Archives
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DOWN HOME: No place like ‘home’
Posted: 12/01/06
DOWN HOME:
No place like ‘home’We’ve got another home.
No, the Baptist Standard didn’t hand me a big, fat bonus so I could go out and buy a second place out in the Hill Country or down by the beach. And I haven’t signed a blockbuster movie deal based on “Down Home.” (Who would play me in the movie? Some folks might pick George Clooney or Brad Pitt, but I’d go for Ray Romano or Matthew Perry. In my universe, funny trumps sexy.)
If you’ve met me on this side of the page the past few months, you probably know Joanna and I bought another house late this summer. We sold the home in Lewisville where we raised our girls and bought another one in Coppell, way closer to work.
Our house seemed like home from the start. It feels like it was built for us, even though we didn’t find it for a long time. Now, except for hanging pictures in a hallway and trimming bushes, we’re pretty much settled. And since the “new” neighborhood is about twice as old as as the “old” one, we enjoy the trees and developed yards.
12/01/2006 - By John Rutledge
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EDITORIAL: Wanted: More compelling Christians
Posted: 12/01/06
EDITORIAL:
Wanted: More compelling ChristiansHow—and with whom—should Christians cooperate?
This issue surfaced again in the past few days, when some fundamentalist Christians demanded California pastor Rick Warren remove Sen. Barack Obama (D.-Ill.) from the program of his global AIDS summit because Obama does not oppose abortion.
Warren’s ministry innovation spans almost three decades, since he started Saddleback Church in his California apartment in the late 1970s. The church engages about 20,000 worshippers each week. It has started scores of congregations, and his training conferences have helped thousands of pastors. Purpose Driven Ministries—based on his books The Purpose Driven Church and The Purpose Driven Life—has impacted millions of people. The AIDS summit is a key ingredient in Warren’s latest initiative, the P.E.A.C.E. plan, which ministers to the people Jesus called “the least of these.” P.E.A.C.E. plans to plant churches, equip servant leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick and educate the next generation.
The AIDS summit took aim at two of the P.E.A.C.E. initiatives, assisting the poor and caring for the sick. The P.E.A.C.E. website reports more than 40 million people are infected with HIV/AIDS. Compassion International notes more than 25 million people have died of AIDS, nine out of 10 children with AIDS live in Africa, and 25 million children will lose both parents to AIDS in the next four years. Warren’s efforts embody the gospel. One can only wonder what might happen if all those pastors who looked to Warren to help build up their congregations would follow his lead in P.E.A.C.E. Our planet would be a vastly better place.
12/01/2006 - By John Rutledge
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MK carries on legacy through gift to Nigeria hospital
Posted: 12/01/06
Mary Kay Posey points to the Texas-sized gift she plans to deliver this Christmas to Nigeria—thanks largely to Texas Baptists. MK carries on legacy
through gift to Nigeria hospitalBy Barbara Bedrick
Texas Baptist Communications
DALLAS—Many people renew family ties at Christmas. For Mary Kay Posey, the trip home takes 19 hours. But when she returns to Nigeria this month to deliver a Texas-sized gift, it gives her the chance to carry on the legacy of her medical missionary parents.
“We were expecting a miracle, but what we got was so much more,” she said.
Posey meets with residents and staff at a leper colony near Eku Baptist Hospital. 12/01/2006 - By John Rutledge
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Church gives thanks by giving back
Posted: 12/01/06
Church gives thanks by giving back
By John Hall
Texas Baptist Communications
EL PASO—Members of Lakeside Baptist Church in El Paso gave thousands of hungry people in Juarez something to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.
Church members were the primary preparers of Thanksgiving meals for more than 20,000 people Nov. 24-25. The effort is part of an outreach coordinated by Hands of Luke Medical Ministries, an organization led by Marco Samaniego, pastor of Lakeside Baptist.
Members of Lakeside Baptist Church in El Paso and other volunteers with Hands of Luke Medical Ministries prepare a thanksgiving feast for hungry families in Juarez. 12/01/2006 - By John Rutledge
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ETBU students serve in Sabine Pass
Posted: 12/01/06
East Texas Baptist University Tiger baseball team members, (left to right) Trevor Stagner of White Oak, Lane Ellzey of Kountze, Michael Ross of Tyler, Hunter Howard of Lake Dallas and Joey Cross of Celina, tear down a ceiling in a home damaged by Hurricane Rita in Sabine Pass. (Photo courtesy of ETBU) ETBU students serve in Sabine Pass
By Mike Midkiff
East Texas Baptist University
MARSHALL—Two student groups from East Texas Baptist University responded to a request by Texas Baptist Men Disaster Relief to help meet ongoing needs in Southeast Texas one year after Hurricane Rita.
“I received a phone call from a TBM representative asking if ETBU students would help with a tremendous need to gut houses and hang sheetrock,” said Allan Thompson, director of the university’s Great Commission Center.
12/01/2006 - By John Rutledge
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Ethiopian church employs indigenous missionaries
Posted: 12/01/06
Ethiopian church employs
indigenous missionariesBy George Henson
Staff Writer
GARLAND—Through an innovative plan employing indigenous missionaries, even Sunday school classes can afford to reach Muslims in Ethiopia.
Pastor Bedilu Yirga of Ethiopian Evangelical Baptist Church in Garland and his congregation have partnered with churches in Ethiopia to reach members of the Berta tribe, who live along the border of Ethiopia and Sudan.
12/01/2006 - By John Rutledge
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Glad Tidings…to all people
Posted: 12/01/06
Baptist missionary Shirley Smith (right) visits the family of a Futa Toro man in West Africa who has recently returned from a pilgrimage to Mecca, the center of Islamic life. (IMB photo) Glad tidings… to all people
By Ken Camp
Managing Editor
Luke’s Gospel account of Christ’s birth describes how angels announced to shepherds good tidings of great joy for all people. But 2,000 years later, more than one-fourth—perhaps many more—of the world’s people still haven’t heard the good news or seen evidence of it.
Estimates vary widely regarding the number of least-evangelized people and unreached people groups.
See Related Articles:
• Glad Tidings…to all people
• Glad Tidings: What's your mission?
• Glad Tidings: BGCT offers multiple missions opportunities
12/01/2006 - By John Rutledge
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Glad Tidings: What’s your mission?
Posted: 12/01/06
Glad Tidings:
What's your mission?More than 4,000 people traveled on a Buckner mission trip in 2006, helping to share the gospel and show love to hundreds of orphan children and broken families in the Rio Grande Valley, Seattle and seven countries around the world.
“Your faith gets stretched in a way that we don’t allow it to stretch when we’re at home,” said Longview Baptist Church member Charles Risinger, a three-time Buckner mission trip participant to Latvia. “You see how God makes things happen when you realize that it’s just not humanly possible for you to have done it yourself.”
See Related Articles:
• Glad Tidings…to all people
• Glad Tidings: What's your mission?
• Glad Tidings: BGCT offers multiple missions opportunities
Thousands of people find their calling in missions each year when they seek to comfort God’s children through Buckner mission trips.
For more information on upcoming missions opportunities with Buckner, contact the Buckner missions office at 1-877-7ORPHAN or email missions@buckner.org.
12/01/2006 - By John Rutledge
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Glad Tidings: BGCT offers multiple missions opportunities
Posted: 12/01/06
Glad Tidings:
BGCT offers multiple missions opportunitiesBy Barbara Bedrick
Texas Baptist Communications
DALLAS—As sparkling lights and Nativity scenes take center stage this season, a group of college students at First Baptist Church in Canyon hopes to bring light to nonbelievers a world away in Southeast Asia.
A youth musical mission team plans to travel to Japan where members will bear witness to their faith through caroling. Meanwhile, another group of college students will ring in the new year sharing the gospel in Russia.
See Related Articles:
• Glad Tidings…to all people
• Glad Tidings: What's your mission?
• Glad Tidings: BGCT offers multiple missions opportunities
12/01/2006 - By John Rutledge
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Houston Baptist University inaugurates president
Posted: 12/01/06
Houston Baptist University inaugurates president
By Ken Camp
Managing Editor
HOUSTON—Houston Baptist University installed Robert Sloan as the school’s third president Nov. 29, and the newly inaugurated president used the occasion to underscore his commitment to the integration of faith and learning—a recurring theme during his tenure as president of Baylor University.
Sloan told the diverse assembly—including the executive directors of the rival Baptist General Convention of Texas and Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, as well as representatives from about 100 universities—his last two or three years at Baylor had been “difficult and challenging.”
Houston Baptist University President Robert Sloan (center) receives the presidential medallion and words of congratulations from Jack Carlson (left), past chairman of the HBU board of trustees and interim president, and President Emeritus Doug Hodo. 12/01/2006 - By John Rutledge
