Posted: 9/05/06

Katrina giving did not hurt
other charities, group says

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

NEW ORLEANS (ABP)—Despite expectations to the contrary, donations to many charities not related to Hurricane Katrina held steady or increased last year, according to reports from Charity Navigator, a nonprofit watchdog group that monitors the financial health of charities.

The most expensive natural disaster in U.S. history, Katrina caused roughly $75 billion in damage since it hit land Aug. 29, 2005. One year later, nonprofit leaders and watchdog groups are evaluating how much money was given to Katrina relief, what it was used for, and how that giving affected other charities.

Giving for Katrina relief on the national and international levels exceeded $4.25 billion in 2005, Charity Navigator reports.

Sandra Miniutti, director of external relations for the New Jersey-based group, said the combination of the Asian tsunami and Gulf hurricanes in 2005 could have spelled a funding slump for local charities not involved in disaster relief.

“It was something we were quite worried about last year,” she said. “But giving did not decline to other charities. That’s not what happened.”

Instead, gifts to local non-disaster-relief charities actually increased in some cases.

“I think that was probably in part because there was so much attention paid to the fact that the local charities still needed support,” Miniutti said. “A lot of the thinking behind that was that all of the media coverage of Katrina … got people to think about their local charities.”

Along with giving to local charities, people continued to give more than usual to national nonprofits assisting Katrina victims, including the Southern Baptist Convention, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and Baptist Builders, an interdenominational recovery coalition.

Charity Navigator listed 35 groups as the top-rated nonprofits assisting Katrina victims. The charities included World Vision, Desire Street Ministries, Islamic Relief and the Christian Relief Fund but no specifically Baptist groups.

Marty King, a spokesman for the North American Mission Board, said the Southern Baptist agency received almost $24 million specifically for Katrina relief. NAMB’s 30,000-plus individual donations for Katrina came from churches, children, senior citizens and local groups—including some gifts from people who are not related to the Southern Baptist Convention or even to Christianity.

“There was so much publicity that we received lots of gifts … from outside of the convention. Some of the donors were Christians and some were not,” he said, later adding that national media coverage helped prompt those gifts. “I think (non-Christians) gave to NAMB because they saw us doing the work. They saw who was actually doing the work, not just talking about it.”

In fact, King said, the sheer volume of gifts, which peaked for roughly three months after the storm, required NAMB to hire temporary employees to process the donations. And the 132,598 eight-hour volunteer days donated to NAMB projects, he added, represent more than $18 million of in-kind volunteer hours. The dollar amount is based on a $17-per-hour estimate often used to calculate the financial value of volunteer work.

Meanwhile, the Southern Baptist International Mission Board was not hurt by Katrina-directed giving. It set a record in gifts to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering in 2005, King said.

NAMB supported workers in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida and Texas, King said. Of the $23.8 million NAMB received, $7.5 million will go to Project NOAH in New Orleans; $9 million went to the Baptist conventions in Louisiana and Mississippi; $2 million went to Alabama, Florida and Texas state conventions; and $1.3 million went directly to local churches, associations, individuals and volunteers. NAMB also still holds $3 million for contingency efforts.

The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, based in Atlanta, collected almost $1.5 million for Katrina relief and continues to work in the Gulf area “for the long-haul,” Jack Snell said. Snell is the CBF global missions associate coordinator for field ministries.

“CBF tries to stay and work with the local community…as long as there is a need,” he told ABP. “We are committed to partner with churches and individuals as they discover and fulfill their God-given missions.”

Many of those partnerships were in New Orleans, La., through Baptists Builders International, a disaster-response coalition launched in October 2005. The association includes CBF, American Baptist Churches USA, the Progressive National Baptist Convention, the Alliance of Baptists, and the District of Columbia Baptist Convention.

CBF also sent significant funds to Baton Rouge, La., and Lacombe, La. In Bayou La Batre, Ala., it worked with Volunteers of America Southeast to coordinate more than 9,500 volunteers—134,000 hours of service—for hurricane reconstruction.

Cooperation with organizations like Volunteers of America and the American Red Cross was indicative of CBF’s main philosophy in disaster relief, Snell said.

“CBF does its better work in partnerships,” Snell said. “We do that all over the world, and our response to Katrina was a reflection of that philosophy. We have used our volunteer office to help recruit and process volunteers, but much of the work has been done under the work of these state organizations.”

Like NAMB and CBF, many charities continue to work in the still-devastated region. American Red Cross expects to continue working “today, tomorrow, and for a generation of families from the Gulf region,” said Neal Denton, Red Cross vice president for government relations and public policy.

Of the $4.25 billion in Katrina donations, roughly half went to the American Red Cross. While the Red Cross was the target of much of the public outcry about ineffective disaster relief, Charity Navigator president Trent Stamp said much of the criticism was undeserved.

It wasn’t fair to lump private groups like the Red Cross and Salvation Army with the much-maligned Federal Emergency Management Agency, Stamp wrote in an Aug. 17 Chronicle of Philanthropy article. Instead, he said, since the federal government could not handle the disaster alone, the role of charities in disaster response was vital.

To evaluate the Katrina response, he said, one must analyze a charity’s failures and successes. “The real story is that charities in and around New Orleans did a ton of good,” he wrote. “… The community is slowly being rebuilt, largely on the backs of donor dollars and volunteer labor. Plenty of mistakes were made, to be sure, but in most cases, they were errors of omission, not commission.”

In Katrina’s aftermath, the American Red Cross sometimes worked inefficiently in distributing food supplies, for example. But organizers had the best intentions and not much else to go on, Stamp said. No one could have prepared Red Cross directors for the extent of the damage they faced, he said.

The 2005 hurricane season, which included storms Katrina, Rita and Wilma, was 20 times larger than any disaster the Red Cross had previously managed, Denton said.

In a recent Charity Navigator roundtable discussion, he said his group’s biggest shortcoming was “a failure of imagination.”

“While we’re proud of the work of our staff and volunteers, the 2005 trio of hurricanes stretched us more than ever before,” Denton said. “In the end, we provided basic necessities for more than 1.4 million families, but it took us about seven weeks to reach everyone because we didn’t have the capacity to respond to so many people.”

And like other relief organizations, he said, American Red Cross is committed to the long haul.

“Our local chapter colleagues wake up every day with the reality of heart-wrenching casework to be done, mental-health counseling to be administered, and lives to rebuild,” Denton said. “There’s plenty of work for the entire nonprofit community, and we’re proud to play our part in those communities.”

Posted: 9/05/06

Inexperience hurt effectiveness
of some Katrina relief groups

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

NEW ORLEANS (ABP)—Although Hurricane Katrina inspired an unprecedented relief response, some of the groups who answered the call were inexperienced and ineffective, a charity watchdog group has concluded.

The deluge of new and inexperienced charities that responded to Katrina complicated the relief picture, said Sandra Miniutti, director of external relations for the New Jersey-based Charity Navigator.

“The biggest concern that we had was that there were too many groups holding their hands out with no experience in this type of work,” she said. “I think that’s a big concern. Also, for the groups that popped up, the brand new charities, to take on a disaster of this scope, it’s almost impossible to be effective.”

Many groups emerged post-Katrina that didn’t have the same focus, experience, methodology or priorities as established disaster-relief charities, Miniutti said. That meant well-meaning donors sometimes gave money that wasn’t used responsibly or efficiently.

“The response was complicated by the compelling nature of the disaster,” said Thomas Tighe, president and chief executive officer of Direct Relief International, at a roundtable discussion hosted by Charity Navigator. The storm attracted most of America’s “brand name” relief groups, Tighe said. “It also attracted America’s brand-name religious organizations. And, too, America’s brand-name televangelists like Pat Robertson, Franklin Graham and Larry Jones.”

“I think that religious organizations have done a great job of tapping into a base of volunteers over the country,” Miniutti said. That efficiency impressed the American Red Cross, which indicated it probably will partner with more religious groups in the future, she added.

Charity Navigator listed 35 groups as the top-rated nonprofits assisting Hurricane Katrina victims. In addition to the American Red Cross, the charities included World Vision, Desire Street Ministries, Islamic Relief and the Christian Relief Fund.

Among them:

— Samaritan’s Purse raised more than $37 million for storm relief and formed help units in Biloxi, Miss.; Kiln, Miss.; and New Orleans, La. It received one of Charity Navigator’s highest overall ratings. Founded in 1970 and led by Franklin Graham, the Boone, N.C., charity starts education, clothing and shelter programs around the world. It also provides medical supplies, food and water in disasters.

Although Samaritan’s Purse no longer seeks donations for Katrina relief, its crews have worked on more than 5,100 damaged homes and crews anticipate repairing another 1,000, according to the report.

— Operation USA raised $8 million through in-kind donations and $2.1 million in cash donations for Hurricane Katrina relief. Besides sending medical supplies and equipment to 60 clinics in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas, the Culver City, Calif., group awarded $700,000 in cash grants to 40 nonprofit clinics in the same region.

One reason Operation USA worked well, the Charity Navigator report said, was because it focused on its strengths—in this case, community health care. Richard Walden, the president of Operation USA, said one of its most effective strategies involved using pre-existing statewide primary-care units as distribution points for supplies.

— Direct Relief International received one of Charity Navigator’s highest ratings for financial health and efficiency. Based in Santa Barbara, Calif., the long-established organization is a non-political and non-sectarian organization that gives to health programs in poor areas around the world.

Direct Relief raised more than $4.5 million for work with Katrina victims and partnered with clinics in the Gulf States by joining with national associations of community health centers. According to the report, Direct Relief gave $26.7 million in wholesale medical materials. It also maintains wholesale pharmacy licenses in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, so it can make pharmaceutical donations to clinics and health facilities still in need.

Posted: 9/05/06

FBC Wolfforth volunteers help
Buckner get facilities back to normal

By Jenny Pope

Buckner Benevolences

BEAUMONT—When Hurricane Rita threatened to strike the Gulf coast Sept. 21, 2005, more than 60 residents of Buckner Children’s Village and Calder Woods, a Buckner retirement community, evacuated together in a two-week, statewide shuffle from one location to the next.

And though most of the physical damage from the storm—broken fences, downed trees, water-logged carpets and sidewalks—have since been repaired, the two communities continue to mend the emotional damage one year later.

“Anytime there is an anniversary to a traumatic event, it can evoke some fear and stress,” said Greg Eubanks, executive director of Buckner Children’s Village in Beaumont.

The Buckner Children's Village activity room received a makeover from the members of First Baptist Church in Wolfforth. Until recently, Hurricane Katrina evacuees occupied the space.

With hurricane stories dominating the Beaumont newscasts each night and many damaged homes still protected by plastic tarps, “I’m asked every day by children and staff wondering what we’ll do if we have to evacuate again,” he said. “It’s at the forefront of everyone’s minds.”

Glenn Shoemake, executive director of Calder Woods, said that dealing with the post-traumatic stress among staff and residents is a slow and steady process of reassurance. He recently had a worried resident in independent living visit his office to discuss the very thing on everyone’s mind—another evacuation.

“Basically, what he was asking me was: ‘Will you help me?’” Shoemake said. “When I assured him that he could evacuate with the other (assisted living and nursing) residents if the situation arose, you could see his facial expression and his posture change completely.

“I wish I could say he was the only resident who has approached me, but dealing with this fear is an ongoing ministry that will not easily go away.”

In addition to the inevitable emotional stress, Calder Woods was perhaps hardest hit by the loss of 30 percent of the staff following the storm.

“Although we are blessed to be completely full (with residents), we still struggle to maintain a stable staff to care for all the needs,” Shoemake said. “Many people are having to work harder and longer to make up for it.”

“Being able to recruit new staff at the Children’s Village has been a challenge for us,” Eubanks said. “But the staff who have stayed with us throughout the crisis has gone the extra mile.

“We have staff that as recently as two weeks ago moved into their homes for the first time since the storm. So seeing them pour their hearts out to these kids, day after day, amazes me.”

But it’s not just the Children’s Village and Calder Woods that struggle with staffing needs. The available workforce in Southeast Texas has diminished, Eubanks said, as many who evacuated from the storm will not return.

“It’s a supply-and-demand thing,” Eubanks said. “There are just a few people here to work, and the demand is huge. So it’s hard to attract good labor.”

Despite the loss of skilled labor, the Children’s Village has benefited from the support of local churches and one special group of teenagers from First Baptist Church of Wolfforth.

The group planned to conduct Vacation Bible School in the area, but was washed out by area flooding and rain. In what Eubanks described as a “providential encounter,” the 60-person team organized themselves to relocate and refurbish an on-campus school that had preciously been moved to house Katrina evacuees.

“They also spent time with our children, playing games and talking to them,” he said. “They were sent by God and were a wonderful encouragement to us all.”

Both communities are prepared for another evacuation, should the situation arise, both Eubanks and Shoemake assured.

“We’ve revamped our evacuation plan and looked at what we did last year to see where we can do a better job,” Shoemake said. “Though you can never know 100 percent what will happen, we’re as prepared as we can be. We just pray that it won’t happen again.”

Posted: 9/02/06

BaptistWay Bible Series for September 10

God is open to hearing our questions

• Psalms 3, 13, 22

By David Wilkinson

Broadway Baptist Church, Fort Worth

“Where have you been?” “What took you so long?” “Are you listening to me?” “Do you care?”

Which do these questions sound like—complaints or prayers?

For the psalmist, the answer often was “both.”

Poetic prayer in the form of complaint, distress and despair mixed with faith, hope and gratitude compose a particular genre in the Psalms known as individual laments. Psalms 3, 13 and 22 are among some 40 psalms typically placed in this category. They are prayers from the heart that resonate with the deep pain that sometimes accompanies the human experience and the crises of faith that sooner or later confront our faith and challenge our relationship to God.

Psalm 3

If Psalm 1 serves as the introduction to the psalter and to the wisdom found therein, then Psalm 3 sounds the first notes of songs of lament that echo throughout the book. It is a reminder that the Psalms are honest and truthful, refusing to gloss over the difficult questions and painful experiences of life.

The psalmist’s prayer of lament begins by invoking Yahweh, the name given by God as an expression of God’s holiness and God’s covenantal relationship with the Hebrew people. True prayer, even in the form of lament or complaint, is addressed to God.

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The superscription added to the original psalm ascribes this prayer to David, and Jewish scribes often identified the particular occasion for the writing of the psalm to David’s flight from his son Absalom and his military force.

Whatever the circumstances may have been that gave rise to the psalm, it is a reminder that the psalms of lament are a mixture of biography, theology and liturgy. They resonate with real-life experiences of people through the ages. They are grounded in the poet’s understanding of God and relationship with God. And they were written for and incorporated into the worshipping community of the temple and later the church.

Thus, Psalms 3, 13, 22 and other individual laments can be claimed rightly as prayers and expressions of faith and worship that are both “mine” and “ours.” They are voiced by an individual but always within the larger context of the worshipping community.

The psalmist’s desperate plight is found in a sense of powerlessness in the face of a multitude of enemies that not only threaten him but mock his faith (vv 1-2). His despair leads him to “cry aloud to the Lord” (v. 4).

All of us are familiar with “enemies” of various types—within and without and sometimes of our own making. Whether physical, emotional or spiritual, they can overwhelm us and lead us to despair.

The psalmist’s plea is followed immediately by an expression of trust. Even in the direst of circumstances, his confidence is in God who protects (a “shield,” v. 3), encourages (“lifts up my head,” v. 3), “answers” (v. 4), and responds (“sustains me,” v. 5, and “delivers,” vv. 7, 8). The little three-letter conjunction—the “but” of verse 3 or the “yet” of other texts throughout Scripture—is the believer’s ultimate statement of faith. It is the hinge of hope in our relationship with God, borne in a confidence that allows us to “lie down and sleep” (v. 5) amid uncertainties and unanswered questions, resting in the assurance of God’s provision and protection.

Likening his enemies to beasts that pursue their prey, the psalmist is confident God can crush the beasts’ jaws and break their teeth, freeing him from their deadly grip (v. 7).

The psalm that began with the taunt of his enemies that “there is no help for you in God” (v. 2) now comes full circle with a ringing declaration—and reply to his enemies —that salvation and blessing belong to God and to God alone (v. 8).

Psalm 13

This psalm, the shortest of the prayers for help in the psalter, often is identified as the prototype in both content and form for the psalms of lament.

Like Psalms 3 and 22, this prayer is addressed to Yahweh. The psalmist speaks directly to God, using the name given by God to God’s people as part of God’s self-revelation.

The description of the psalmist’s plight (vv. 1-2) “is composed of lines of decreasing length and rising intensity, held together by the repetition of ‘How long?’ These exclaiming interrogatives give the description the tone of protest.” The three-fold repetition of “how long” testifies to the depth and urgency of the psalmist’s troubles.

The psalmist’s petition in verse 3 is typically two-fold: hear me and help me. It is the heart-felt prayer familiar to anyone who has sought God’s help in the midst of pain or difficulty.

The prayer concludes in trust and hope and even a song of gladness (v. 6). Protest and petition lead to praise in grateful celebration of God’s salvation and steadfast faithfulness. In Anne Lamott’s wonderful expression, “Here are the two best prayers I know: ‘Help me, help me, help me,’ and ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you.’”

Psalm 22

For the Christian, Psalm 22 cannot be fully understood without its association with Jesus. The gospel writers place the psalm’s opening line, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”—“Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani”—on the parched and bleeding lips of Jesus in his final moments of agony on the cross (Mark 15:34; Matthew 27:46). In his darkest hour, as Jesus experienced the inexpressible absence of his Father’s life-giving presence that had guided and sustained him at every moment, his tortured mind turned to the plea of the psalmist, with words that welled up from deep within his heart and soul.

Can there be any more heart-felt and gut-wrenching words of blunt honesty and raw pain than these five, one-syllable words: “My God, my God, why?” One cannot casually read or pray these words. These are words voiced in the dark night of the soul, words that lead us to sacred ground where the wounded soul lies bare before God.

Again, however, the context for the psalmist’s lament is his relationship with a loving God, expressed in the opening verses in the repeated refrain of “my God.” Use of the personal pronoun does not hint of ownership or entitlement but rather the profound intimacy of personal experience. As with Jesus, the psalmist’s intimacy with God underscores and intensifies his anguish through unyielding pain that tortured him “by day” and “by night” (v. 2).

Again, as in Psalm 3, the conjunction “yet” (v. 3) connects the plea of protest and despair with the assurance of hope and the reminder of God’s saving presence. The psalm (as Job discovered) is a reminder that God is God, and we are not. God alone is holy (v. 3), while we are mortal; indeed, we feel at times like we are less than human (v. 6).

Again, the psalmist finds comfort and hope in the “remembered faith” of his religious tradition. Even in the immediate experience of God’s apparent absence, he could turn for reassurance to the trust of those who had gone before him and in the evidence of God’s faithfulness and deliverance (vv. 4-5). The “longer view” offers us a broader perspective than our current circumstances.

And again, as with other psalms of lament, the tone changes abruptly from despair and discouragement to hope and trust as complaint turns to praise. Verses 22-24 remind us of the crucial presence of the community of faith. Our faith, in darkness and in light, in despair and in joy, is intended to be lived in the context of community. The psalmist’s prayer of agony and song of praise are expressed not in isolation but in the context of the worshipping community—a reminder that we are not alone but surrounded by a “great cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1) who help us find our way to God.

If today you are experiencing your own dark night of the soul, ask God for the psalmist’s courage to lift your pain to God in the assurance that God is nearer to you in the experience of God’s absence than you can possibly know. Pray for the grace of the psalmist to remember amid the pain and unanswered questions the goodness of the God who created you and loves you beyond measure.

If you never have experienced the absence of God, pray for those who do. Archbishop Dom Helder Camera of Brazil habitually arose at 2 a.m. to ensure his work among the poor was centered in the compassion of God and to ask for courage to speak out for the voiceless who suffered from oppression and injustice. Like Dom Camara, we can pray for those whose groanings are too deep for words.

Discussion questions

• Why do you think we are often reluctant to voice our complaints or laments to God?

• In what ways have you experienced the wonderful “yet” of faith amid difficult challenges or painful circumstances? Have you seen such signs of faith in others who have inspired you?

• Try writing your own prayer of lament. What circumstances in your life or in the world disturb you so much that you wish God would intervene somehow?

• Or recall a painful time when you experienced hurt, grief or wounding of some kind, and use that memory as a starting point for your psalm of lament. Turn to the simple structure of Psalm 13 as a guide.

Posted: 9/02/06

Bible Studies for Life Series for September 10

The victories God provides are worth remembering

• Joshua 4:1-3,8,10-11,17-24

By Kenneth Lyle

Logsdon School of Theology, Abilene

Like most homes in America, ours contains a permanent marker to commemorate all things celebrated in the Lyle household. This centrally located obelisk displays cherished reminders of victories in the classroom, on the baseball field, the football field and the basketball court. There are reminders of family gatherings both past and future. Perhaps most important are the photographs of special moments when brother and sister set aside minor differences and come together to embrace each other and the idea of family. Yes, the refrigerator in our kitchen is a veritable totem of remembrance.

The story of Israel crossing the Jordan as recounted in Joshua 4 contains an explicit command to “mark the occasion” of this victory. Even as Israel experiences the victory God promised and wrought, they prepare and create appropriate monuments to God’s working in the world and in their lives. Yes, they created stone monuments that are “… there to this day” (4:9); but, they also forged impressive narratives that help us recount “the thrill of victory.”

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Most of us will not have the opportunity to confirm the existence of stone monuments in the middle of the Jordan or along its banks, but we can appropriate and give testimony to the power of Scripture and God’s victories won in our lives. As Christians, we have unique opportunities to commemorate the triumph of God in Jesus Christ. Long after stone monuments crumble and fall, the stories of God’s victory remain.

For Israel, the crossing of the Jordan River into the land represented a long-awaited realization of a promise from God. Their 40 years of wandering comes to an end with the command to cross the river and enter the land of promise. Israel moves across a natural barrier, but they also move across a spiritual barrier. As a people, they renew the process of becoming what God intended them to become.

As Richard Nelson suggests: “The Jordan is not just an item of geography but part of a symbolic system. It represents the boundary between being a landless people and being a nation that possesses a homeland.” Nelson helpfully reminds us the “story” of crossing commemorates the shift from promise to fulfillment. The transition from the leadership of Moses to the leadership of Joshua—begun in chapter 1—finds reinforcement in the stories of chapters 3 and 4.

The focal passage for the lesson (Joshua 4:1-24) connects to the narrative begun in chapter 3. A close reading of these two chapters reveals apparent repetitions and contradictions. Some may become frustrated with how the narrative presents the story in rapid “flashback” sequences, but these passages demonstrate the recollection of events from different perspectives and with different emphases. Overall, the various stories come together to form a monumental story of how God brings promised victory to Israel, and how Israel commemorates that victory.

The order of events is instructive. God stops the river’s flow (3:16). God expedites an efficient and timely crossing on a dry riverbed (4:10-13). God restores the flow of the river to flood stage (v. 18). God, and God alone, provides the victory. As leader, Joshua reminds Israel, and he reminds us, to remember that truth.

The narrative seems fully aware that what God does at the Jordan, God has done before. In fact, this becomes an important part of the remembrance of the victory. After Joshua sets up the 12 stones taken from the river, he says: “In the future when your descendents ask their fathers, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ For the Lord your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The Lord your God did to the Jordan just what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over” (vv. 21-23).

Implicit in Joshua’s explanation is the expectation that later generations of God’s people would be interested in the victory of God commemorated by a monument of stone. People will ask, “What do these stones mean?” Joshua anticipates the power of monuments to evoke probing questions, and he implores God’s people to be prepared with an adequate response.

The question remains: “How do we as Christians establish appropriate monuments to the victories God has wrought in our lives?” Monuments that do not just stand in place, but also that evoke probing questions from subsequent generations. Monuments that do not just commemorate a moment in time, but also require us to forge telling narratives of how God works and continues to work in the world.

I would like to suggest two forms of commemoration already available to the church but that sometimes become as stagnant as a pile of rocks in the wilderness, when they should be a lively presentation of the good news of Jesus Christ.

It is difficult for the Christian to read the story of Israel crossing the Jordan without reflecting upon the baptism of Jesus and his command that this should be part of the experience of following him. For the Christian, baptism is an appropriate commemoration of God’s continuing victory in the world. The experience of baptism is meaningful for the individual involved, but perhaps more significant is the power of a baptism to present the basic gospel story and to evoke probing questions.

For both my children, initial inquiries about becoming a follower of Christ came subsequent to witnessing a baptism. The powerful visual of an individual immersed in water, and the dramatic words, “Buried with Christ … Raised to walk in newness of life” prompted “What do these stones mean?” moments for my children.

Likewise, the communal experience of the Lord’s Supper stands as a commanded monument for those who call themselves disciples. In eating of the bread and drinking of the wine, we give living testimony to the victory of God in Jesus Christ. We are told to “do this in remembrance of me.” In the doing, we will find opportunities not just to remember, but to proclaim.

Discussion questions

• Can you recall your baptism? What could make baptism more memorable for the participant and more engaging for those who view it?

• What events in your life do you need to backtrack toward so that you can build the monument that time deserved?

Posted: 9/01/06

RIGHT or WRONG?
Am I prejudiced?

My church is mostly white, but a few people of darker complexion have begun to visit a little, since the neighborhood around us is changing. I sometimes say that I really am not prejudiced toward other groups. But I find myself struggling a bit as to whether I should or could address this dynamic we are facing.

You find yourself in a position that many of us also are in. Thank you for admitting that, even though you realize that prejudice is wrong, you still grapple with it. This grappling will include accepting your feelings of uneasiness and realizing Christ can work in you to resolve the discomfort. Accept the reality that decades of segregation often have limited our social contacts to people of the same color. This barrier has created cultural differences that can make us unsure how to relate to others. Your struggle with your prejudice indicates you are well on the way to overcoming it and treating all people with equity.

Your situation provides an opportunity to do something that very few churches are doing—becoming a congregation that is truly multiracial. Martin Luther King Jr. called attention to single-colored churches nearly 50 years ago when he wrote: “It is appalling that the most segregated hour of Christian America is 11 o’clock on Sunday morning, the same hour when many are standing to sing: ‘In Christ There is No East Nor West.’” In an area where Christians should have taken the lead, they have abdicated that possibility.

A recent study suggests churches have made little progress in the past five decades. Only 8 percent of churches in the United States can be called multiracial, which is defined as churches where no single racial group comprises more than 80 percent of the participants. That seems a quite broad definition of a multi-racial congregation.

Not everyone in the community of faith will share your concern. Some may refuse to welcome others and may even leave the church when darker-skinned people begin to attend.

Michael Emerson, in a book that focuses on Wilcrest Baptist Church in Houston (a church he attended, by the way), offers seven principles for creating healthy multiracial congregations:

• “An institutional commitment to racial equity, clearly stated.” This could be a mission or vision statement. Churches need to state that one of their aims is to be multiracial.

• “Leaders who are personally deeply committed to racial equity.”

• “A common purpose that supercedes racial equity.” Racial equity is not the end but a means to achieve a greater good, such as living fully one’s faith.

• “Structures to ensure racial equity.” Outsiders need to feel they belong and have a voice.

• “Internal forums, education and groups.” Take time for the congregation to dialogue concerning issues.

• “Be a DJ.” This is Emerson’s metaphor for being ready and willing to make constant adjustments.

• “Recognize that people are at different places, and help them move forward one step at a time.”

Two helpful resources are People of the Dream: Multiracial Congregations in the United States, by Michael O. Emerson with Rodney M. Woo (pastor of Wilcrest). This book was published by Princeton Press in 2006. And One Body, One Spirit : Principles of Successful Multiracial Churches by George A. Yancey, published in 2003 by Intervarsity Press.

David Morgan, pastor

Trinity Baptist Church

Harker Heights

Right or Wrong? is sponsored by the T.B. Maston Chair of Christian Ethics at Hardin-Simmons University’s Logsdon School of Theology. Send your questions about how to apply your faith to btillman@hsutx.edu.

Posted: 9/01/06

Loan Corporation cuts interest rates

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

DALLAS—The Baptist Church Loan Corporation recently voted to reduce its interest rates for new and existing loans by three-fourths of a percent, the largest drop and lowest rate in the corporation’s history.

During its recent meeting, the corporation’s board of directors lowered interest rates by three-fourths of a percent to 1 percent below prime—the base rate at least 75 percent of the nation’s 30 largest banks offer on corporate loans.

Based on current prime, the Baptist Church Loan Corporation’s lending rate is now 7.25 percent. This rate also is being offered on all the corporation’s existing loans, allowing congregations to lower their interest rates.

Charles Pruett, corporation president/chief executive officer, said the rate change is possible because the corporation has negotiated favorable arrangements with financial entities.

“Our mission is to provide efficient, affordable loan programs for Texas Baptist churches,” he said. “By saving money on their loans, churches can use their financial resources to have a greater impact for Christ by investing in efforts to spread the gospel.”

The Baptist Church Loan Corporation currently has 615 active loans totaling $118 million. Since 1952, the corporation has loaned more than $485 million to about 2,300 Texas Baptist churches.

Loans are for churches to construct new facilities, renovate current buildings and purchase of land and property for future growth.

For more information about the Baptist Church Loan Corporation and its loan programs, visit www.baptistchurchloan.org or call (214) 828-5140.

Posted: 9/01/06

Cartoonist brings Christian
faith to the funny papers

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

DALLAS (ABP)—Christian cartoons are nothing new. They’re everywhere from gospel tracts to Christian magazines and newsletters. But a Christian cartoon as a nationally syndicated feature in secular newspapers? That’s almost unprecedented.

Although cartoonist Kevin Frank’s strip involves Christian characters working in a place called Heaven’s Love Thrift Shop, he doesn’t consider the strip to be Christian.

Instead, he said his Sunday cartoon, which debuted recently in Salt Lake City’s Deseret News, simply takes his own angle on things as a person of faith and reflects it through his characters.

Kevin Frank

“It’s hard for me to think of this as a ‘Christian’ strip, as opposed to strips about working moms, office workers, divorced dads or single parents,” Frank said. “A Christian can be all of those things. I like to think there’s an audience for it among all kinds of people.”

He’ll soon find out. King Features Syndicate recently launched national syndication of the strip in 15 cities, giving readers the chance to meet Dag, Cassidy, Wilson and Shelby—Frank’s main characters and purveyors of his Christian worldview. And while Frank plans not to be too “preachy,” his message about faith in God will be clear.

The comic strip, called “Heaven’s Love Thrift Shop,” centers on a church-owned thrift shop and the workers who spend time there. Dag is an overzealous new convert. Wilson is the older, wiser shop director. Cassidy is the centered and warm-hearted shop manager. A frequent customer, Shelby, while not necessarily a person of faith, keeps returning to the thrift shop for something she can’t quite identify. Each character, Frank said, reflects a past or present aspect of his own spiritual growth.

That spirit has driven Frank, 43, since his youth. As a child, he first published religious cartoons for his rural Mennonite church bulletin.

He first drew cartoons professionally, for the local weekly, at age 14.

“I grew up in the church, and my parents were people of faith,” Frank said about his inclination to insert Christianity into his cartoons. “I knew people of faith. It just became part of who I was.”

Frank doodled his way through high school. He then moved from Peoria, Ill., to Chicago and joined an urban ministry called Jesus People USA, a Christian community that helps homeless people with a soup kitchen, a shelter and, yes, even a thrift store.

Frank then worked as a staff artist at Jesus People’s Cornerstone Magazine from 1982 to 1998, creating an award-winning strip called “Oboe Jones.”

Frank impetuously sent a copy of “Oboe Jones” to the editors at King Features Syndicate. To his surprise, King management thought there might be a niche national market for his style of work. He spent five years developing a comic strip, but King eventually dropped it.

Undaunted, he continued to hone his skills, working on various projects for Christianity Today, Tyndale House and the Discovery Channel Canada. All of it, he said, has helped refine his tone and talent. “Stylistically, you always try to learn and grow in your work. I like to think that I’m improving.”

The growth paid off when King Features took an interest in his newest strip, “Heaven’s Love Thrift Shop.”

One factor that separates it from his previous work is the subtlety of its preaching. Frank, a self-styled “connoisseur of thrift stores,” said his thrift store and charity experience helped him learn that “charitable outreach” appeals to most people, while outright Bible lessons often are dismissed by non-Christians.

“That (charity aspect) sort of gives me a vehicle to discuss matters of faith in a way that is more palatable to people, because nobody disagrees with charity,” he said. “It’s all good stuff, it’s all good works, and historically the church has a record of that.”

These days, many cartoon strips that appear in newspapers promote specific worldviews or agendas—in many circles, it’s almost expected. Nonethe-less, Frank knows he will have to maintain a delicate balance in his strip. As a faith-oriented artist composing for a secular medium and syndicate, he expects some criticism.

Frank said he’s not likely to address controversial issues like evolution, fundamentalism and politics. He’s “not a political person” anyway, he said.

“I’m not that smart, but I’m smart enough to know not to jump into the debate,” he said. “Let’s just say people hold all kinds of views of the world and where it comes from and how it works. The same holds for my characters, allowing me to work out my own opinions and doubts through their questions and interaction.”

Frank says, regardless of the size of his audience, he plans to take advantage of his opportunity with King Features.

“If I can glorify God in secular newspapers, even just a few of them, then that’s success to me. That’s just awesome,” he said.

Posted: 9/01/06

New DBU students become
oriented to community service

By Tim Gingrich

Dallas Baptist University

DALLAS—About 500 Dallas Baptist University students served at 12 locations across the Dallas-Fort Worth area—building a home for a Hurricane Katrina evacuee family, packing shoes for overseas orphans and meeting other needs—during the school’s orientation week.

It marked the 19th year DBU has included community service projects as part of its orientation week for new students. Volunteers included both incoming freshmen and their orientation leaders.

DBU Freshman Kendra Roberts puts the finishing touches on a Habitat home in Dallas. (Photo by Chris Hendricks)

Nearly two dozen students partnered with Habitat for Humanity to install windows, paint trim, plant trees and put the finishing touches on a Habitat home for New Orleans evacuees who relocated to Dallas after Hurricane Katrina.

“They gave us a home,” future resident Charles Armelin said, speaking of the outpouring of volunteer support his family received from the Dallas community and DBU students. “We’ve been welcomed to Dallas by people who take time out of their life to help.”

Wiping sweat from her forehead, DBU freshman Alix Nance explained how serving in the community helped her new classmates build relationships.

“This is not a pretty job,” she said. “But when everyone is working hard, you can get to know people for who they really are.”

More than 100 students—including 10 members of the new NCAA Division II basketball team—volunteered throughout the heat of the day unloading shipments of donated food and supplies at Mission Arlington/Mission Metroplex, despite temperatures of around 125 degrees in the trailers.

“The time out there made me appreciate all of the hard work that the people at Mission Arlington do every day and how much those donations do for people in need,” said Justin Pinckney, a DBU basketball player from New Mexico.

“The work was hard, spending all day out there in the sun, but it was definitely worth it. As a team, whenever you work hard and sweat, you get to know each other much better, and you get to just have fun with each other.”

DBU students Anthony Dalton and Ryan Doskocil help to clean up the outside of Cliff Temple Baptist Church. (Photo by Tim Gingrich)

Head Coach Black Flickner accompanied his players on their service project.

“DBU basketball is about more than winning basketball games,” Flickner said. “Helping our students to become active in the community and grow as servant leaders is as important as anything that we do on the court. … It may have been hot, but there is nothing more we would have rather done today.”

Jasa Knight, a freshman from Abilene, served with several dozen new students with Buckner Orphan Care International and its Shoes for Orphan Souls program.

“It’s really cool to know you’re making a difference,” she said. Students filled a storeroom with sneakers and prepared shipments for delivery to children around the world.

“This project has definitely encouraged me to serve in the future,” Knight said.

“I hadn’t really thought about it before, but today made me see the wonderful opportunity to serve.”

Many area organizations rely on the assistance of DBU students and other volunteers to achieve their service-oriented goals, which are often limited only by human resources.

“We operate almost exclusively on volunteer support,” said Marsha Mills, director of the Goslin Care Ministry at Cliff Temple Baptist Church in Oak Cliff. The ministry already has equipped more than 200 children with school supplies for the coming year. “Getting involved lets these university students see a new side of the world, and it does something to your heart.”

In addition to Habitat for Humanity, Mission Arlington, Shoes for Orphan Souls, and Cliff Temple Baptist Church, service sites this year included Brother Bill’s Helping Hand in West Dallas, the homeless ministry of Beautiful Feet in Fort Worth, Grace Temple Baptist Church in Oak Cliff, the Dallas Life Foundation, the Family Place, West Dallas Community Centers, Mission Midlothian and the North Texas Food Bank.

“We had an enormous group of students serving this year, which allowed us to do more than in years past,” said Mark Hale, associate vice president for student affairs at DBU.

“The long-term goal of volunteering during orientation is to demonstrate the idea of servant leadership that we stress here at DBU and, hopefully, encourage a lifetime of serving others.”

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: DBU Freshman Stacy Deetz paints the trim on a Habitat home. DBU students Tiera Londot (left) and Paula Manning stock the pantry at Goslin Care Ministry. Members of the DBU basketball team unload donated supplies at Mission Arlington. DBU Freshman Kendra Roberts puts the finishing touches on a Habitat home in Dallas. DBU student Ryan Doskocil helps to clean up the outside of Cliff Temple Baptist Church. (Photos by Tim Gingrich & Chris Hendricks)

Posted: 9/01/06

BGCT trailer benefits cowboy churches

By George Henson

Staff Writer

HILLSBORO—Tapping feet and gently clapping hands accompanied the guitar pickers leading music on a blistering hot white-rock parking lot. About 30 hardy souls braved triple-digit temperatures to help launch a western heritage church in rural Hill County.

But they found relief from the scorching Texas sun, thanks to the awning on the Baptist Ge-neral Convention of Texas’ cowboy church truck and trailer.

Gifts from the Baptist Foundation of Texas, High Plains Christian Ministry of Amarillo and individual donors financed the rig. The BGCT has funded its upkeep and expenses, said Ron Nolen, coordinator of the Texas Fellowship of Cowboy Churches and recently retired director of western-heritage ministries for the state convention.

The truck and trailer have covered the state in the last two years, Nolen said. The rig has been seen frequently in parades and at rodeos and used by volunteers as a place to dispense New Testaments and water, as well as provide restroom facilities.

It also has been the first meeting place for a number of western-heritage church starts with no building to call home.

“It has served Texas Baptists well,” Nolen said. “It certainly is an example of Texas Baptists understanding cultural relativity. And it enables us to gain credibility so that we can share the gospel, which is the primary purpose of everything we do.”

Ken Ansell, pastor both of Frontier Cowboy Church in Waxahachie and the new church in Hill County, said the trailer has been a valuable asset.

“It gives us a great amount of credibility to have the BGCT logo on there for the people of Hill County who don’t know us. It shows we’re not some bunch of yahoos who just showed up,” he said.

The trailer has been exciting for the people in the new church start as well, Ansell said.

He recalled one man who arrived early at the rock parking lot at the end of a rock road next to the Hill College rodeo arena. The man looked around and saw nothing that looked like a likely meeting place, and he was beginning to think he had misunderstood where the group would meet. Then Ansell drove up pulling the trailer.

“I just knew we were in the wrong place,” the man told Ansell. “But then y’all drove up with the trailer, and 10 minutes later, we were set up to do church.”

The awning that extends from the side of the trailer and the folding chairs make setting up in a shady place quick work.

“It shows you can do church anywhere, wherever two or three are gathered,” Ansell said.

The trailer is a tool available to all the BGCT’s western-heritage churches, Nolen said.

It will be used Sept. 7-10 at the Hood County Rodeo Grounds by Triple Cross Cowboy Church, a new congregation sponsored by First Baptist Church in Granbury. A buck-out is scheduled Thursday evening, a rodeo will be held Friday evening and Saturday, and the church will hold its first public worship service Sunday. The service will not be held under the awning, since a larger group is expected, but in a building on the grounds. Raymond Lane is pastor of Triple Cross Cowboy Church.

“Everywhere this trailer goes, it’s a tremendous testimony of what happens when Baptists work together and reach out to men and women of the western culture through innovative means,” Nolen said.

Posted: 9/01/06

Missions takes hit in proposed 2007 BGCT budget

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

DALLAS—The proposed $50.6 million budget the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board will consider at its Sept. 25-26 meeting cuts $700,000 from the missions, evangelism and ministry area.

The recommended 2007 budget eliminates three positions. If the proposed budget is approved, staff whose positions will be cut effective Dec. 31 are Missional Church Director Milfred Minatrea, who has served with the BGCT since 1995; Community Missions Director Jim Young, who joined the BGCT staff in 1999; and Tommy Goode, a specialist with the BGCT City Core Initiative, an urban missions strategy launched in 2003.

Funds would be redirected to the Baptist Building’s service center, the research & development office, congregational strategists and affinity groups.

“It can be hard for Texas Baptists to hear that we are moving some funds away from the missions, evangelism and ministry team, but it’s good to remember that virtually everything the BGCT does is centered on missions, evangelism and ministry,” Executive Director Charles Wade said. “That’s what Texas Baptists care about, and that’s what the BGCT helps them do.”

About $4.9 million in the proposed budget would fund congregational strategists, church starters and affinity group leaders—an amount roughly equal to the total budget for missions, evangelism and ministry.

The shift in funding reflects the BGCT emphasis on shifting resources to respond more directly to the needs of churches, Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer David Nabors said.

“It reflects the reorganization and is in direct response to what the churches asked us to do,” he said.

Nabors declined to provide information about how much of the redirected money will go to field personnel such as congregational strategists and how much will fund the service center and the research & development office at the Baptist Building.

“The Executive Board has the responsibility of recommending the budget to the convention’s annual meeting, and until they have had an opportunity to review and discuss the budget, it is inappropriate to release details,” he said.

A news release by the BGCT communications office, however, indicated BGCT-related institutions would receive about $19.9 million and collegiate ministry close to $4.1 million according to the proposed budget.

The budget adopted by messengers to last year’s BGCT annual meeting earmarked $23,577,559 for institutional ministries, including $3.89 million for collegiate ministries.

The proposed budget is a $1.163 million increase over the 2006 operating budget. Of the $49,437,000 budget for 2006, $41.297 million is funded through the Cooperative Program and $8.14 million through interest income on wills, trusts and investments, the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions and other sources.

Roberto Cepeda, chair of the Executive Board’s Church Missions & Ministries Committee, said he initially was concerned when he learned about apparent cuts in missions and ministries, and he discussed the issue with BGCT senior administrators.

“As it was explained to me, the money is being moved around to different areas. I was assured the same ministries will be taken care of but in different ways,” said Cepeda, pastor of First Baptist Church in Los Fresnos.

“My understanding is that some of the tasks will be picked up by the congregational strategists, but I don’t know all the specifics yet. … I have been told a lot of the (missions, evangelism and ministry) responsibilities will be shifted to other people.”

Cepeda said he has asked Baptist Building staff to present a clear, detailed presentation to his committee when they meet immediately prior to the Executive Board meeting.

“I know the committee will want to know how the jobs will be done. I’ve been assured we will get an explanation when we get to the board meeting.”

Chief Operating Officer Ron Gunter confirmed many of the responsibilities of discontinued program areas will be reassigned to other staff.

In some instances, the BGCT will shift some job assignments that were part of a larger portfolio of responsibilities to a staff member who will take on a specific task full-time. One example is disaster relief response—a job that involves coordination with Texas Baptist Men ministries and various BGCT program areas.

Immigration ministry—a new job assignment previously assumed by community missions—will be reassigned to the Christian Life Commission.

“This has gained a large amount of interest and now needs a full-time staff member,” Gunter said.

Posted: 9/01/06

‘Home Sweet Home Alabama,’
thanks to relief groups

By Robert Marus

Associated Baptist Press

BAYOU LA BATRE, Ala. (ABP)—Hurricane Katrina was the first in an interconnected series of tragedies that left Amy Walker feeling helpless and lost.

But like the part of Alabama where she lives, her life is being rebuilt, thanks to coordination between relief organizations, Baptist and other church volunteers, and government agencies.

“God has answered my prayers in more ways than one,” she said, soon after a tear-soaked ceremony in which she received the keys to a new mobile home—“a miracle,” she told a group of well-wishers and reporters.

Although Katrina did its most spectacular damage in areas to the west—New Orleans and the Mississippi coast—the storm surge still was plenty damaging as far east as Alabama. It left about 1,700 homeless and wrecked scores of shrimp boats based in Grand Bay and Bayou La Batre, neighboring fishing hamlets located where Mobile Bay meets the Gulf of Mexico.

The Walkers, who live in Grand Bay, lost their manufactured home to Katrina’s vicious storm surge. Then, when visiting what was left of the home to salvage meager possessions, Walker fell through the weakened floor, seriously injuring herself.

Resulting surgeries and complications left her with deep-vein thrombosis, which has made employment impossible, walking difficult and health compromised.

With mounting medical bills, a mountain of prescription drugs and a husband who had to quit his job to care for her and their three daughters, the 30-year-old Walker felt she was at the end of her rope. Like many Katrina victims, the five family members had been living in a cramped trailer provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Remembering a relief organization that had provided her family with help at Christmastime, Walker went to see Henry “Digger” Creel in the Volunteers of America Southeast office in nearby Bayou La Batre.

“When I walked into Mr. Digger’s office, I didn’t feel like a number anymore. I felt like a person,” she said in the living room of her new home.

Creel—a Baptist minister—coordinates housing relief in the Alabama portion of the hurricane zone for Volunteers of America, which is a nationwide faith-based service organization. When he heard the Walkers’ story, Creel resolved to find a way to help the family gain some financial stability.

He coordinated with the Mobile County Long Term Recovery Committee, which includes government agencies, denominational relief groups and other organizations. The groups received private and government funding to buy the trailer from a national mobile-home manufacturer with a regional office in Mobile, located about 40 miles away. The company sold the home to the committee below cost, and also donated appliances and some furniture for the house.

In addition, the manufacturer’s regional manager donated the first $1,000 to a college scholarship fund that Volunteers of America set up for the Walker girls—ages 7, 9 and 11.

Amy Walker, who is a member of Friendship Baptist Church in Grand Bay, said before she went to Creel’s office to ask for help, she “felt like it was the end of the world for me. … I got tired of waking up and hearing my kids ask me, ‘Mama, what are we going to do about a house?’”

Of her decision to go to Volunteers of America, she said, “I felt like God sent me there that day.”

Creel said the Walkers are representative of hundreds of other families in the blue-collar area whose lives were turned upside down by Katrina.

In the immediate aftermath of the storm, Volunteers of America and groups such as the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Alabama distributed provisions to storm victims in Bayou La Batre. Creel then set up an office there for long-term relief work, where he helps find housing solutions for area residents. Most of them still live in FEMA trailers or other temporary housing.

Aiding in that work as well, Creel said, have been teams from CBF of Alabama and its counterparts in Georgia and other states. They have come to do long-term rehabilitation work, such as gutting and restoring flooded homes.

Church-based volunteer workers have kept hope alive in the region, which already was depressed due to the American shrimping industry’s financial woes, he noted.

“Without the faith-based response … it just would not have happened,” Creel said. “The faith-based organizations that stepped up to the plate all over Mississippi and Louisiana and here—that made the difference.”

But the area’s biggest long-term needs are for a steady flow of volunteers and government funding. Creel said funds for rebuilding have been slow to come from state and federal agencies—and when they do come, it’s with a host of restrictions.

In the wake of the storm, Bayou La Batre native Lillie Kraver went to work for Creel’s organization as a liaison to government agencies.

“I had to, because I know the people,” she said. “It’s home, and I had to fight to get as much funding for them as possible, so they can have some sort of normalcy back in their lives. … And without God’s help, there’s no way we could do this. The doors that he has opened—it has been amazing.”

Creel said one of his biggest fears is that the volunteer stream will begin to dry up, now that much of the nation’s memories of Katrina are beginning to fade. For instance, with the school year getting under way, the youth groups and teams of college students who had come in large numbers all summer won’t be coming again until winter or spring break.

“As is the case in these types of disasters, a year later we’re out of the spotlight, we’re out of the focus,” Creel said. “We still have a tremendous need for volunteers.”