Archives
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EDITORIAL: Go Away, Walk Away & the big picture
Posted: 11/10/06
EDITORIAL:
Go Away, Walk Away & the big pictureMany Texas Baptists have responded to the church starting scandal in the Rio Grande Valley in either of two ways. Some just want it to go away. Others think they might just walk away.
The Go Away and the Walk Away positions are understandable. But they’re too narrow and will not lead the Baptist General Convention of Texas where God wants us to go.
Most people can relate to the folks who want this problem to just Go Away. Many Christians instinctively turn away from scandal and shy away from conflict. They realize scandal and conflict divert unbelievers from Christ, dissipate the enthusiasm of immature Christians and even discourage mature Christians. So, they believe the best plan is to pretend these difficulties don’t exist, or, failing that, to quit talking about them as quickly as possible. Several inherent weaknesses accompany this approach:
• Just because you won’t name it doesn’t mean it’s not there. This is the “elephant in the room” syndrome. Relationships strain and integrity frays when people in a community—family, church or convention—ignore the obvious. As a family grows increasingly sick and dysfunctional because nobody will talk about Uncle John’s alchoholism, a convention will decline if it ignores a moral problem, such as deception and waste of missions money.
11/10/2006 - By John Rutledge
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Young filmmaker issues casting call
Posted: 11/10/06
Young filmmaker issues casting call
By George Henson
Staff Writer
BROWNWOOD—Always wanted to see your face on the silver screen but probably won’t make it to Hollywood?
If a casting call in Brownwood seems more within your travel budget, a Howard Payne University student has a project that might be worth consideration.
Brandon Powell 11/10/2006 - By John Rutledge
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Evangelicals distance themselves from Haggard scandal
Posted: 11/10/06
Evangelicals distance
themselves from Haggard scandalBy Adelle Banks
Religion News Service
WASHINGTON (RNS)—As Ted Haggard expressed sorrow for being a “deceiver and a liar,” leaders of the National Association of Evangelicals distanced their organization from the man who led it three years.
“Most people—I’m not sure everyone—separate this tragedy from NAE. They consider it a tragedy of a man, a pastor and not an NAE scandal. That’s the good news,” said Richard Cizik, vice president for governmental relations of the Washington-based association.
Ted Haggard 11/10/2006 - By John Rutledge
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Inner-city Houston churches seek community transformation
Posted: 11/10/06
Pastor Elmo Johnson of Rose of Sharon Baptist Church in Houston secured partnerships with Texas Southern University and Rice University to provide tutors for these students. Inner-city Houston churches
seek community transformationBy Barbara Bedrick
Texas Baptist Communications
HOUSTON—Some people view Elmo Johnson as a mover and a shaker—an entrepreneur for God who is leading his church to transform lives for God in the inner city.
Johnson, a former Houston Baptist University baseball player, is pastor of Rose of Sharon Baptist Church. He sees himself as a faithful member of God’s team, and he faces far more pressure on this playing field than on any baseball diamond where he competed, because now he’s competing for lives.
See a slideshow of Johnson's ministry here. 11/10/2006 - By John Rutledge
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Islamic groups denounce Baptist’s ‘takeover’ remark
Posted: 11/10/06
Islamic groups denounce
Baptist’s ‘takeover’ remarkBy Robert Marus
Associated Baptist Press
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (ABP)—Leaders from a prominent American Muslim group have denounced reported comments by the Missouri Baptist Convention’s executive director claiming “Islam has a strategic plan” to take over the United States.
Ibrahim Hooper, communications director for the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, said David Clippard’s assertions “are too bizarre to even comment on.”
David Clippard Ibrahim Hooper 11/10/2006 - By John Rutledge
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Mentally challenged minister through Meals on Wheels
Posted: 11/10/06
Mentally challenged minister
through Meals on WheelsBy Craig Bird
Baptist Child & Family Services
TYLER—Senior adults in the Tyler area recognize residents of Breckenridge Village—a Baptist Child & Family Services facility for mentally handicapped adults—as more than recipients of ministry. They know them as welcome visitors who deliver Meals on Wheels to their homes.
“Many people think of our residents as people who only receive care, but the concept behind Breckenridge Village is to provide the opportunity for them to live as full a life as possible,” Executive Director Charles Dodson said. “That includes having the opportunity to be servants, to do things to help others.”
A Breckenbridge Village resident delivers a meal to a senior adult in Tyler. (Photo by Craig Bird) 11/10/2006 - By John Rutledge
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Scholarships help missionary kids
Posted: 11/10/06
Scholarships help missionary kids
By Hannah Elliott
Associated Baptist Press
ATLANTA (ABP)—When Mercer University recently announced it will provide undergraduate tuition scholarships for children of Cooperative Baptist Fellowship global field personnel, it joined a significant number of Baptist schools that provide scholarships for “missionary kids.”
Available for full-time students at both the school’s Macon, Ga., and Atlanta campuses, the scholarships will last eight semesters.
11/10/2006 - By John Rutledge
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Principles learned at Miracle Farm serve alumni in military
Posted: 11/10/06
Pete and Pam Tarbutton visit with son Will at Fort Hood the day before his deployment to Iraq. Principles learned at Miracle
Farm serve alumni in militaryBy Courtney Cole
Miracle Farm
FORT RILEY, Kansas—U.S. Army Pvt. Josh Butler holds deep convictions about the importance of character and the value of hard work.
“It takes discipline and respect to make a good soldier. At Miracle Farm, I gained both, and I learned to respect others,” reflected Butler, who enlisted in the Army one year ago.
11/10/2006 - By John Rutledge
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New Orleans churches’ recovery a barometer of city’s health
Posted: 11/10/06
New Orleans churches’ recovery
a barometer of city’s healthBy Bruce Nolan
Religion News Service
NEW ORLEANS (RNS)—All over the New Orleans area, houses of worship, just like other institutions, are dragging themselves back to some sense of normalcy after Hurricane Katrina.
Some are healed. Some still suffer trials. Some are indefinitely comatose, shuttered and perhaps dead—whether they be grand churches like the permanently closed 150-year-old St. Rose of Lima, or modest street-corner churches like the wrecked hulk of Mount Carmel Ministries in the Lower 9th Ward.
11/10/2006 - By John Rutledge
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Pastor/policeman carries a Bible, wears a badge
Posted: 11/10/06
Pastor/policeman carries a Bible, wears a badge
By Greg Garrison
Religion News Service
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (RNS)—Police Officer Marvin Anthony Neal patrols the streets of Birmingham most mornings, but on Sundays, he patrols the pulpit at Galilee Missionary Baptist Church in Alabaster, Ala.
Neal became pastor in August but works as a patrol officer on the 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift in Birmingham’s south precinct.
Marvin Anthony Neal, pastor of Galilee Missionary Baptist Church in Alabaster, Ala., also is a police officer in Birmingham, Ala. (RNS photo by Frank Couch/The Birmingham News) 11/10/2006 - By John Rutledge
