow virtue or morality, discovered through reason, and must remain indifferent to the external world, to passion, pleasure, joy, grief and pain. Theologically, god was in everything.

Both of these rational, philosophical systems were spiritually antithetical to Christianity. With no common ground to build on, Paul had to rely upon the power of the Holy Spirit, his reason, his debating skills, his compassion for sinners and the truth he possessed.

Held in contempt, Paul was mocked as a babbler (v. 18). However, curiosity won out to hear and know about this new concept, new philosophy, new system of ideas (vv. 19-21). Paul was led to the Areopagus, a highly respected community council with the authority to judge on matters of public concerns, to present his explanation or lecture. Around him are the inquirers, the idol images and symbols of decadence and he preaches to them the resurrected Christ.

Finding common ground (Acts 17:22-23)

Paul chose an introduction that adapted to the context of his listeners, but focused on his issue of proclamation by complimenting them on being very religious, an indication of an innate, unfulfilled spiritual desire. Without the benefit of Scripture, Paul sought a common denominator that would link him to his audience. He quoted from local authorities to support his point and uses a familiar altar inscription, “To An Unknown God,” to make his point.

Paul is brilliant in playing off the basic spiritual need, using visuals of their own design, taking advantage of their cherished leaders and leading them to his message with “… what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you” (v. 23). In a few brief words, Paul has commanded their attention and created a teachable moment.

Presenting the thesis (Acts 17:24-29)

Addressing the skeptics who have no background in Scripture or worship of one living God, Paul led them to monotheism by identifying the “unknown god” they worshipped as “the Lord of heaven and earth” who “does not live in temples built by hands” (v. 24). God is first a gracious giver who made all mankind and determined their place of habitation.

Because of his creation, man is to seek and search for God though God is near and everywhere and “in him we live and move and have our being” (v. 28). Paul reasoned that since Athenians believed their poet who says of this “unknown God” that “we are his offspring,” how could they “think” a god can be a lifeless statue of stone, an idol, “an image made by man’s design and skill” (17:29).

How can life or offspring come from a slab of marble? Rather, mankind is the offspring of the one God. Man can know God who is personal, powerful, living and who can be one with the spirit of man.

Summon to action (Acts 17:30-31)

Paul was direct but not unkind when he refers to such “ignorance,” for he already has addressed the issue of the “unknown.” God, who once overlooked such ignorance, now calls for every single person to “repent” for there is a day to come when God will “judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed” (vv. 30-31). Then comes the crucial but essential issue of faith in that God’s eternal proof to “all men” was raising Christ from the dead (v. 31).

Response (Acts 17:32-34)

The very mention of the “resurrection of the dead” brought smirks and sneers to some while others responded with curiosity for additional discussion. Paul had preached his sermon and left the council having fulfilled his mission to preach the gospel to the astute minds of these skeptics. He was successful in that “a few men became followers of Paul and believed” (v. 34). Without any background in Scripture, God’s Spirit worked through the rational logic of Paul to bring the miracle of faith.

Summary

Paul used reason, the primary tool of the rationalist, to shatter their flawed logic and cut through the wrapping to get to the heart of the matter. He out-thought the thinkers and out-rationalized the rationalists to unmask the chinks in their system of logic. He argued for faith in a personal God of the universe by proving the rationalist had come to the wrong conclusions. Paul’s reasoning brought him to the living God while their reason brought them to idol statues. The difference was faith in the resurrected Christ. Faith and reason go together like two sides of the same coin.

Discussion question

• How can churches share the gospel with people who do not believe the Bible or have a high opinion of the church as previous generations did?

Posted: 5/10/07

Bible Studies for Life Series for May 20

We all need to be peacemakers

• Matthew 18:15-17; Galatians 5:13- 6:5

By David Harp

First Baptist Church, Stanton

As I prepare to write, I have made mental notes about our subject of conflict in recent weeks. When I read the newspaper or watch the news, I am listening for conflict. Is there any conflict around us?

Yes, conflict is all around us. For example, a junior high school player assaulted his coach a few weeks ago. Last week, a father was shot when he stepped in and tried to break up a fight between his three children and two other teens.

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The laundry list of conflict gets dirty. We all have been stained by sin. We all have mishandled conflict. We all have a need to be peacemakers. Our lesson teaches us how to confront others and how to develop ways to restore relationships.

Process (Matthew 18:15-17)

Jesus details a process for seeking to resolve conflict between two believers. First, the offended person is to go to the offender and seek personally to get the matter resolved one on one. Second, if this attempt is rebuffed, the offended person is to take another along in the attempt at resolution. If this attempt also is unsuccessful, then the church is to get involved in seeking to settle the dispute. Finally, if the offended person persists against all parties and refuses to be restored, the church is to treat this one as an unbeliever.

The ideal is that one-on-one relationships be settled without the entanglement of others, which leads to gossip and backbiting. Jesus’ command can be broken down like this in Matthew 18:15:

1. If there is conflict

2. You

3. Go

4. To the person

5. In private

6. Discuss the problem

7. For the purpose of reconciliation

Principle (Galatians 5:13-15)

Even the best of believers allow conflict to get the best of them. When this happens, serving Christ and honoring him takes a backseat. The very attitude of love which should lead us now leaves us due to the conflict. However, the passage before us tells us love is the theme of our lives.

Mother Teresa has been a model for many in the area of self-giving love. Mother Teresa said, “Do small things with great love.” If we can put the principle of love into our daily lives, we will accomplish much to the glory of God.

Purpose (Galatians 6:1-5)

What about a believer caught in a sin? This passage tells us it is the task of the community of believers called the local church to try to restore the one who has sinned. “Restore” is a medical term, and it is so appropriate to use here. It means a bone is out of place and needs to be put back in its rightful place—to be restored. Notice that we also are given instructions about our attitude concerning this activity of restoring—“in a spirit of meekness, considering yourself, so that you will not also sin” (Galatians 6:1). This word “restore” also was used by fishermen as they mended their nets.

What is the purpose of this action? Restoration of a sinful believer. On one hand, a sinner feels forgiven and whole again. There is something about being accepted when we know we have wronged in the body of Christ. And we have all been in the wrong. In the same way, we all get to participate in this significant purpose of the church. We are carrying one another’s burdens.

One of my heroes of the faith is a man named Clarence Jordan. He founded Koinonia farms in Americus, Ga., in the 1950s. His farm became a haven for people society would not accept or love. People of all races and cultures came to Jordan for love, grace and mercy. They found God, and they found mercy, and they found what it was like to be restored. This was true community.

Everybody was happy, right? Not really. Conflict abounded. The people often were assaulted and beaten. Arson and fires were intentionally set, even to the church. After one particularly rough week of this kind of conflict, someone in town asked Jordan how it was going, and then remarked, “Just how successful do you think you have been, Jordan?” Jordan thought for a moment, reflecting on a week of beatings and burnings. Jordan said, “I guess we’ve been about as successful as the cross.”

The cross of Jesus Christ was the ultimate conflict. Yet it brought our greatest victory because of God’s great love. All of our conflict would be better handled if only we would attempt to be as successful as the cross, where the love of Christ was poured out for us all.

Discussion questions

• What is your typical approach to conflict?

• How do you love others in the midst of conflict?

• How can you incorporate the purpose of resolving conflict into your daily life?

Posted: 5/10/07

Explore the Bible Series for May 20

Seeking truth in an age of error

• 2 Peter 2:1-3, 12-14, 17-22

By Kathryn Aragon

First Baptist Church, Duncanville

Last week, we talked about the game of telephone—a great party game, but a poor Bible study method. This week, we’re going to discuss why.

We live in an age of “isms.” Materialism. Humanism. Modernism. Existentialism. You name it, it’s being promulgated by air waves, air mail, e-mail and in print. We can only take so much bombardment by strange ideas before we no longer find them strange.

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Of course, this process is such a slow one, we rarely notice it. We continue to spout the ideologies we grew up with, never noticing the changes in our thinking, speech and behavior, which have adjusted over time in keeping with the growing secularism of society. Meanwhile these “isms” seep into the church and corrupt God’s truth. The result is a widening gap between what we say and do.

Our condition is nothing new. John wrote about the dangers of gnosticism for the first-century church. The Middle Ages were led astray by the church’s materialistic marketing practices. Humanism impacted the Renaissance mind, which paved the way for some of our modern “isms.”

Worldly thought versus God’s truth

Today, in a world intimately connected by modern technology, we no longer are insulated against radical ideas or false religions. Free speech means anyone can say anything regardless of its eternal significance. Meanwhile most Americans interpret the First Amendment to mean Christians must hold their tongues.

The world is a postmodern philosophical mess, standing in radical opposition to God’s truth. Everywhere we turn, we are blasted with the message that anything goes. Some philosophies preach there is no God. But since life without God has no purpose, value or meaning, it is essentially absurd. The only way to avoid a hysterical fit is to die laughing. Of course, in the absence of any absolute standards, each of us must create our own definition of right and wrong, one that makes sense for our own personal situation. So anything goes, and if it feels good, do it.

Humanism, a tenet of modern society, preaches God is mere superstition. Mankind, it says, is the source of all good things. In the absence of a divine authority, it’s up to us to save the world. Right and wrong are relative, with the added perk of being able to justify amoral behavior because our intentions are good.

Needless to say, if we don’t know the Bible, if we aren’t solidly grounded in truth, we stand precariously close to the edge of a cliff. Furthermore, since many modern philosophies and false religions teach ideas that seem to explain life’s difficulties or give latitude to indulge in sinful behaviors, they can be dangerously attractive. Even church leaders can be led astray by these ideas and begin infusing Biblical teachings with abiblical ideas. What results is wrong thinking in epidemic proportions, and since these ideas are taught telephone-style within and between churches, they spread like the plague.

Returning to the Bible

The only way we can stand firm in our faith is to know God’s word. As the world increasingly denies the very existence of God, we must commit to know God personally and become intimate with his word. Yet even as we agree with this need, we resist the idea. It seems like so much work when all we want is to rest in our salvation.

Of course, this in itself is wrong thinking. According to the Bible, when we are reborn through salvation, we enter an epic-sized war between good and evil. Jesus warned that following him was not for the faint of heart, that it would require tough choices and hardships. When the difficulties arise, however, we think something is wrong. Already the error that has tainted our faith begins to lead us astray.

Why does Bible study seem such a hardship? Because the devil wants us to miss out on the blessings resulting from intimacy with God. Why do God’s teachings seem too difficult for anyone to achieve? Because the world offers an attractive alternative, a way that follows our sinful nature and leads us away from God.

The world tells us all we have to do is faithfully practice our religious ideals, regardless of what they are. The Bible teaches only one way, one truth and one life. The world tells us to make our own truth, to create our own meaning out of the madness of this world. The Bible teaches it’s madness not to trust in Jesus and adopt his teachings.

The world tells us to piece together our own faith out of the smorgasbord of all religions. The Bible teaches us to take God at his word: “If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in [the Bible]. And if anyone takes words away from the book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in [the Bible]” (Revelation 22:18-19). A sobering teaching, if ever there was one.

Paul tells us God’s ways are not our ways and his thoughts are not ours. He proclaims our wisdom as pure folly, sure to lead us away from God: “Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? … For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength” (1 Corinthians 1:20, 25). When we buy into the world’s philosophies, we are buying a lie.

Committing to truth

So what are we to do? The wisdom of this age is foolishness to God, yet it inundates even our churches. How are we to know the truth? Paul addresses this issue as well: “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14).

In other words, we cannot resist wrong thinking and spiritual error without the Holy Spirit. We must ask God for discernment to see things the way he does.

Furthermore, we must take the time to test all things against God’s word. In this age of error, we must return to the truth, leaning on God’s wisdom, not man’s. As John says: “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. … They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood” (1 John 4:1, 5-6). To avoid being led astray, we must be saturated in God’s words. We must be spiritually wise.

But remember, we can’t be wise in both God’s eyes and the world’s. They stand in direct contrast to one another. We must choose. To avoid choosing is the same as rejecting God, and Jesus condemns that kind of lukewarmness. The world may think Jesus-followers are foolish, but their judgment is only for a moment. For the rest of eternity, we’ll bask in the approval of God—“Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a ‘fool’ so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight” (1 Corinthians 3:18-19).

Let’s make the choice to become intimately acquainted with God and his word. Let’s pray for God’s wisdom to discern worldly ideas that seep into the church and strength to stand firm against them.

Discussion questions

• Have you noticed traditions or teachings not in line with the Bible? What can you do to correct them?

• Do you make time to read and memorize Scripture? If not, why?

Posted: 5/04/07

Ethiopian child finds a place to call home

By Miranda Bradley

Children At Heart Foundation

Ask 8-year-old Israel about his family, he becomes quiet. Already shy, the boy looks down at his small hands, quietly refusing to respond. But ask him about Texas Baptist Children’s Home, and he has no trouble expressing his joy.

It’s a far cry from two years ago, when Israel arrived from Ethiopia—unable to speak English and unable to find a place to call home.

“The first time he arrived, I would ask him simple questions like, ‘What’s your favorite food?’ or ‘What’s your favorite color?’ He would just blink up at me,” said Kip Osborne, campus life supervisor at Texas Baptist Children’s Home. “He didn’t understand a word.”

Brought to the United States by his father when he was 6, Israel was in an awkward position. Unwanted by his stepmother, his new family considered him a burden.

With few other resources, his father tried to leave him at Texas Baptist Children’s Home. But since Israel was unable to communicate in English at all, officials at the home could not accept him. But six months later, he returned, able to speak English fluently.

“It was pretty remarkable,” Osborne said. “He came back able to speak very, very well.”

Israel finds it easy now to talk about most things. He likes salad and spelling. Ask him his favorite subject in school, and he replies, “Recess.”

But ask about his past—particularly his life in Ethiopia—and he offers little information.

“He won’t tell me much,” said Jennifer Burnum, house mother to Israel and seven other young boys. “I’ve tried to ask questions, but he just won’t talk about it.”

But Israel continues to make progress. Although he is a grade behind in school, he has developed his reading and spelling skills, and he hoped to write his mother in Ethiopia for Mother’s Day. He’s a typical 8-year-old, playing with his buddies and enjoying the blessings of his new life at Texas Baptist Children’s Home.

The campus life program at Texas Baptist Children’s Home—a part of Children at Heart Ministries— serves up to eight children in six residential cottages with a Christian house parent couple each.

“I call them situational orphans,” Osborne said. “These children all have families or guardians, but they don’t live with them, and sometimes don’t see them. In Israel’s case, even though he has a father nearby, because of his circumstance he might as well be an orphan.”

At Texas Baptist Children’s Home, children like Israel find a home, a place where they are wanted, Osborne said. In Israel’s case, he continues to become more outgoing and visibly happy—a start contrast to the child who arrived at the home two years ago.

“We give (children like Israel) a place to belong,” he said. “Here, they finally know there are people who want to care for them. Here, they know they are wanted.”

Posted: 5/04/07

UMHB students learn as
they serve through Habitat

By Jennifer Sicking

University of Mary Hardin-Baylor

BELTON—When Sherman Wilkins participated in a University of Mary Hardin-Baylor outreach program his first year, he “fell in love” with the idea of voluntering with Habitat for Humanity. Never mind he didn’t know much about using a hammer and saw.

“My first day on a habitat job site, I was clueless on what services the different tools functioned for,” said Wilkins, a senior from Hamlet, N.C., who is now president of the UMHB Habitat for Humanity chapter. “During every scheduled volunteer build, Habitat provides supervisors to oversee the construction in which they educate inexperienced individuals on the proper technique for the use the tools.”

UMHB students generally volunteer two or three different times a month at Habitat for Humanity building sites in Belton and Temple. As part of the university’s Reaching Out program, in which students spend a Saturday working with different organizations in the area, 23 students recently built sheds for two Habitat homes.

Heather Gates, a junior from Rockwall, spent part of the day operating a circular saw, but as a Habitat member, she also helped less-experienced students with the project.

“I tried to get the other people involved to see what our club is about,” she said.

Nathan Wilson, Habitat project supervisor, has managed several projects involving students.

“They’re awesome,” he said. “They’re enthusiastic. They have a positive attitude and they don’t mind working.”

For Gates, working on Habitat homes in high school helped her become interested in the program and join the college club.

“I like to build and work with my hands,” she said. “I think about the family and how much it means to them. The family is out there working, too, and they appreciate it because we’re not just giving it to them.”

Gates and Wilkins said they also learn skills from the experience for whenever they become homeowners.

“It’s important, because one receives the chance to not only build a home from scratch and learn handy techniques which can be used around one’s own home, but most important, one receives the chance to build a relation in Christ with the future homeowners and the volunteers that come out for the build,” Wilkins said. “This is why I enjoy helping with the program … lending a helping hand to others.”

Posted: 5/04/07

CYBER COLUMN: Tribute to Mom

By Jinny Henson

Susana Wesley, mother of Methodist Church founders John and Charles, often is credited for raising children who would, well, launch a denomination. Intelligent and stern, she wore her hair in a holiness bun and baked bread at 4 am. My mother wore Loving Care # 2247 and fed us biscuits during the 1977-78 school year because Food-a-rama had them on sale. Legend has it that Susana delivered sermons and prayed for hours for her 10 children. My mom preached at the three of us and prayed for a week that toilet would heal itself before she’d call the plumber.

Very ready to laugh at life in general and herself in particular, my mom never took herself too seriously. You never can escape the blessing that having a secure woman for a mother brings. It permeates your soul in a lasting way like Ritz dye to white capri pants, leaving not one fiber untouched. I never heard her agonize over what to wear or wallow in self-pity. She was decisive, intuitive, strong and ever amused at how God had put her children together.

I truly believed I could be a brain surgeon if I wanted to, despite the fact I habitually failed Algebra II and set the record for items in the lost-and-found at Fondren Middle School. I was inspired by the reflection in my mother’s eyes. I saw unconditional love from her, even when she learned I’d done wrong. She never confused one misstep for The River of No Return.

With nothing to lose and certainly nothing to prove, my mom maneuvered through life, balancing a full-time teaching job and family, constantly caring for other people. When her mother was languishing in the nursing home with Alzheimer’s disease and no longer even recognized my mom, she still did all of Grandma Totee’s laundry. Once patients arrived at that wing, they were by and large treated as disposable by their families, but my mother was a faithful servant to the end.

I was appalled by mom’s gracious hospitality, honestly. She would offer up our home for fellowships as though it were Shangri-La and not a suburban tract home. She had seriously skewed idea of how many overnight guests we could comfortably accommodate in our home. She invited half of the Chi-O’s from LSU class of ’62, not only to my wedding, but to be our houseguests.

Like Bubble Boy, she was insulated from the others’ opinions by a thick wall of self confidence that not even the vainest barbs of a petulant Bridezilla could rupture.

It seems the older I get, the more I appreciate having been someone’s priority. I never doubted my parents loved me passionately and had a vested interest in my becoming a decent human being. They spent themselves to that end. My mother did what all great mothers do. She loved, planted seeds of greatness, prayed hard and hung on for dear life.

My mom is no Susana Wesley, but she is a master artist whose kindness, confidence and caring painted a backdrop of joyous possibility which all my dreams have been safely hung.

Jinny Henson travels the country as a Christian comedienne. John, Maggie Lee and Jack are an endless source of material for her. You can find out more about her at www.jinnyhenson.com

Posted: 4/27/07

Around the State

• Two vision trips for border/Mexico missions are fast approaching. The Querétaro vision trip starts with a May 2 flight to Mexico City and participants return May 5. A trip to Oaxaca will be from May 20 to 23. For more information about the trips and available scholarships, call (888) 333-2363.

• Dallas will participate in the National Day of Prayer May 3 with an old-fashioned tent revival on Gaston Avenue at Haskell at 11:45 a.m. Daily tent meetings are being held there morning and evening until then. First Church in Dallas and Prestonwood Church in Plano are among the churches and organizations sponsoring the effort.

• Panfork Camp in Wellington will hold its senior adult day May 4. Registration begins at 8:45 a.m. and events will continue through the middle of the afternoon. Lunch will be served. The cost is $10. For more information, call (806) 665-3152.

• The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor will hold its 10th annual Senior Saints Summit May 14-17 for people 55 and older. Participants live on campus for four days of seminars, singing, worship, fellowship and Bible study. Wallace Davis will be the summit preacher, Dan Woolridge the Bible teacher and Larry Putman the worship leader. Other highlights include daily morning devotionals, special interest breakout sessions, fellowship times, a talent show and games. The cost is $135 per person or $250 per married couple to stay on campus, or $95 for commuters staying off campus. For more information, call (254) 295-4606.

• Frank Denton has been named this year’s Nelson Fellow by the Missouri Baptist Foundation. Denton was a pastor in Texas and Missouri and his Texas ties also include service with Southwestern Seminary, the Baptist General Convention of Texas and Buckner Benevolences.

• The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor yearbook staff collected a total of 18 awards at the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association Conference, including the sweepstakes award and the award for overall excellence. The yearbook also earned the Bronze Medalist Award from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, a national honor. Jennifer Meers is editor.

• Wayland Baptist University presented its Dorothy McCoy Mission Service Award to Glen Godsey, a 1952 graduate. Godsey was pastor of Hispanic churches for decades and has been associate director of missions for Caprock Plains Area since 1985.

• Three Howard Payne University students were national finalists in student speakers bureau competition. Angela Slayden of China Springs took 4th place in after-dinner speaking; Johnny Garcia of Quanah took 6th place in after-dinner speaking; and Crystal Rice of Early was 4th in the poetry competition.

• Dallas Baptist University presented U.S. Congressman Pete Sessions with an honorary doctorate of humanities degree at its spring convocation.

• Randy Worden and Kathy Anzivino have been named assistant vice presidents for student life at Houston Baptist University.

• The Baptist Student Ministry at the U.S. Air Force Academy will pick up any appointee to the school the day before in-processing and house them at the Eagle’s Nest, the organization’s ministry house. They will be served breakfast and taken to the academy the next morning. For more information, call (719) 638-1656.

Anniversaries

• Kelly Walton, fifth, as minister of media at First Church in Sherman, April 29.

• Temple Church in Amarillo, 60th, June 1-3. For more information, call (806) 372-2306. Troy Richardson is pastor.

• Jim Shamburger, 20th, as pastor of First Church in Victoria, June 2 and 3. A reception will be held Saturday from 2 p.m to 5 p.m. A pot-luck lunch will follow Sunday morning’s service.

• Trinity Memorial Church in Marlin, 50th, June 3. Registration and fellowship will begin at 10 a.m., followed by a worship service that will incorporate the history of the church and participation from former pastors and staff. A catered lunch will follow, and reservations are needed by May 15. For more information, call (254) 804-9963. Robby Wynn is interim pastor.

• John Duncan, 20th, as pastor of Lakeside Church in Granbury. A reception in his honor will be conducted June 3 at 6 p.m.

• First Church in Hart, 100th, June 10. Former pastors Cliff Hargrove, Aaron Reed, Randall Scott, C.T. Cunningham and Allie Balko are expected to attend. Nelson Dotson will lead the music. A catered barbecue meal will follow the morning service, and reservations are needed by May 24. An afternoon program also is planned. For more information or to make reservations, call (806) 938-2316. Matt Baird is pastor.

Retiring

• Bob Nickell, as pastor of South Hills Church in Fort Worth, April 29. He served the church more than 12 years and was in the ministry 33 years. His previous pastorates include Belmore Church in San Angelo. He now resides in El Paso.

Deaths

• Dorothy Kronzer, 84, April 14 in Houston. A 1944 graduate of Baylor University, she was the first woman president of the Baylor Alumni Association, elected in 1976. She later served as a Baylor trustee and attained regent emerita status in 1996. In 1998, she was honored by the school for her service with the Founders Medal. She also received the James Huckins Medallion in 1989 and the Pat Neff and Presidents Medallions in 1997. She also received the Herbert H. Reynolds Award for Exemplary Service and the W.R. White Meritorius Service Award. She also supported the school financially. She was preceded in death by her husband of 48 years, Jim; and brothers, Royce and Richard Barfield. She is survived by her son, Wally; daughter, Kim Kronzer; sister, Lois Wimberly; brother, David Barfield; and five grandchildren.

• Clinton Watson, 77, April 19 in Fort Worth. He was a pastor for many years before serving Parker-Palo Pinto Area as director of missions from 1976 to 1994, when he retired. He was a member of First Church in Mineral Wells. He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Edith; daughters, Buff Moncus and Melody Hull; sons, Rodney and Tom; sister, Jackie McCrary; 12 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

Events

• First Church in Big Spring will honor senior adults and long-time church members with recognition service and luncheon May 6. “You Are a Treasure” has been chosen as the theme of the day.

• Cowboy Church in Thrall and Souls for Christ Ministries are sponsoring a three-day country gospel music revival May 17-19 in Taylor at the corner of Fourth and Porter. Beginning at 7 p.m. each day, scheduled performers are Redeemed, Dennis Rehders, ChristianHeirs, Trinity, Faithfull Touch, New Life, The Davila Family, Myron Lewis, The Beymers and others.

• Contemporary gospel music singer Blake Bolerjack will perform at First Church in Garland June 3 at 6:15 p.m. Greg Ammons is pastor.

Licensed

• Jonathan Waller to the ministry at First Church in Gordonville.

Ordained

• Neal Alexander to the ministry at Macon Church in Mount Vernon.

• Jimmy Goen to the ministry at First Church in Palo Pinto.

• Sean Allen to the ministry at Wilshire Church in Dallas.

• Richard Hard as a deacon at Eisenhauer Road Church in San Antonio.

Revival

• Faith Memorial Church, Houston; May 6-9; evangelist, Don Thornton; pastor, James Morris.

Posted: 5/03/07

Turkish Baptists fear threats
after murders, civil unrest

By Robert Marus

Associated Baptist Press

IZMIR, Turkey (ABP)’—Turkey’s handful of Baptists and other evangelical Christians fear increased persecution as the nation continues to reel from political upheaval and the brutal murder of three Christians, allegedly by radical Islamists.

Meanwhile, Turkish Christians of all stripes, their allies in Europe and American officials are calling on the nation to prove its commitment to religious freedom.

According to Klaus Rosler, an official with the European Baptist Federation, worship services at the Baptist church in the Buca district of Izmir, Turkey, “are being shielded by the police.”

The church hosted the funeral for one of the three victims of the murders, which were committed April 18. It is the nation’s only congregation officially affiliated with a Baptist denominational body, although EBF General Secretary Tony Peck said there are other “baptistic” churches in Turkey.

Rosler, in an April 27 article on the EBF website, also said the Izmir church’s pastor has received police protection after being falsely accused of engaging in coercive evangelism. Ertan Cevik said a local Buca newspaper published an article accusing him and the Izmir congregation of being a missionary center for evangelical Christians trying to convert Turkish Muslims. It said the Christians are engaging in “brainwashing and using money to attract young people,” whom they “make pliable” with drugs.

The articles came in the wake of the murders, which took place in the conservative Eastern Turkish city of Malatya. According to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, similar accusations have been made against evangelical Christians by local publications and activists elsewhere in Turkey.

The events come against the backdrop of broad social upheaval over the role of religion in Turkish public life as the nation makes a bid to join the Western world more fully.

A May 1 ruling by the nation’s highest court halted a parliamentary election process that had favored Abdullah Gul, the nation’s prime minister. Gul got the most votes in the first round of polling April 27.

In response, as many as one million secularist Turks protested in Istanbul April 29. The protests followed similar ones in Ankara, the nation’s capital, two weeks prior.

Gul, who is currently Turkey’s foreign minister, and the nation’s prime minister, Tayyip Erdogan, belong to the AK Party. The party was formed from a moderate Islamist party the government had previously banned. AK enjoys strong support among Turkish Muslims, who tend to be poorer and more rural than the secularist elites centered in Istanbul and other large Turkish cities.

However, the party’s economic reforms have earned the support of many Turkish moderates and business leaders. Gul has spearheaded Turkey’s bid to join the European Union.

AK politicians control the parliament, but Turkish military leaders threatened to unseat the government if Gul wins. The military, which views itself as the guarantor of Turkey’s secularist ruling ethos, has unseated three other governments in the last half-century, including another moderate Islamist government elected in 1997.

In response to the court ruling, AK leaders promised to rush through Parliament constitutional reforms allowing the president to be elected via popular vote.

Turkey’s population is, according to most estimates, 99 percent Muslim. However, unlike most other majority-Muslim nations, the government has been staunchly secularist since the Turkish Republic’s 1923 founding. Many Turks have criticized Gul and Erdogan, for instance, because their wives wear Islamic headscarves. Under current law, such scarves are banned in Turkish government buildings.

Much of the nation’s elite—concentrated in large cities such as Istanbul and Ankara—are staunch defenders of secularism. But, in recent years, many of Turkey’s more religious and rural citizens have gained more economic and political power.

Nonetheless, AK Party leaders condemned the Malatya murders. According to Compass Direct, a news service that tracks persecution of Christians, two victims—Necati Aydin, 36, and Ugur Yuksel, 32, were Turks who converted from Islam to Christianity. The third man, Tillman Geske, 46, was a German citizen.

According to Rosler, the three worked for a small Protestant publishing house that was translating a study Bible into Turkish and were members of the city’s tiny Kurtulus Protestant Church, where Aydin was the pastor. The attacks took place in an office that served both the church and Zirve Publishing.

Local authorities reportedly have arrested 10 men in connection with the attack, including the five alleged killers.

In an April 19 press conference televised live on CNN’s Turkish station, the head of the Alliance of Protestant Churches in Turkey said the attacks were “not a surprise” and linked them to anti-Christian propaganda in conservative parts of Turkey.

“Turkey was buried in the darkness of the Middle Ages” by the attacks, said Ihsan Ozbek, who is pastor of an Ankara church. He compared opposition to Christian missionaries and rumors spread among non-Christian Turks about Christian proselytism to the witch hunts of the last millennium.

A letter about the details of the murders, purportedly from Protestants in the hometown of one of the victims, has spread to Christians around the world via e-mail. It said the perpetrators had done surveillance prior to the murders by posing as potential converts and attending an evangelistic meeting hosted by the Malatya church.

The letter, from “The Protestant Church of Smyrna,” also includes details about gruesome torture the victims allegedly underwent prior to their deaths. It accused political leaders of fostering suspicion of Christians that led to the murders and linked them with other recent attacks against Turkey’s tiny Christian minority.

Smyrna is the Greek name for Izmir, a large, ancient city on Turkey’s Aegean coast. Ancient Smyrna was home to one of the earliest Christian churches.

Aydin’s funeral was held in the courtyard of the Baptist church there. It is unclear if the Baptist congregation was the same as the one in which the letter originated. It was dated April 24 and contained the tagline “reported by Darlene Bocek.”

Jeff Sellers, Compass Direct’s managing editor, said April 30 that his reporters in the region had not been able to confirm the letter’s accuracy or authenticity.

European Christians have also weighed in on the situation. Turkey is seeking admission to the European Union, but many European leaders are leery of accepting a nation that physically and culturally straddles Europe and the Middle East.

“The Malatya tragedy can have serious consequences for the image of Turkey and its relationship with the European institutions,” said an April 25 statement from the Conference of European Churches, an ecumenical body that includes the EBF. “We urge the Turkish government to adopt a new attitude towards religious minorities, so as to protect religious minorities, to improve their legal status and to ensure the peaceful coexistence of the different religions.”

Posted: 5/02/07

Daughter of former Truett
dean killed in car wreck

Caitlin Creed, a freshman social work major at Baylor University, was killed April 30 in an automobile accident near Palestine. She was traveling to her grandmother’s house in Tyler to prepare for exams.

She was the daughter of Brad Creed, former dean of Truett Seminary and now provost at Samford University, and his wife, Cathy.

She was a member of Tri Delta Sorority and attended Highland Baptist Church in Waco.

Visitation will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. May 3, at Autry Funeral Home, 1025 SE Loop 456, in Jacksonville, Texas. Funeral services will be held at 4 p.m. May 4, at Central Baptist Church, 1909 E. Rusk St., in Jacksonville.

A card to the family can be sent to her parents at 1380 Kendall Place, Homewood, Ala., 35209.