Posted: 11/17/06

CWJC graduate gains national honors

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

DALLAS—Dallas Christian Women’s Job Corps graduate Patrice Oats recently received national recognition as recipient of the Sybil Bentley Dove Endowment Award—a financial prize from Woman’s Missionary Union intended to help determined women rebuild their lives.

Oats—who works at two Dallas hospitals and is completing her nursing degree at Texas Woman’s University in Denton—already has made strides in that direction.

Sixteen years ago, she arrived in Dallas with great expectations—dreams of a career as a health-care provider. But a combination of health problems and bad choices left her out of work and in trouble.

• See complete list of convention articles

“I had a stroke when I was 30. I lived in a sinful lifestyle,” she said reluctantly, offering only a few hints of the hurdles she had to overcome. “I went through physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy. … I really don’t like to talk about it.”

Oats left that part of her life far behind, thanks in large part to Dallas Christian Women’s Job Corps, a ministry of Woman’s Missionary Union that teaches unemployed or underemployed women job skills and life skills in a Christian context.

When she was unable to find a job, WorkSource for Dallas County referred her to Christian Women’s Job Corps in January 1990.

“When I came to Christian Women’s Job Corps, I wasn’t worshipping God, and my self-esteem was low,” she said.

As she attended classes there, the spiritual depth of her instructors and some of her classmates impressed her.

“People in class knew how to pray,” she recalled. “I wanted to be able to do that, so I said, ‘Teach me how to pray.’”

Her instructors and mentors worked with her, giving her Scripture to read and discipleship worksheets to study. Eventually, she found the confidence needed to speak to God and expect an answer.

“God heard my prayer,” she said. “God is changing me, slowly but surely.”

Along the way, Oats had to deal with issues from her past—particularly a hot temper and a foul mouth.

“My past still haunts me,” she acknowledged. “I used to curse and get angry. I lost a job once because of that.”

But with the encouragement of her teachers, mentors and classmates, she learned how to accept God’s forgiveness and his help.

She committed her life to Christ and was baptized at Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas.

Oats graduated from the Christian Women’s Job Corps with perfect attendance and a ringing endorsement from Executive Director Wynette Ken and site Coordinator Dean Wise, who nominated her for the Sybil Bentley Dove Award.

After graduating from the job-training program, she secured two positions at Dallas hospitals—a nurse technician at Zale Lipshy and a medical assistant at Baylor.

Holding down two jobs, working toward completion of her nursing degree and caring for a 4-year-old daughter offer continuing challenges, Oats readily noted. But now, she believes, she doesn’t have to face the challenges alone.

“I’ve learned that if we get our minds set on the right things, God will help us,” she said. “I believe I can do anything through God.”

Posted: 11/17/06

Moving On: Board ‘pre-empted’
BGCT by recommending reforms

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

DALLAS—With “Together We are Doing More” as their stated theme and healing from financial scandal as the subtext woven through every session of their annual meeting, Texas Baptists met in Dallas to chart their course for the next year.

Messengers to the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting elected officers, adopted a $50.6 million budget and went on record speaking out in favor of environmental stewardship and against human trafficking.

• See complete list of convention articles

But some of the most significant business occurred prior to the general sessions at a closed-door meeting of the BGCT Executive Board—scheduled in response to an investigation that discovered mismanagement and misuse of church starting funds in the Rio Grande Valley.

Newly elected Baptist General Convention of Texas officers are First Vice President Joy Fenner of Garland, President Steve Vernon of Levelland and Second Vice President Roberto Rodriguez of Harlingen.

Two weeks earlier, an investigative team reported to the board that Texas Baptists gave more than $1.3 million in start-up funding and monthly support to three pastors in the Rio Grande Valley who reported 258 church starts between 1999 and 2005. Investigators presented evidence that up to 98 percent of those churches no longer exist, and some never existed—except on paper.

Meeting in executive session immediately before the opening session of the BGCT annual meeting, the board voted to implement all of the investigative team’s recommendations.

The board directed Executive Director Charles Wade to explore with legal counsel “the full range of methods for recovery of funds” and determine whether to refer the reports’ findings to law enforcement.

But at least one messenger to the BGCT annual meeting wanted the convention itself to ask legal authorities to investigate criminal actions that may have occurred in the Rio Grande Valley—a motion ruled out of order by BGCT President Michael Bell.

At the board meeting—a rare executive session closed to everyone except directors—Kenneth Jordan of Alpine made a motion instructing BGCT Executive Board staff leaders to implement the investigative reports’ recommendations “expeditiously and in full,” Chairman Bob Fowler of Houston said.

The motion called on Fowler to appoint an ad hoc committee from among the board’s directors to monitor implementation and report to the February 2007 Executive Board meeting “with the board’s expectation that they will have been fully implemented.”

The board approved a motion by Dan Griffith of Haskell directing Wade—in consultation with attorneys, the BGCT president and the board’s chairman—to consider all avenues deemed “appropriate, practical, cost-effective and in the best interests of the convention” to recover misappropriated church starting funds.

• See complete list of Valley funds scandal articles

The board also approved a motion by Doug Evans of Laguna Park directing Wade, in consultation with the BGCT’s legal counsel, to evaluate whether to refer the findings of the report to “any appropriate government investigatory agency.”

David Montoya, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Mineral Wells, raised questions about giving Wade authority to decide whether to pursue any criminal investigation, saying “he still has questions to answer” about his handling of the Valley church starting fund scandal.

David Montoya, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Mineral Wells, made a motion the convention itself ask for a criminal investigation by legal authorities.

Montoya—who had written extensively on his blog about what he termed “Valleygate”—made a motion the convention itself ask for a criminal investigation by legal authorities.

According to the report the Executive Board received Oct 31, the FBI explored allegations of fraud in connection with some church starting efforts in the Rio Grande Valley in 2000, but the agency dropped its investigation because the aggrieved party—the BGCT—did not pursue it.

Bell ruled Montoya’s motion out of order because the Executive Board has sole authority to act in the interim between annual meetings of the convention. Board action at the executive session prior to the annual meeting “pre-empted any action by the convention,” he said.

Montoya later told reporters he would work directly with some pastors in the Rio Grande Valley who indicated they would initiate legal action themselves.

Montoya also sought to amend the convention’s constitution to allow the convention to supercede action by the Executive Board regarding the hiring and firing of an executive director. The motion to amend failed to receive the necessary two-thirds majority vote.

Fowler reported the board also approved a motion by Harold Richardson of Tyler that the audit committee in January 2007 initiate an internal audit function that will report to the audit committee as soon as possible.

“This will require the audit committee to bring a recommendation to the Executive Board and amend the budget for the provision of such function at the regular board meeting in February,” Richardson’s motion stated.

The board also approved a four-part motion by Roberto Cepeda, chairman of the board’s missions and ministry committee:

The children’s choir from First Baptist Church in Garland performs during Family Fun Fest, prior to the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting.

• Church starting guidelines be elevated to “policy” status and be incorporated into the BGCT policy manual.

• Proposed church starting policies be presented to his committee for review in February and that the committee make a recommendation to the board regarding adoption of policies.

• A draft of the proposed policies be made available to each committee member by Dec. 15 and to all board members at least two weeks prior to their February meeting.

• Staff adopt any proposed policy changes regarding refined or enhanced accounting procedures as soon as possible.

In his report to the annual meeting, Wade underscored his commitment to lead staff and work with the board “to right wrongs” and “clean up this mess.” He stressed his desire to restore broken relationships with pastors and church leaders in the Valley, emphasized the overall good work done by church starting staff and pledged to rebuild trust.

At a news conference, Fowler noted a director called for a vote of confidence for Wade during the Executive Board meeting. But before it came to a vote, Wade asked the maker of the motion to withdraw it.

Wade indicated he appreciated the words of affirmation, but he believed any evaluation prior to the board’s February meeting would be premature.

In other business, convention messengers:

• Elected as president Steve Vernon, pastor of First Baptist Church in Levelland; first vice president, Joy Fenner of Garland, executive director emeritus of Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas; and second vice president, Roberto Rodriguez, pastor of Primera Iglesia Bautista in Harlingen.

• Approved a resolution confessing “Our failure to address adequately environmental degradation threatens generations present and future” and calling on Texas Baptists to “practice faithful stewardship of the environment in concrete ways (and)… advocate for sound environmental policies in the public square.”

• Approved a resolution urging Texas Baptists to “lend our support to appropriate agencies for the prevention of human trafficking, the protection of victims and the prosecution of perpetrators.”

Posted: 11/17/06

DOWN HOME:
A furry friend’s untimely end

“Do you hear something?” Joanna asked early one evening.

“What? Where?” I asked. My wife hears better than I do.

“That. There,” she replied, pointing to the space over the kitchen cabinets, just right of the sink.

Then we both heard it. “Scrrrritch, scrrrritch, scrrrritch, thump, thump.” Or something like that. A few minutes later, the scratching and thumping stopped, and we didn’t hear it the rest of the evening.

I can’t exactly remember the sequence of events, but this noise went on for several days. Always late in the afternoon and early evening, but never morning, noon or night. Blake, our friendly pest-control expert, tried his best to help us get rid of our live-in neighbor.

Blake wanted to know whether we thought our new guest was a mouse, rat or squirrel. Jo and I agreed it was too big for a mouse. I leaned toward a rat. But Jo thought squirrel, “because I heard him rolling nuts around up there.”

So, Blake set squirrel traps on the roof and in the attic. He also set out rat bait in the attic, just in case.

Almost every day, either Blake or I climbed up into the attic to check on the traps and bait. Nothing. I always hoped to see the rat bait eaten, because Blake said it would make the rat thirsty, and he would go outside looking for water and die. Outside. Not in our house.

Then one day, we came home and heard unprecedentedly furious scratching and thumping. But this time, it came from the bottom of the wall between the kitchen and the dining room, behind the refrigerator.

We hoped the rodent was part-cat and capable of climbing out of there. Every evening, it scrrrritched and thumped, but just a little less furiously than the day before.

In the end, the flies knew before we did: Our squatter had gone on to that happy rodent playground in the sky.

Figuring the flies hadn’t shown up just to welcome us to the neighborhood, I put my nose next to the electrical socket on the kitchen wall in the dining room. As soon as my lungs started working again, I decided the time had come to find out if our furry tenant was a rat or a squirrel.

Fortunately, the lower portion of our kitchen walls is paneled. So, I rolled the fridge into the middle of the room, popped off the chair rail, removed the paneling and started cutting a hole in the sheetrock in the bottom-left section of the wall.

Fetid rodent-death air seeped out of the wall as I cut the hole. And was I ever glad when I opened the wall and realized Jo was right. Somehow, even though the smell is the same, a dead squirrel in your wall isn’t as disgusting as a dead rat.

As I carried the consternation-causing creature to the alley, I couldn’t help but think how a dying squirrel in your kitchen wall is like sin in your life: It raises a racket, drives you nuts and creates a stink. Sooner or later, you’ve got to open up and get it out.

—Marv Knox

Posted: 11/17/06

EDITORIAL:
Churches next to ‘vote’ on BGCT future

Now, the real voting begins.

Each autumn, the Baptist General Convention of Texas holds an annual meeting to conduct its business. Because the folks who oppose the Southern Baptist Convention’s fundamentalist trajectory have been so effective at rallying their faithful, votes on the BGCT’s most significant actions in the past two decades have been lopsided. Year after year, convention messengers approved proposals distancing the state convention from the national convention.

However, a vote on the convention floor doesn’t necessarily translate into similar action by the churches. Year after year, the churches took “votes” that really mattered—deciding how they would respond to convention actions. Many of them exercised their convention-mandated freedom to make decisions contrary to the overwhelming will of messengers at the annual meeting.

So, now we realize the measure of an annual meeting isn’t known until the churches decide how they will respond to convention actions.

Ironically, the most significant action this year took place before the annual meeting even started. The BGCT Executive Board met hours earlier and approved a five-part response to the convention’s church starting scandal in the Rio Grande Valley. In brief, the board voted to:

• Implement “expeditiously and in full” the seven recommendations made by outside investigators who studied the Valley scandal; and create a committee to monitor progress.

• Put teeth in the Executive Board’s church starting guidelines by elevating them to “policy” level, which requires attention by the board’s directors, not simply staff.

• Implement an “internal audit function,” which will provide the board’s directors with specific analysis of BGCT finances and other numerical reports.

• Consider “the feasibility of and the full range of methods for” recovering funds that were misused or misappropriated in the church starting scandal.

• See complete list of Valley funds scandal articles

• Evaluate whether to turn findings of the convention’s investigation over to “any appropriate government investigatory agency.”

This is a good first step. As stated here previously, Executive Board directors must rise to the occasion and take responsibility for this process. The scandal compounded frustrations associated with churning change and reorganization, and the board’s staff alone does not possess the credibility to lead the BGCT out of this mess. The Executive Board directors must lead publicly and vigorously, ultimately assuring the convention they have taken every step to correct the wrongs and to ensure this kind of calamity cannot happen again.

While they are at it, Executive Board members must secure the BGCT’s democratic practice. During this year’s annual meeting, the chair and parliamentarians ruled out of order a motion calling for the convention to seek a criminal investigation into the church starting scandal—a step beyond what the Executive Board voted to do. They are Christians of integrity and character, and they no doubt rendered what they believed to be an accurate interpretation of BGCT policy and Robert’s Rules of Order. So, the Executive Board should exercise good faith and respond by amending convention documents to enable messengers to vote on such an issue. We proudly proclaim Baptists are the champions of religious liberty and upholders of the priesthood of all believers. But this ruling turns such claims upside down and establishes a governance structure more familiar to Presbyterians than Baptists.

If the Executive Board wishes to re-establish trust, then its members must be trustworthy and humble: Clean up the church starting scandal. Get on their knees and beg forgiveness of our innocent sisters and brothers in the Valley, who were humiliated when their concerns were ignored and were shamed when the scandal became public. And by all means, restore the power of convention-determination—the vote—to convention messengers.

Speaking of voting: Churches will “vote” on the convention as they write budgets and set priorities for 2007. I’ll say it again: The BGCT’s greatest threat no longer is fundamentalism; it’s apathy and irrelevance. If Texas Baptists perceive the convention exists only for itself, no longer looks out for the weak and powerless, and fails to honor our historic heritage and theological birthright, they’ll quit caring, vote with their feet and walk away.

God, help us in this hour; guide us to right and light.

Marv Knox is editor of the Baptist Standard.

Posted: 11/17/06

Texas Baptist Forum

Business skills

The Rio Grande Valley scandal is quite a blow. I hope this incident is not symbolic of a general ineptness in Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board management. We probably have some people in our BGCT management who need to be replaced, but I’m not advocating a general housecleaning.

• Jump to online-only letters below

Letters are welcomed. Send them to marvknox@baptiststandard.com; 250 words maximum.

“I’m not an arm-waver and a clapper and a dancer. Music doesn’t do that to me, although it stirs me inside.” Bill Hybels Pastor of Willow Creek Community Church, a Chicago-area megachurch, speaking about how he chooses to stand, eyes closed in contemplation, while others in his sanctuary sway and wave their arms in praise (Chicago Tribune/RNS) “God’s promise to us was that we would have entrance into the hearts of the ungodly without them knowing it.” Matthew Crouch Producer of the new film One Night With the King, based on the biblical story of Esther, telling Texas pastors about his efforts to use the film to influence culture (Dallas Morning News/RNS) “If we’re not willing to use it here against our fellow citizens, then we should not be willing to use it in a wartime situation.” Michael Wynne Air Force secretary, suggesting nonlethal weapons, such as high-power microwave devices, should be used on American citizens in crowd-control situations before being used on the battlefield (CNN.com)

My experience is that most ministers, while they may be excellent pastors, are not very good business managers. They don’t want to put forth the time and effort to properly manage the business affairs of the church, or in the Valley case, the business affairs of the Valley ministry.

Good management of a multi-million-dollar budget won’t just happen. It requires managers with good business skills. I’ll state without fear of contradiction that if the BGCT had good business practices in place, that were followed by BGCT management, there is no way the Valley scandal would have occurred.

I hope the BGCT Executive Board implements its plan to evaluate current business practices and to make the changes necessary to correct the deficiencies in our organization. The BGCT is a business. It just happens to be the most important business in the state of Texas. It deserves the best we can give.

Seborn Thomas

Baytown

BGCT ruling

I was outraged at the BGCT annual meeting Tuesday, Nov. 14.

I could not believe the chair ruled out of order a motion from the convention on the grounds that the convention does not have authority over the issue because it is the exclusive right of the Executive Board.

By the fact that the chair read his comments, this was not a decision made in the heat of the moment. This was a deliberate attempt to prevent the messengers of the convention from exercising any decision-making power over this huge scandal.

The message was loud and clear to those of us on the floor: Just keep sending your money and keep your mouth shut. Regardless whether or not the motion was good or would have been approved, the chair made a poor decision. Perhaps this is why less than 10 percent of the 5,700 BGCT churches even bothered to send messengers to the annual meeting. We can spend 20 minutes passing meaningless resolutions, but we cannot address the misuse of over $1.3 million.

The leaders of the convention should have spent two days winning back our trust. Instead, they only demonstrated the opposite.

Todd Pylant

Benbrook

An otherwise-enjoyable BGCT annual meeting ended with a great disappointment.

President Michael Bell apparently changed his mind regarding David Montoya’s motion to require the Executive Board and executive director to turn results of the Valleygate investigation over to the authorities and ruled it out of order. In many years of attending convention meetings, I never have seen debate opened on a motion only to have it pulled from the floor like that.

Bell then read a lengthy, obfuscating statement that proclaimed the Executive Board and its actions in this matter beyond the authority of the duly-elected and seated messengers of an annual meeting. I was speechless! Why was such a thing even done? It was evident the motion would have failed. But now we have The Statement. Such an interpretation, read into the minutes, has established a dangerous precedent. Following this reasoning, any issue the Executive Board takes up during the year is off limits for the annual meeting to address.

Is a body that claims to hold to the “endangered” doctrine of soul competency now saying to its own, “We don’t trust you to discern God’s will”? What are annual meetings supposed to accomplish if there is no freedom to bring the will of the messengers to bear upon convention leadership?

I’m not so certain I trust such a convention with my tithes and offerings. That’s taxation without representation. Revolutions have been started for that reason!

Jay Fleming

Karnes City

Churches & entertainment

In the mid-’60s, I became pastor of Woodlawn Baptist Church in Portland, Ore. When our youth attendance began to decline, I learned a neighboring church was offering boat rides on the Columbia River as a reward for attendance. Churches commonly use attractions like skiing trips, beach parties and other entertainment to attract youth to church services.

We never were offered this kind of entertainment when I attended church as a youth.  Instead, we enjoyed exercises like “Sword Drills,” where the teacher called out a text, and we competed to see who could find it first in our Bibles. We brought our Bibles to all services, and after a weekly visitation program, we were served refreshments .

Has entertainment overshadowed the spiritual thrust of the church, and have we sold our youth on shallow loyalties?  Are we teaching them how to serve, or just how to be served?

Good social activities for our youth are valuable tools, but things like boat rides on the Columbia only pay off—if it gets them on the Ship of Zion.

Doug Fincher

St. Augustine

I am a senior citizen, but only age 70. I don’t drive a Lincoln and don’t drive 35 on the freeways.

I love beautiful, happy music in the church, but not necessarily the “let me entertain you” loud and boisterous atmosphere most praise services offer. Awe and reverence are not there.  

Little sing-a-long choruses for the congregations don’t cut it. Young parents are not hearing the beautiful hymns and anthems, and for sure their children are not hearing them!  

Elizabeth Buchanan

Plano

Prosperity gospel

Regarding “Group critiques prosperity gospel” (Sept. 18). This common misconception is adding to the already confusing matter of the “seeker sensitive” church. This article deals with two separate, exclusive issues: Presenting an authentic gospel in biblical ways to which our culture can relate, and presenting a false gospel of prosperity and wealth.

Most of the seeker-sensitive churches I know and have been associated with are preaching the same truths of sin, confession and salvation that Baptists have shared for centuries. There is nothing unscriptural about positioning the appearance and ministry rationale of the church for those who need it most. Jesus’ ministry was built on just this kind of approach.

The majority of “mega churches” are doing exactly that, and very successfully reaching, converting and baptizing the unchurched in record numbers. Are seeker-sensitive churches neglecting the centralities of the faith? Perhaps they are returning us to a greater realization of those very principles.

But the issue of claiming and expecting God to be our spiritual sugar daddy is a different concept entirely. This superficial approach is neither biblical nor effective for lasting change in people’s hearts.

We need to be sure we don’t confuse that kind of counterfeit ministry with the many effective churches attempting to reach our culture with a gospel of hope in a troubled world. People will never hear the valid message until we are successful in getting them to listen in the first place.

Jim Cleaveland

El Paso

The “healthy, wealthy and wise” gospel (Oct. 16) has always been around. The Gospel writers tell us about the huge crowds that pressed in to get something they needed from Jesus; some healing, some relief, some information, some more bread.

Today, we have the “blessing-centered” gospel, the “doctrine-centered” gospel, the “change-my-circumstances centered” gospel, the “give-me-some-information-how-to-be-successful-in-whatever-centered” gospel, the “music-centered” gospel, the “church-centered” gospel, the “denomination-centered” gospel. The one thing they all have in common is a “self center,” which is very popular and gets results.

Have you ever noticed how self-centered people are? Have you ever noticed how self-centered you are? But what about Jesus?

He is on a hill far away. Unfortunately, too far away in all of our quests for results and success. He certainly is not the center; not in most conferences, conventions, seminars or church services.

“How To” is now our theme. Maybe that is why about 90 percent of U.S. churches are flat-lined or declining and why Jesus is spreading like wildfire in places like Africa, Asia and South America.

The good news is that now they are sending missionaries to us, and whenever we go on a mission trip to these places. we come back as missionaries “on fire for Jesus”!

Church in America, let’s return to our first love, Jesus Christ, and find in him all there is.

Bubba Stahl

Corpus Christi

. Letters are limited to 250 words.