Updated: 1/19/07

Hall: 'Still a lot for me to do’ at Buckner

By Marv Knox

Editor

The selection of Albert Reyes to lead Buckner Children & Family Services signals not only a decisive personnel change, but also a shift in vision and focus for Buckner International, Ken Hall insists.

Now, Buckner is poised to present Christ—not only spiritually, but also physically—to the world’s poorest children, said Hall, president of Buckner International, which encompasses not only ministry to children and their families, but also care for senior adults, as well as fund-raising support for the ministries.

“We were doing very well, and God was blessing us and giving us multiple opportunities to extend our outreach to hurting children,” Hall recalled. “But I began to sense the need was so great for the children of the world. And the vacuum in our Baptist world regarding ministries to the least of these in the world was profound.”

At the same time, Buckner possessed enough goodwill among Baptists to allocate the human and material resources for a tangible ministry worldwide, he added.

“It comes down to Jesus’ parable of the talents,” Hall explained. “We had an abundance of blessings, and I felt it was time to invest them in a way that is less regionalized and more kingdom-centered.”

Once that trajectory was set, Hall realized he needed help to accomplish the new mission. “I couldn’t manage the overall organization and give attention to the growth,” he conceded. “And after 13 years on the job, … I had to ask, ‘Am I the best person to lead the growth?’ I was going to have to force people to think of me differently.”

So, Buckner launched a search for the right person to lead its revamped children and family division. Reyes surfaced among a list of “magnificent names,” Hall said.

“Since I made the choice (to select Reyes) in October, I’ve had it affirmed hundreds of times,” he added. Specifically, he cited an early-January trip to Guatemala, where Reyes led an evening meeting of Guatemalan Buckner employees—entirely in Spanish.

“Where I have to struggle to be cross-cultural, Albert is in his element; he’s a natural,” Hall noted. “It was a wonderful thing to watch.”

For several months, some Texas Baptists have speculated Hall wants Reyes in place at Buckner so Hall can succeed Charles Wade as executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas when Wade retires.

But Hall stressed he’s staying put at Buckner. Much of his life and ministry points to child care: His wife, Linda, grew up in Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home. His doctoral studies focused on creating effective ministries for children. As a pastor, he worked on ministry to children and the poor. And he’s been at Buckner more than a dozen years.

“Just as I’m not the one to grow Buckner’s ministries to the next level, I am the right one to consolidate our victories … and to manage this $350 million ministry,” he said. “I’m still at a point where I can raise significant funds, and that frees Albert to focus on growing the ministry. Also, Buckner is larger than children and family services. Plus, I’m available to mentor and develop Albert. There’s still a lot for me to do.”

Besides, leading Buckner is more to his liking than leading the BGCT.

“I’m used to being a pastor and the CEO of a corporation, where you can do things quickly,” he explained. “I can get really frustrated with all the steps and processes you have to go through to be a denominational bureaucrat.”

Updated: 1/19/07

Bloggers seek to launch movement

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

MESQUITE—Some participants called the meeting the start of a movement, and others labeled it the launch of an organization. Whatever form it may take, a small group of Texas Baptists met to discuss ways to fund some Baptist General Convention of Texas ministries to which their churches are committed—but not necessarily support a state convention in which they feel they have no voice.

Three Baptist bloggers—Kevin Holmes, pastor of Edgemont Park Baptist Church in Mesquite; Rick Davis, pastor of First Baptist Church in Brownwood; and David Montoya, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Mineral Wells—convened the group Jan. 16 in Mesquite.

“This is not a finished product. We’re not here to unveil a done-up plan. We need to seek God in this thing,” Davis told the 20 who attended, including several who publicly identified themselves as observers rather than participants.

Davis noted several people sent regrets that icy roads or last-minute church obligations prevented their attendance. About a half-dozen participated online.

Some speakers expressed continuing frustration with the BGCT over mismanaged church-starting funds in the Rio Grande Valley, but most participants focused on a ruling by the chair at the BGCT annual meeting.

When Montoya made a motion at the annual meeting that the convention itself—not just the BGCT Executive Board—ask for a criminal investigation by legal authorities of the Valley church-starting fund scandal, then-President Michael Bell ruled the motion out of order.

Reading from a statement prepared by the parliamentarian, Bell explained the Executive Board has sole authority to act in the interim between annual meetings of the convention. Board action at an executive session immediately prior to the annual meeting “pre-empted any action” by convention messengers, Bell said.

“If that ruling stands, it disenfranchises the messengers in terms of the day-to-day operations of the convention,” Holmes said. “That makes me real nervous. … It means churches are no longer cooperating partners (with the BGCT). We’re just there to feed the machine.”

Participants at the meeting agreed to send a letter to the Executive Board leaders prior to the board’s Feb. 26-27 meeting, asking the board to revisit the ruling and take steps to ensure changes are made in governing documents to protect the right of messengers to vote on substantive issues. They decided to circulate a proposed letter by e-mail to meeting participants and post it on several blogs so other people also can sign it.

The board already plans to deal with the issue and clarify decision-making authority, Executive Board Executive Director Charles Wade said in an interview.

“We want to make clear that the convention in session is the final authority. The Executive Board only has the authority the convention gives to it between annual meetings,” Wade said.

At the Mesquite meeting, Holmes asked whether disgruntled Texas Baptists should mobilize like-minded messengers to attend the 2007 annual meeting in Amarillo, Oct. 29-30.

“Messengers do still have recourse,” he said. “At this point, messengers can still go through proper channels to make changes.”

Montoya—who said he had defended the BGCT in the past—questioned whether the existing denominational bureaucracy had become irrelevant.

“Can we find a way to channel funds to ministries without the tremendous overhead of the palace in Dallas?” he asked regarding the traditional mechanism for distributing funds through the Executive Board staff.

Davis urged participants to “move on to the future by returning to the distant past,” to a time when churches made individual decisions about which missions causes and institutions they want to fund.

The group briefly talked about an idea Davis had proposed on his blog—allowing churches to work with a licensed and bonded third-party accountant who would distribute contributions to Baptist causes as directed by the church, without the overhead expenses of a Baptist Building.

“Let local churches under God make the determination about with whom they will choose to partner,” Davis said. “We have the technology. Do we have the will?”

Posted: 1/19/07

Pastor sees end of one
congregation as ‘New Beginning’

By Greg Garrison

Religion News Service

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (RNS)—Midfield First Baptist Church, which had dwindled to about 40 mostly elderly, white worshippers, recently held its last service in the church building it had called home for nearly 50 years.

A week later, it handed over the keys—and its $1.8 million property—to a predominantly African-American congregation—New Beginnings Baptist Church—in a property giveaway that gives new meaning to the church’s name.

“Somebody came up with the idea, why don’t we just give them the building,” said Eugene Nail, 78, pastor of Midfield First Baptist since 2000. “It was built with tithes and offerings, and it’s the Lord’s building anyway.”

As one church dies away and another is born, Nail called it an “old ending and a new beginning.”

“We’re going to turn it over to them—the church and everything in it,” Nail said. “Midfield First Baptist will cease to exist. … The town needs ministering to. Our people are too old. They had to kiss reality in the mouth.”

Midfield First Baptist no longer had a choir, but it had a praise ensemble made up of five women in their 70s.

“We wanted to close with dignity,” said Gene Hayes, Midfield’s minister of music. “Our people saw it was a good thing to continue our legacy through this group of people.”

Midfield Baptist was founded in 1952 as a mission of another nearby Baptist church. The congregation held tent services before the education building went up in 1958. The 600-seat sanctuary was built in 1966. Back then, Midfield Baptist was thriving.

“It’s always been blue collar, U.S. Steel people,” Hayes said. “It’s always been a generous and missions-minded church.”

In the late 1960s, the church had 900 members and attendance of about 600 in Sunday school classes, said Hayes’ wife, Gloria, who has played organ and piano at the church for nearly 40 years. “We had a vibrant church,” she said.

The Hayeses arrived at Midfield First Baptist with their 4-year-old daughter, Terri, in 1967. “She was baptized in the church, she was married in the church, her first baby was dedicated in the church,” Mrs. Hayes said.

Their daughter, and the children of other members, generally moved on when they reached adulthood. Many of the remaining elderly members come from a distance back to Midfield to attend services.

“They stay out of loyalty,” said Nail. “That brick and mortar is sacred to them. They joined the church there, their children were baptized there and married in the church.”

The campus has a cemetery on the property that dates to the 1840s and includes the grave of Nail’s great-great-grandmother.

New Beginnings will take over the cemetery, the buildings and all the contents, including office equipment and the nine-foot Steinway concert grand piano.

“They are deeding over the property and its contents so their legacy of ministry can continue in this part of the city,” said Angulus Wilson, pastor of the 200-member New Beginnings congregation.

New Beginnings, started in 2003, had been holding services at two other local Baptist churches. “We outgrew those facilities,” Wilson said. “We continue to be ministry partners with both those churches.”

Wilson said the demographics of the neighborhood near the Midfield church campus are 60 percent black, 40 percent white.

“We can grow in a bigger facility and minister to a hurting community,” Wilson said.

The remaining Midfield First Baptist members likely will follow their children to other churches, Nail said.

“We are sad but excited for the new church and what it will mean for the community,” Gloria Hayes said.

Greg Garrison writes for The Birmingham News in Birmingham, Ala.

Posted: 1/19/07

Around the State

• J.B. Boren, current dean of the Wayland Baptist University campus in Albuquerque, N.M., has been named dean of the campus in Amarillo, effective in February. He has served in Albuquerque since 2003.

• The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor awarded degrees to 156 undergraduate students and 19 master’s-degree students during winter commencement. Martha Farris, a 1942 graduate, presented the commencement address and received an honorary doctor of humanities degree for her contributions to her community and the university. The Alpha Chi Award for the highest grade-point average was shared by Catherine Chadwell, Lauren Graber, Michelle Hodges, Brandi Mordan, Jelle Scheepstra and Barbara Wright.

• Dallas Baptist University has added four faculty members. They are Debra Collins, assistant professor of library science and library cataloguer; Evelyn Daniels, assistant professor of management; June Elms, assistant professor of kinesiology; and Dionisio Flietas, assistant professor of mathematics.

• Karen Wiley has been named director of the office of institutional research and effectiveness at East Texas Baptist University. Wiley has served the school more than 20 years, most recently as assistant professor of computer science.

• Amanda Etter has been named director of marketing at Hardin-Simmons University. A 2005 graduate of the school, she has been an HSU admissions consultant.

• Three Baylor University students recently participated in a national fellowship of university leaders in Washington, D.C. They were Sara Sommers, Christine Lenihan and Nekpen Osuan.

• Two Texas pastors graduated with doctoral degrees from New Orleans Theological Seminary last month. Kris Segrest, pastor of First Church in Wylie, and Jeffrey Berger, pastor of South Avenue Church in Pasadena, both received doctor of ministry degrees.

Anniversaries

• Lynn Garrett, 10th, as minister to senior adults at First Church in Amarillo, Jan. 14.

• Jeff Raines, 10th, as associate pastor of missions at First Church in Amarillo, Jan. 14.

• Airway Church in Houston, 50th, Jan. 28. Former Pastor Will Passmore will preach in the morning service. A lunch and afternoon program will follow. For more information, call (713) 991-7677. Ed Parker is pastor.

• Danny Biddy, 30th, as pastor of Old River Church in Dayton, Feb. 4.

• First Church in Nederland, 100th, March 3-4. Saturday’s activities include an 8 a.m. golf tournament, a 9 a.m. prayer service at the congregation’s original location on Boston Avenue, a 10:30 a.m. women’s brunch; a 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. open house at the church; and a reception beginning at 5 p.m. that will feature former staff members. Sunday morning’s service will be followed by a luncheon. For more information, call (409) 722-0263. David Higgs is pastor.

Retiring

• Bud Lovell, after 35 years as minister of music at Cliff Temple Church in Dallas, Dec. 31. He and his wife, Elaine, will live in Somerville.

Deaths

• Timothy Veatch, 45, Nov. 29 in Texarkana. He was minister of music at Downtown First Church in Texarkana. He is survived by his wife, Evelyn; daughters, Candace and Lauren Veatch; parents, Johnny and Sue Veatch; and sister, Vicki Robinson.

• Ruth Marsh, Jan. 3 in Arab, Ala. She was the wife of longtime Southwestern Sem-inary professor Leon Marsh. She is survived by her husband of 53 years; brother, Wallace Shamburger; and sister, Mrs. W.E. Smith.

• Roy Sims, 86, Jan. 4 in Galveston. He was pastor of South Buckner First Church in Dallas 27 years before retiring to Galveston. He was preceded in death by his wife, Helen, and son, Dennis. He is survived by his sons, Steve and Michael; daughter, Sharon Svarplaitis; brother, James; 13 grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren.

• Roger Maddox, 56, Jan. 12 in a car accident north of Mangum, Okla. He lost control of his vehicle on an icy highway returning from his mother’s funeral. His wife and daughter were in the vehicle but were not seriously injured. He was pastor of First Church in Haslet and a resident fellow of the B.H. Carroll Institute. He previously was pastor of churches in Colleyville and Arnett, Okla. He was preceded in death by an infant sister, Judy. He is survived by his wife, Judy; daughter, Deidra Ford; sister, Susan Wood; and three grandchildren.

Events

• First Church in Devers will hold a chili cookoff and gospel sing Jan. 27 at 5 p.m. For more information, call (936) 549-7653. Harry McDaniel is pastor.

• A benefit for The Baptist Children’s Home, a ministry of Baptist Child and Family Services, will be held Feb. 10 at 6:30 p.m. at San Antonio College. A silent auction and performing artists will highlight the event.

Ground broken for Alzheimer's Center addition

Ground has been broken for The Green Houses at Sagecrest, the expansion project for Sagecrest Alzheimer's Care Center, a 52-bed dementia facility in San Angelo that remains full and has a growing waiting list.

The Green Houses facility is designed like a home inside and out, breaking away from the traditional hospital design and model of care.

Participating in the groundbreaking were, from right, Wes Wells, administrator of the Sagecrest Alzheimer's Care Center; Pat Crump, president and CEO of Baptist Memorials Ministries; Wayne Merrill, president emeritus of Baptist Memorials Ministries; and Kevin McSpadden, chaplain of Baptist Retirement Community.

Posted: 1/19/07

Born-again bikers running
full-throttle for Jesus

By Kay Campbell

Religion News Service

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (RNS)—The cruisers rumble into the parking lot in quick pairs. The riders dismount, shaking ponytails out of their helmets. They’ve got patches on their leather jackets, tattoos on their arms and eyes that have seen everything.

But these bikers have Jesus in their hearts and Bibles in their saddlebags.

“The Hellfighters are sold-out, 100 percent, foot-stomping, Bible-thumping Christians,” said Richard Headrick, a bike-riding sign painter from Laurel, Miss., who started the Hellfighters motorcycle ministry a few years ago. “Only the bold will qualify.”

Possum Pierce, with a crucifix mounted to his motorcycle, is a member of the Hellfighters bikers ministry in Huntsville, Ala.

Headrick and his wife, Gina, came to Huntsville to meet with a group of Hellfighters—one of their 10 national chapters—that meets at the International Worship Center, a nondenominational church led by mild-mannered Pastor Mark Beaird.

Beaird, who says his ride is a red Schwinn bicycle with a card stuck into the spokes for some extra noise, welcomes the group of unconventional Christians as part of the flock of about 100 at the church.

“I don’t care if they wear leather to church or not,” Beaird said. “Give me someone who wears leather and wins souls over someone who wears a suit and never talks to anybody about God.”

The Hellfighters aren’t shy about talking about God.

“Being aggressive is a must,” said James Caffery, an ex-con and a member of Hellfighters. “We kind of like you to be a born-again heathen. Sure, we ride and we eat, but our main concern is to tell people about Jesus. We’ll pretty well go in anywhere.”

The bikers have ridden to Sturgis, the infamous two-week rally that draws upwards of 500,000 bikers to South Dakota every August. It’s famous for scantily clad women, drunkenness, good bands and full-throttle hedonism.

“Sturgis is where Satan is,” Headrick said.

But it’s also where, the bikers say, Jesus would want them to be, handing out their bikers’ Bibles and tracts and sounding their relentless call to turn to Jesus.

They figure their past qualifies them for that ministry in a way no seminary ever could.

“Jesus Christ did not use Goody Two-Shoes to take his message,” said David Bates, a psychiatric nurse who’s come out the other side of drug addiction and mental illness. “He used people like in this room. We’re survivors.”

Posted: 1/19/07

Book Reviews

The Way of the Wild Heart by John Eldredge (Nelson Books)

The premise of John Eldredge’s latest book is simple—“acting as a true Father, and you his true son, God is now raising you up as a son.” Intentional training and initiation is the mode presented by which boys are raised into men. Like every book on men, Eldredge bemoans what is lacking in our churches today. But different from most other books is his plan to correct what has been lost.

Having once been adamantly against Eldredge’s approach to men, I came to this book with my doubts. I still find his theological foundations to be weak at times but improved over Wild at Heart. God the risk taker of Wild at Heart gives way now to God the warrior in The Way of the Wild Heart. The constant hunt for a wound in need of healing also wears on me, but that may be because I am blessed with a great earthly father.

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

This book probably was under many Christmas trees recently, and I believe that is a good thing. Eldredge’s clarity in describing his understanding of the stages of manhood is helpful and thought-provoking. His openness with his own life as a son and as a father is engaging. Many fathers will benefit from the chapters following the description of each man-stage, which detail how to intentionally raise your own son.

The strength of this book is in Eldredge’s faithfulness to point men to God as their Father. You may have grown up in a home and currently attend a church that is full of males but devoid of men. God is ready and able to love you and raise you as his son.

Unfortunately, the weakness is tied to the strength. Lacking,

aside from some quick references, is the role of Scripture in becoming a man. The reader gets the opinion that there is more to learn about being a man from movies like Lord of the Rings, The Kingdom of Heaven and The Lion King and mountain climbing than from God’s word. We need to be men, and we need to learn from others’ examples, but priority of place must be given to Scripture.

Paul Duncan, pastor

Mambrino Baptist Church

Granbury

Between Pacifism and Jihad: Just War and Christian Tradition by J. Daryl Charles (InterVarsity Press)

In these tumultuous times of terrorism, violence and warfare, how is the believer in Christ to think about such subjects? Does the Bible speak about war and peace and whether or not it is right to engage in military affairs? What about Jesus’ teaching to “turn the other cheek”? What have thoughtful and intelligent Christians generally believed about war and the use of force through the centuries that can inform our modern worldviews?

Daryl Charles, associate professor of religion and ethics at Union University, states that instead of starting with the unbiblical assumptions of peace being “the absence of war,” we must think with a more biblical foundation—peace is a state of justice and righteousness. When injustice is done, we must use biblical moral reasoning and love of neighbor to shun the ex-tremes of stand-back, isolationary pacifism and self-righteous, excessive militarism.

Charles also explores the differences in what the Bible teaches about dealing with personal conflicts and understanding the proper functions of governments and authorities.

“When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers” (Proverbs 21:15).

Greg Bowman

Minister to students

First Baptist Church

Duncanville

Spiritual Wisdom for Successful Retirement: Living Forward by C.W. Brister (Haworth Pastoral Press)

Upon retirement, my father moved to 50 acres and built his dream home. Two years later, we walked through his pasture, and I asked how he was enjoying his retirement. He stopped, looked me in the eyes, and confessed, “I feel … worthless.”

I wish I had this book then. It could have guided me to understand, and better help with, my father’s crises and issues of retirement. I also could have shared the book with him—and countless church members sharing his journey—for it is written not just for ministers/caregivers, but for retirees and their companions.

The book takes on important issues like the loss of one’s employment identity, signs of depression and the reality of death. Fortunately, it is not just descriptive, for it provides hope-filled suggestions concerning family, faith, friends and other sources of help.

At 158 pages, this book is a pleasurable journey through information, suggestions and anecdotes, but its greatest strength is that C.W. Brister walks in retirement himself and shares from his own experience and heart.

Karl Fickling, coordinator

Intentional Interim Ministry

Baptist General Convention of Texas

Dallas

Posted: 1/19/07

Baptist Briefs

N.C. editor to join Campbell Divinity faculty. Tony Cartledge, editor of the Biblical Recorder, newsjournal of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, will join the faculty of Campbell University Divinity School. Cartledge will assume his new duties as associate professor of Old Testament Aug. 15. Cartledge earned degrees from the University of Georgia, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and Duke University. Prior to joining the staff of the Biblical Recorder, Cartledge served 26 years as pastor of churches in Georgia and North Carolina. Cartledge and his wife, Jan, are the parents of three children—Russ, Bethany (who died in 1994 at the age of 7) and Samuel.

Southern Seminary president released from hospital. Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Al Mohler was discharged Jan. 10 from Louisville’s Baptist Hospital East following a two-week hospitalization that included extensive abdominal surgery and a four-day stay in the intensive care unit due to blood clots in the lungs. He was admitted to the hospital Dec. 27 complaining of intense abdominal pain and underwent surgery the following day. While physicians reported the procedure went well and Mohler’s abdominal issues were remedied, the development of blood clots led doctors to move Mohler to intensive care.

German Baptist theologian Popkes dies. Wiard Popkes, retired professor at the Baptist Seminary of Hamburg and long-time trustee chairman of the International Baptist Theological Seminary, died of a heart attack Jan. 3. He was 70. Popkes helped lead the European Baptist seminary through the Southern Baptist Convention’s decision to withdraw funding in 1991, when it was known as the Baptist Theological Seminary in Ruschlikon, Switzerland. As chairman of the seminary’s board, Popkes also oversaw the school’s purchase, renovation and move to Prague, Czech Republic. Popkes is survived by his wife, Irmgard, and a son.

International Baptist leader Merritt dies. John Merritt, general secretary emeritus of the International Baptist Convention, died of cancer Dec. 29. He was 76. Merritt served 34 years as a missionary with the Southern Baptist Convention’s Foreign Mission Board. In 1972, he became the general secretary of the European Baptist Convention, an association of English-speaking congregations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. It changed its name to the International Baptist Convention in 2003. Merritt retired from his position in 1996, when he was given the emeritus title. Doctors diagnosed him with lymphoma in 1997 and then with leukemia in late 2006. Merritt is survived by his wife, Elizabeth; two sons, Michael Merritt of Alexandria, Va., and James Merritt of Purvis, Miss.; a sister, Cora Davis of Hattiesburg; a brother, J.P. Merritt of Hattiesburg; and two grandchildren.

BWA, ethics center offer online curriculum for Lent. The Baptist World Alliance and the Baptist Center for Ethics have produced a free Bible study curriculum unit to help Baptists worldwide observe Lent—40 days of spiritual preparation for Easter. Funding for the curriculum is made possible in part by a gift from Jersey Village Baptist Church in Houston. The eight-week Bible study, designed for use in Sunday school, will guide adults through Lent with special emphasis on the witness and work of global Baptists. Beginning with the Sunday before Ash Wednesday, the weekly studies will challenge Baptists to reflect on God’s history of deliverance; repent from self-centered and self-sufficient living; reaffirm their dependence upon God; and recommit to walking the life of faith. Student and leader guides will be available online at www.ethicsdaily.com by Jan. 22. The first lesson is designed to use Feb. 18.

Warrens to teach PEACE to Virginia Baptists. Rick and Kay Warren, co-founders of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., will speak Feb. 2 at a Baptist General Association of Virginia conference. In addition to leading case studies and sharing “best practices,” the Warrens will teach participants how to implement the PEACE Plan in local churches. They developed the plan to help small groups address global spiritual and social problems by planting churches, equipping servant leaders, assisting the poor, caring for the sick and educating the next generation. Other leaders from Saddleback, including the church’s worship pastor and the director of its HIV/AIDS Initiative, also will lead sessions at the conference.

Posted: 1/19/07

Posted: 1/19/07

2nd Opinion:
Longevity: Key to student ministry

By Jeff Dooley

I was talking with Matt, a youth minister in Tennessee, asking him how he was doing in his first years of ministry. He said he was doing great and loving ministry. Matt and I began to reminisce. It seemed like just yesterday when he was one of my seventh-grade students in our youth group. We had a good time laughing about some of the teenage-boy pranks he and his buddies had pulled on some of our summer camp trips—some I am just finding out about many years later. I’m glad I did not know then what I know now.

I was standing on Waikiki Beach in Hawaii, conducting a beautiful wedding at sunset for Amanda, another former student who now is a recreation minister in Virginia. I was thinking to myself, “Where does the time go?”

How many student pastors get the opportunity to be part of the life of a student from middle school to marriage? I have come to realize these situations are rare in student ministry. I read the average tenure of a student pastor is 18 to 24 months. The frequently asked question to every student pastor is, “When are you going to pastor your own church?” I think people have finally stopped asking that question of me.

My prayer is that student pastors come to realize the power of longevity in ministry.

I often recall the many faces of students who have come through our student ministry year after year. I often wonder what some of them are doing and the paths they have chosen in life. The majority of my former students (like Matt and Amanda) remain a big part of my life. I am one person who has been blessed to reap the rewards of longevity in student ministry.

If I could pass along anything from my years in student ministry, I would say patience is the key to longevity. Lock-ins, bus trips, time away from family, retreats and summer camps at times can bring frustration to any student pastor. However, when we are patient, we are demonstrating to students and parents alike that we are in ministry for the long haul.

Students need to know that we are here for them—year after year!

In a world that is ever changing, our students need to know their church and their relationship to God are constant. So many times, we get frustrated in ministry and want to throw in the towel or “the student.” But when God controls these difficult and challenging times, he will carry the minister through to the end. I am one to confess that the blessings in student ministry far exceed a little frustration.

God has used longevity in student ministry to bless my family as well. I have had the privilege of having all three of my daughters in our student ministry. I am speaking for myself in saying it truly has been a blessing. I have had many opportunities other fathers don’t have to “bond” and “hang out” with my daughters. Also, it works out great for them to have an “instant ATM” on all of our student ministry trips. After all, isn’t that what dads are for? I have not heard too much complaining from my daughters. I am so thankful to God for the special times and experiences that have brought us closer through student ministry.

Again, I attribute all of this to longevity in student ministry.

In today’s “grass is always greener on the other side” world, I hope student pastors and volunteers understand the power of longevity in student ministry. Don’t get me wrong: God does call people out to other places and ministries in his time. I know for certain God uses many people on short-term assignments.

But my prayer is for more pastors, students and their families to reap the blessings of longevity in student ministry for generations.

Jeff Dooley is associate minister to students at First Baptist Church in Denton.

Posted: 1/19/07

DOWN HOME:
What’s interesting to all those men?

Stuck in an airport the other day, with time to kill and legs to stretch, I walked the concourse. On about the third or fourth lap, a sign caught my eye from high on a wall above magazines in a bookstore.

“Men’s Interests,” the sign said. A tall rack of books blocked the magazines below the sign.

“Well, what are ‘men’ ‘interested’ in these days?” I asked myself. Curiosity piqued, I took a detour from my concourse-walking and stepped inside the bookstore to find out.

I could’ve guessed, and so could you.

Apparently “men,” or at least the ones who travel around the country in airplanes, are mostly “interested” in sex.

Of course, a few are interested in sports, especially the football playoffs. And a few are interested in vehicles.

But mostly, they’re interested in sex.

You’ve probably heard reports on how often the average man thinks about sex. The conventional answer is something like 469 gazillion times a day.

(My daughters and mother will want to stop reading here.)

Actually, 469 gazillion may be a low number. Men think about sex a lot. On numerous occasions, with various sets of guy friends, I have heard good and godly wife-loving, loyal and sensible men confess they think about sex quite a bit.

All of this confession, of course, is a great relief to everyone involved. None of us wants to imagine he is alone with his thoughts. Sometimes, I wonder if our fathers thought about sex that often when they were our age.

Is all this sex-thinking divinely programmed to propagate the species? If so, then why don’t our wives think about sex at least 468 gazillion times a day? On the other hand, do guys think about sex more now only because every conceivable medium pushes sex to sell products? And if that’s true, pity society when our children are our age, because if trends continue, guys won’t have time to think of engineering or pharmacy or computer programming or whatever it is they do to turn the wheels of progress.

Back to the bookstore: The word “Interests” played on my mind. Even if “men” think about sex all day long, does that mean that’s what they’re most interested in? Maybe I don’t really want to know the answer to that, especially if the object of that sex-interest is the age and shape of women on the covers of those magazines.

As a Christian man, I hope guys out there maintain a divinely appropriate interest in sex, because it is a gift from God.

But I also pray more men will cultivate their interests in being terrific husbands and devoted fathers. We need more men to get interested in telling others about Christ and in meeting the needs of hurting people all around them. We need more men who are interested in studying the Bible and leading others to grow in faith. Even if they think about sex a lot, they can develop a broader range of interests.

— Marv Knox

Posted: 1/19/07

EDITORIAL:
A time and place for healing wounds

If you could watch a wound heal, would you do it?

If so, plan to travel to Atlanta in just about a year. Baptists of all races and ethnicities from across Canada, Mexico and the United States will convene to celebrate a new covenant of committed, compassionate cooperation. Participants will spiritually and emotionally mend a wound that has disfigured the body of Christ for generations.

About 200 years ago, missions fervor compelled Baptists in America to cooperate so they could spread the gospel across the continent and around the globe. By 1845, however, their differences over slavery tore them apart—a denominational precursor to the Civil War.

So, for at least 162 years, Baptists have divided over race. To some extent, our churches and even conventions have integrated. But the wound inflicted by slavery has not healed enough so the four dominant African-American Baptist conventions and Anglo Baptists far and wide could come together for common passion and purpose.

That’s about to change.

In early 2008, Baptists from across North America will gather to demonstrate that their past, marred by conflict, has given way to the present, marked by compassion. As many as 20,000 Baptists of all races from all over the continent are expected to meet in Atlanta for the Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant, tentatively set for Jan. 30-Feb. 1.

The gathering reflects the inspiration of Jimmy Carter, a Baptist and son of the South, whose lifetime of influence has restored relationships around the world. Now in his ninth decade, President Carter has committed himself to doing the same for racially and ethnically divided Baptists in North America. The power of his persuasion, combined with the considerable legwork and logistics of Bill Underwood, new president of Mercer University, has brought a spectrum of Baptists to the table. They’re all affiliated with the North American Baptist Fellowship, the regional chapter of the Baptist World Alliance. They include the four National Baptist (African-American) conventions, as well as predominantly Anglo groups, such as the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and state Baptist conventions in Missouri, Virginia and Texas, as well as American Baptists and Canadian Baptists, and Baptist groups representing Hispanics, Japanese, Laotians and Russian-Ukrainians.

The magnet pulling them together is ministry. Rather than rally around a creed, they will coalesce around a covenant that will focus them on fulfilling the mandate Jesus outlined in his first sermon—“to bring good news to the poor. … to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.” Rather than debate theology (or, as erroneously reported in some daily newspapers, create a convention), they will get together to figure out how they can work together to do exactly what Jesus described—help the very people Jesus called “the least of these” in the world.

Unfortunately, as with most great ventures, adversaries want to shoot the covenant and the convocation down before they get off the ground. Some Baptists have opposed the endeavor because of the involvement of Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. Several notes on opposition: (1) Whether you agree with Carter’s politics, he is a world leader in reconciliation and a foremost advocate for the poor, who are the focus of the covenant. (2) Baptists do not endorse Clinton’s admitted failing, but what is the statute of limitation on shame? (3) If you came upon a burning building, would you require total agreement with every rescuer, or would you band together to save lives? (4) As one observer said, “It’s stupid to oppose working with people who love Jesus.”

The covenant presents a broad and encompassing agenda—big enough for Republicans as well as Democrats; for Canada, Mexico and the United States; for every race and tongue; even for Southern Baptists, who will be welcome as they decide a compassionate cause is more compelling than a creed.

For too many years, Baptists have been known by what we are against instead of what we are for. To our shame, that “against” list often has included racial fellowship and harmony, justice and equality, and wholeness and opportunity for all people. Along the way, we have wounded our reputation as loving, Christ-like people. We have wounded our sisters and brothers and others whose skin color is not our own. We have wounded sensitive spirits who have expected more from people who claim profound faith. Now is the time to bind the wounds and look to Atlanta as a place of healing.

Marv Knox is editor of the Baptist Standard.

Posted: 1/19/07

Faith Digest

Carter book prompts resignations. Fourteen members of an advisory group to the Atlanta-based Carter Center resigned in protest over former President Jimmy Carter’s recent book and statements on the Israeli-Palestinian stalemate. At the same time, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, a group that represents nearly 2,000 Reform rabbis, canceled a visit to the Carter Center during the group’s scheduled March convention in Atlanta. The resignations and cancellation were prompted by anger over a recently published book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, which is critical of Israeli policies toward the Palestinians, and remarks Carter has made defending the book. Last month, former Carter Center Director Kenneth Stein resigned as a center fellow, saying the book is biased and marred with factual mistakes. Carter has defended the book as fair and thorough.

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Clergy may opt out of same-sex civil unions. Members of the clergy, unlike mayors and other public officials who perform marriages, cannot legally be required to preside at ceremonies for same-sex civil unions, the New Jersey attorney general’s office said. The issue stems from a new law that allows civil unions for same-sex couples. The unions convey all rights of married couples except for use of the word “marriage.” The attorney general’s office previously had said mayors, deputy mayors, judges and township committee chairs who make themselves available generally to perform marriages also must be available to preside at ceremonies for civil unions, or they would be violating the state’s discrimination law. But the law is not meant to apply to clergy, according to a seven-page advisory opinion by Attorney General Stuart Rabner.

Orthodox angered by Israeli judge who allows cremation. Orthodox Israeli legislators say they are examining a recent landmark decision by a judge that allows cremation, a process banned by Jewish law. Jerusalem District Court Judge Moshe Sobol issued the ruling in response to a suit filed by a distant relative of the late Shmuel Rosen, an 80-year-old Holocaust survivor, to prevent his cremation on the grounds that Jewish law prohibits the process. Rosen’s widow and two sons favored the cremation. In his ruling, Sobol relied heavily on a recent statement by Israeli Attorney General Menachem Mazuz that said because parliament has never passed a law forbidding cremation, it cannot be considered illegal. Rosen’s body was cremated in December. Religion aside, the issue of cremation is a highly emotional one in Israel, largely because the process evokes images of Jews burned in giant crematoria at Nazi death camps during the Holocaust. The concept is so foreign to Judaism there is not even a word in Hebrew for cremation.