Posted: 4/11/06

Family Bible Series for April 23

Preparation for life’s mission is essential

• Acts 1:1-14

By Greg Ammons

First Baptist Church, Garland

Peter Drucker died last year after an influential career. The Austrian economist and author wrote 31 books and served various businesses as a consultant. He once said there were three aspects to any successful mission: You must evaluate your strengths, recognize the opportunities before you and determine what you really believe. Commitment to these three principles will determine the success of your mission.

As believers in a risen Lord, we have the responsibility of being on mission, just like Jesus. The success of our mission will be determined by our commitment to the task. We must evaluate our strengths, recognize our opportunities and believe fully in the message of our Lord.

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Jesus’ mission (Acts 1:1-3)

Jesus had been obedient and faithful to his Father. He went to the cross willingly and laid down his life for our sins. He had a clear mission, and nothing deterred him from it. On the third day, he arose victorious.

The resurrection of Jesus was marvelous. The disciples were overjoyed to encounter him. Yet, he made it clear his mission was not complete.

After his resurrection, Luke recorded what Jesus said and did during the 40 days before his ascension back to heaven. He said Jesus appeared and gave many convincing proofs he was alive (v. 3). He also spoke about the kingdom of God. It was clear his mission had not ended.

C.T. Studd served as a missionary to several countries during the late 1800s. He once said: “Some wish to live within the sound of a church or chapel bell. I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.” Jesus’ mission was aggressive as well. He did not play it safe. He encountered death, hell and sin while stopping short of nothing to secure our salvation. Christians should praise God for a Savior who allowed nothing to keep him from his mission.

My mission (Acts 1:4-8)

Not only did Jesus continue on mission after the resurrection, he also commissioned his disciples. He had a task for them, and it was to be a continuation of his work. On one occasion while he was eating with the disciples, Jesus gave them the command not to leave Jerusalem but wait for the gift the Father had promised (v. 4). He was speaking about the empowering of the Holy Spirit.

Later, the disciples asked Jesus if he was going to restore the kingdom of God at the present time (v. 6). He replied that it was not for them to know the times or dates, but they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came (1:7-8). The disciples had the mission of being Jesus’ witnesses beginning in Jerusalem and extending worldwide.

Each believer in Jesus today has the same commission from our Lord. We are to be witnesses for him in the power of the Holy Spirit. We are to begin where God has placed us, but extend our witness worldwide.

Sadly, only 10 percent of believers today pray for missions in a systematic way and on a regular basis. Only 1 percent of Christians ever engage in some type of cross-cultural mission endeavor. May each of us commit to fulfill the mission God has prepared for us, whether that mission takes us across the street or around the world.

Preparing for my mission (Acts 1:9-14)

After Jesus promised the Holy Spirit’s empowering, he was taken up to heaven before the disciples eyes. Then, he was hidden by a cloud (v. 9). While the disciples gazed into heaven, two angels appeared to them and assured the men Jesus would return again some day, just as he left (v. 11). In obedience to their Lord, the disciples returned to Jerusalem and remained in the Upper Room until Pentecost (v. 12). They joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women, Mary and Jesus’ brothers (v. 14).

The disciples literally shook the first-century world for Christ in the days ahead. God used them powerfully as they fulfilled the mission Jesus left for them. Yet before they did so, they prepared for their work through prayer and obedience. God may have you preparing now for a greater work. If so, the best preparation for your work comes through faithful prayer and complete obedience.

Just over a decade ago, George Scott desired to serve Christ in China. Yet, the Scottish school teacher had only one leg. Scott approached J. Hudson Taylor and asked if he could go to China and help him in is work. Taylor asked, “With only one leg, why do you think of going as a missionary?” Scott replied, “Because I don’t see those with two legs going.” Taylor accepted Scott to serve with him in China.

God has a mission for each of us. As we reflect upon Jesus’ mission and our mission, may we prepare by using the resources God has given to us to the best of our ability. We are responsible for sharing his good news.

Discussion questions

• Which aspect of Jesus’ mission do you feel was the most difficult?

• Do you pray for missions on a regular basis?

• How is God preparing you for what he desires of your life?

Posted: 4/11/06

Explore the Bible Series for April 23

Effectiveness often necessitates change

• Isaiah 40:1-43:28

By James Adair

Baptist University of the Americas, San Antonio

A major shift in perspective from the earlier chapters of Isaiah occurs in chapter 40. Whereas chapters 1-39 are set in the days of Isaiah in Jerusalem, in the eighth century B.C., chapters 40-66 are set in the Babylonian exile and its aftermath, starting in the sixth century B.C., and many of the prophecies appear to have been delivered in Babylonia.

Most biblical scholars explain this phenomenon by proposing that chapters 40-55 preserve the words of a prophet who preached during the exile, while 56-66 are set a bit later, after many Jews returned from Babylonia.

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In addition to the shift in historical perspective, scholars point to differences in vocabulary, style and theological emphases in these chapters. From a compositional perspective, they also note chapters 36-39, a reprise of the history concerning Isaiah and King Hezekiah, would have formed a fitting ending to the oracles of the original Isaiah (Jeremiah 52).

I believe a setting during the Babylonian exile provides the best backdrop for the prophecies in these chapters, so my comments will assume that historical milieu.

Isaiah 40:1-11

At the time this prophecy was delivered, the Jews living in exile in Babylonia had been away from home as a group about 50 years. Though some undoubtedly adapted to their new surroundings well, others longed to return to the land of their ancestors.

It is to these people the prophet speaks his words of comfort, words of hope for a shattered people: “Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.”

The Jews in Babylonia looked back on their history and recognized many instances of rebellion and disobedience to God, and they interpreted their exile as God’s punishment for their sins. It was not sufficient, then, for them to hear they might have the opportunity to return to their homes. They needed to believe God had forgiven them for their sins.

Many people suffering today, rightly or wrongly, also interpret their troubles to be the result of their own sins. The joy many people experience in the routine of life only exacerbates their own feelings of sadness, magnified by guilt. For these people, the words of the prophet continue to provide comfort and forgiveness, if they just will listen and if the church will proclaim it faithfully.

Isaiah 40:21-31

“To whom then will you compare me?” asks God, through the mouth of the prophet. This passage celebrates the greatness of the Creator who gives strength to the weary. It is interesting to note in light of numerous global conflicts, God is described in verse 23 as one “who brings princes to naught and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.”

Why is there so much talk in the Bible, and particularly in the prophets, about God exalting the lowly and casting down erstwhile leaders? Maybe it’s because too many leaders let power go to their heads, caring more for their own legacies than the well-being of their fellow citizens, not to mention the citizens of other countries.

No matter where they reside, all leaders should remember they are temporal. Their nation, neighboring countries, and above all the God of the universe will continue long beyond their passing. They would do well, then, to abandon mad schemes of regional or even world domination and join with God in giving power to the faint and strength to the powerless.

As Abraham Lincoln said, “Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.” Right makes might, not the other way around.

Isaiah 42:1-9

These verses are the first of four “Servant Songs” many scholars recognize in this section of Isaiah. The prophet frequently refers to God’s servant in these chapters, but about whom is he talking?

The New Testament writers saw some of the passages as references to the public ministry of Jesus, and some of these verses may indeed be interpreted in reference to a single individual, but others seem to portray the nation of Israel in an idealized form.

The earliest translation of this passage into the Greek language (the Septuagint) explicitly identifies the servant in Isaiah 42 as the nation of Israel. If we take these verses as referring to a corporate entity rather than an individual, they remind us that God calls us to bring forth justice among the nations, to care for the weak in our world, and to be a light that shines God’s love on all those around us.

Isaiah 43:18-25

It has been said the seven last words of the church are, “We never did it that way before.” A few weeks ago, I met a young man who is the pastor of a church I attended as a child. At one time, the church was one of the premier churches in town, and Sunday services filled the sanctuary.

Over the years, the neighborhood around the church changed, but the church itself changed very little. The church continued to be predominantly Anglo in a neighborhood that was increasingly Hispanic. Still, the church did little to change, and eventually it died—well, almost.

When Sunday attendance had dwindled to just a handful of people, the remaining members handed control over to a Hispanic pastor and his son. Suddenly there were signs of life, and the church began to grow. It is nowhere near the size it was in its heyday, but it has recovered sufficiently to be considered off of life support.

Still, the young pastor informs me, the church is having a difficult time reaching the immediate neighborhood. Will it make the changes necessary to meet the needs of the community, or will it settle into an old pattern, comfortable with its present members and content to stay the course for the next several years?

No one knows for sure, but the spark of life the church has shown the past few years gives me reason to hope for the best.

When the prophet wrote to the Jews in exile, many of them felt that they had little reason to hope. The people had been living in Babylonia many years, and few saw any reason for optimism. They expected things to continue as they had, with no improvement, but the prophet had a different idea. “Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing,” he said in the name of God.

I believe God is a God of new things; it is people who are stuck in the past. We get comfortable with our current surroundings, even when they aren’t very good, and we look askance at change. Change just for the sake of change isn’t good, but a change in outlook, a change in perspective or a change in attitude often can be helpful.

We live in a changing world, and if our ministries are to stay effective, we must change with the world, adopting new strategies to live out the good news that God has for us, and for the whole world.

Discussion questions

• In our Christian ministries, how do we know when people need to hear words of comfort and when they need to hear a call to repentance? Why do so many people have difficulty accepting God’s forgiveness?

• How do you evaluate Abraham Lincoln’s statement that “right makes might”? Do Christians today agree with Lincoln?

• Which references in Isaiah 40-43 to God’s servant seem to refer to a single individual, and which seem to refer to a group of people? Do all the references to the servant refer to the same person or group? Is it possible that a certain amount of ambiguity in these passages is intentional?

• How important is tradition in comparison with innovation in church life? Why are some people naturally resistant to change, while others embrace it?

Posted: 4/07/06

CYBER COLUMN:
Praying when you don’t know what to pray

By Jeanie Miley

Coming in from the ICU, I was exhausted and anxious. I’d gotten the call to meet my husband again at the Emergency Room, and one more time, I’d been scared out of my wits.

Once things were stabilized, I headed home, praying specifically that the doctors would do something. Mostly, my prayer was “Help! Help us, please!”

The next night, however, I informed my adult children that I needed an hour alone. For an hour, I was simply going to sit in the silence, holding in my mind the presence of the Living Christ and my husband, as if the three of us were sitting together.

Time was when I knew exactly how to pray for my loved ones. It was no problem for me to inform God about how he should run the world, and I was pretty sure that it was my job to be as specific as possible about my prayer requests.

As life has become more complicated and complex, however, I’ve come to the place of knowing for sure that, most often, I’d better be careful about telling God what to do. In fact, I’ve come to the place of simply holding the needs of others before God and then just listening and waiting in an attitude of receptivity and quiet.

On this scary night, I was too tired to think clearly and I did not know for sure what was going to happen at the hospital when doctors began ordering tests and prescribing treatments. There was confusion about what to do, and I was certain that I didn’t know what needed to be done.

I did know, however, that prayer was needed, and so I began my hour of silence.

Over the last two decades, I’ve spent a lot of time in silence, simply resting in the Presence of God. My silence is symbolic of my consent to the presence and action of God. I suppose, in a way, that my silent, receptive prayer actually is a prayer that says, “Thy will be done.”

Practicing listening or receptive prayer means that I take my hands off the results or the outcome. I give up my expectations of what God is going to do and simply wait for God to move as God will. To wait on God means that I surrender my agenda to the sovereignty of God.

I really would like for God to reward my silence with some specific message that is clear and straight-forward, but I have come to the place of knowing that while God’s ways are not my ways, God does work mysteriously, redemptively and in the fullness of time.

The next morning, a procedure that the doctor had proposed had to be postponed because of a medication that had been given. We were disappointed.

The next morning after that, we got word that the procedure had been cancelled altogether because the risk factor was too great.

Last Wednesday night, my husband was teaching from Romans 8, and when he came to the part about how when we do not know how to pray the Spirit intercedes for us on our behalf with groanings too deep for words, I began to weep.

Indeed, God is at work in all things, attempting to bring about good. God is at work in all things even when we are attempting to run the show and control the outcome.

God is at work in all things, and I hope I have enough sense to remember to keep on being still and quiet and let God take the lead.

Jeanie Miley is an author and columnist and a retreat and workshop leader. She is married to Martus Miley, pastor of River Oaks Baptist Church in Houston, and they have three adult daughters. Got feedback? Write her at Writer2530@aol.com.

Posted: 4/06/06

Senators say 'breakthrough'
on immigration plan near

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Senate April 6 voted down a plan for immigration reform 60-39, but soon after announced a “huge breakthrough” in gaining bipartisan support for a reform plan that would enable undocumented immigrants eventually to become citizens.

The vote and announcement came a day after it seemingly became clear that a bipartisan bill to reform immigration did not have the needed 60 votes to pass.

According to the Associated Press, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tennessee and Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, agreed this new plan was a breakthrough in the negotiations, but Reid cautioned against too much enthusiasm until the bill was passed.

Suzii Paynter, interim director of the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission, is encouraged to see leaders across party lines coming together on this issue. Lawmakers seem to have worked out their differences and come to a reasonable compromise, she asserted.

With President Bush supporting it, the immigration issue is less likely to fade quietly into the background, said Paynter, whose group called for “comprehensive immigration reform” at an April 5 news conference on Capitol Hill.

The new plan enhances border security, regulates the number of immigrants into the United States and provides an avenue for illegal immigrants to become citizens. The plan separates undocumented workers into three categories.

Aliens who have been in the country longer than five years can become citizens by taking several tests, paying fines and back taxes and submitting to a background check.

Undocumented people who have lived in the United States longer than two years but less than five years must first go to a border point of entry, leave the country briefly and be readmitted to the United States. Then they must go through the same series of requirements the first group must to become citizens.

Illegal immigrants who have been in the United States less than two years must leave the country and go through the same process other foreigners must to enter the country.

Republican leaders, including Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, repeatedly said senators were not given adequate opportunity to offer amendments or debate a judiciary committee plan that would have allowed illegal immigrants to apply for temporary work visas and enabled guest workers to become citizens after 11 years in the country.

Lawmakers were trying to “jam” the bill through the senate, Cornyn said. “This is not the senate working according to its finest traditions.” He also has voiced disatisfaction with the latest proposed bill.

But lawmakers from both parties agreed immigration reform is an important issue that must continue to be discussed. They spoke of a need to address the need for border security, a practical enforcement of immigration laws and the creation of an avenue for undocumented residents to become citizens.

“No matter how this cloture vote goes … we need to continue to work on this issue because it is so important to the future of our country,” said Sen. Ken Salazaar, D-Colorado.

Posted: 3/31/06

Texas Baptist Forum

Laying on hands

Scripture places much more importance upon “laying on hands” than those esteemed men who were cited in “Laying on hands” (March 20). Hebrews 6:1-2 lists laying on hands as a foundational doctrine, giving it weight equal to repentance from dead works, faith toward God, baptisms, resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.

• Jump to online-only letters below

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

“For faith to be authentic, it must be freely embraced. … In a post-9/11 world where individuals die for their faith while others kill in the name of their religion, America's founding principle of religious liberty takes on even greater prominence.” Robert A. Seiple U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom (RNS) “Immigrants have values that can convert America and return America to the values of thrift and hard work.” Manuel A. Vasquez University of Florida religion professor (RNS) “My sense is that we will see the development of human/animal hybrids, mammals that have more and more bits of human in them. You can see a progression developing here that you might not be able to stop.” Nigel Cameron Professor of bioethics at the Illinois Institute of Technology (RNS) “It’s arrogant to say that either religion or science can answer all our questions. I don’t see the need either to banish one or the other or to artificially unite them.” Susan Fisher Miller Editor and English professor in Atlanta, commenting on the “debate” between religion and evolution (New York Times)

How could Charles Spurgeon reject the practice “as a form of ritualism that could easily lapse into popery”? He did not refuse to preach the doctrines of grace, although many perverted the teachings to become libertines.

1 Timothy 4:14 also is useful in this discussion. “Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.” This Scripture illustrates the following:

• In the early church, the laying on of hands was administered by the presbytery, not the congregation.

• The laying on of hands was a prophetic act, not a priestly act, requiring men who were proven to know the Scripture (“able to teach”) to judge the validity of the prophetic word. For example, we know from Scripture that God calls individuals to be pastors. However, we cannot ascertain from Scripture exactly who that particular individual is for our church. This requires a prophetic word discerned by those who are mature.

• This Scripture clearly states that grace (“the gift that is in thee”) is in fact conveyed and not merely acknowledged in the process.

This doctrine deserves a much more biblical treatment.

Robert Massey

Conroe

Journalistic license

Regarding Kelvin Kelly’s article considering women pastors (March 20): Biblical standards must supersede religious standards or our faith practices will devolve into exactly what this young man desires—a social and contextual approach to ministry rather than one founded on biblical truth and biblical principles!

The obvious textual reading of 1 Timothy is biblically correct and must be applied within all social and contextual settings: The pastor shall be the husband; therefore, he cannot be a she!

Attempting to make Scripture conform to culture rather than make cultural conform to Scripture is a dangerous undertaking. Kelly’s attempt is a travesty to proper scriptural exegesis, interpretation and application. It is a perfect example of situation ethics—society and culture demand women’s equality with men (whatever that means!); therefore, Scripture must be interpreted to fit the social conditions in deference to the demanded biblical standard.

Kelly’s article is poor journalism. It panders to those who will use it to justify their societal stance on the subject. Hopefully, it will enrage more than just me who will be willing to confront this type of journalistic license.

Jim Salles

Beaumont

Church labels

Much has been written about our churches not identifying themselves as “Baptist.” It seems to be widely, but quietly, agreed that the title “Baptist” is a hindrance to recruiting, but nothing I’ve read states how we have come to this questionable condition.

Consider the following explanation: Our highly publicized civil war in which the conservatives took control of the Southern Baptist Convention from the moderates sent the public a message that not everyone is welcome in our ranks.

In our gallant quest for biblical authority, we have inadvertently become the group known for what we are against rather than what we are for, not unlike the Pharisees of old. Our targets have included Mickey Mouse, public education, trick or treating, Harry Potter and wives who presume to have a vote in family matters.

Our grand traditions of congregational authority and priesthood of the believer are being compromised by pastors who see themselves as spiritual dictators. Freedom of thought is taking a back seat to blind obedience.

Because of these misguided efforts, what was once America’s greatest evangelical denomination has been tragically reduced to cult status in the eyes of much of the secular domain.

In an attempt to be constructive, may I suggest we adjust any condescending or judgmental attitude toward others to that of our Savior’s posture eloquently penned in a song, “He looked beyond my fault and saw my need.”

John H. Townsend

Memphis, Tenn.

Definition of ‘day’

Bill Kincaid’s critique of David Jones’ letter (March 20) doesn’t mention that “yom” in Genesis 1 is defined by “evening and morning”—one Earth revolution, and an ordinal, “one,” “second,” etc. 

While God didn’t say “24 hours,” every Hebrew scholar, taking the text at face value (exegesis) without reading in evolution (eisegesis), says Moses meant a normal day. Exodus 20:11 says we have a seven-day week because that’s how long creation took. Jesus said man was made in the beginning, not after billions of years (Mark 10:6).

Some have elevated evolution to the level of a fifth gospel. Not only is evolution not scientific, it violates every law of science and was long ago disproved.

Nobel Science Prize winner George Wald said: “When it comes to the origin of life, there are only two possibilities—spontaneous generation and special creation. Spontaneous generation was disproved a hundred years ago. That leaves us only with special creation. We refuse to accept that on philosophical grounds. Therefore, we are left with the unenviable position of having to believe the impossible.”

T.N. Tahmisian of the Atomic Energy Commission said, “In explaining evolution, we do not have one iota of fact.”

The scandal of our day is the censorship of scientific data explainable only by intelligent design. The decisions of judges turning our Constitution on its head are legendary. It’s no surprise when they come down on the wrong side of this issue. What is surprising are Christians who champion such censorship.

Brian Burgess

Peacock

Scientific evidence

I am an experienced and reasonably successful scientist and a biblical inerrantist. Thus, I believe I am qualified to comment on recent letters about the scientific basis for evolution.

The idea that the second law of thermodynamics precludes evolution is wrong. A greater increase in disorder at one location can be used to drive creation of order elsewhere. The disorder created by the nuclear reactions in the sun is more than enough to balance order created on Earth. Spontaneous creation of order is a common occurrence, for example, when salt crystals form.

Dating by tree rings is absolutely reliable and gives ages much older than the 6,000 years proposed by anti-evolutionists. These dates agree perfectly with carbon 14 dates.

There are many examples of transition forms in the fossil record. Thus, evolution is a reasonably good theory.

In addition, it does not contradict Genesis. Had God intended us to believe that creation occurred in six solar days, he would not have stated that a day occurred before the creation of the sun, and he would not have used a word (“yom”) that can mean “day” or “an era of time” (as it does in Genesis 2:4).

There is plenty of room in Genesis for evolution as a natural tool used by God, along with some supernatural ones. Insisting they are incompatible will not change the mind of people who really know the evidence, but it will continue to make them less receptive to the gospel.

Stephen Pruett

Bossier City, La.

Proud of partnership

It was with great satisfaction and pride that I read of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board’s decision to form a three-year partnership with the Baptist General Convention of Missouri.

Prior to moving to Waco in 2001 to attend Truett Seminary, I spent six years as a Missouri Baptist as my husband earned dual undergraduate degrees at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar and then pastored First Baptist Church in Weaubleau.

We grieved as we watched the turmoil begin, as the Missouri Baptist Convention began legal proceedings against the state Baptist Home, Windermere Conference Center, Word & Way and other institutions.

Our brothers and sisters in Missouri are to be commended, and yes, supported for taking a stand in defense of historic Baptist principals. As a convention who has worked through many of these difficult issues, it is fitting that the BGCT support the BGCM.

Texas Baptists, I plead with you to pray for this partnership, Executive Director Jim Hill and the BGCM.

Michele L. King

Waco

. Letters are limited to 250 words.

Posted: 4/05/06

BaptistWay Bible Series for April 16

God’s penetrating gaze reveals the heart

• 1 Samuel 16:1-13; 21-23

By Joseph Matos

Dallas Baptist University, Dallas

Looks can be deceiving, both negatively and positively. For instance, we have established all sorts of criteria to decide what people fit what occupation. Yet, once in a while, someone comes along who just doesn’t fit the mold, and succeeds. But we also see the “prototype” fail.

The problem is we are using the wrong mold when we should be using God’s mold. Samuel was reminded of this when he was again pressed into service to find a king for Israel.

Chapter 16 opens with the Lord’s rebuke of Samuel for his continued mourning of Saul, which was first mentioned at the end of chapter 15. However much time transpired between these verses, the mourning had gone on long enough. The Lord reminded Samuel this should cease; Saul had been rejected. Instead, Samuel was to be about the task of anointing Saul’s successor.

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This time, rather than the prospective king coming to Samuel, the Lord sent Samuel to the next king. The Lord led Samuel specifically to the house of Jesse in Bethlehem.

At first, Samuel feared Saul’s wrath if he found out. The Lord directed Samuel to take a heifer for sacrifice. This might have been a cover if in fact Samuel encountered Saul. But we also see that the sacrifice would serve as the context for identifying and anointing the next king of Israel. For Samuel was to invite Jesse to the sacrifice as well.

Whether sharing Samuel’s fear about Saul’s anger or being concerned Samuel’s arrival might mean a negative word from the Lord, the elders of the town “trembled when they met him” (v. 4). They wanted to know Samuel’s intentions (“Do you come in peace?”). He did, Samuel reassured them, inviting them to the sacrifice. Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them.

Jumping to conclusions, it would seem, Samuel declared Eliab the “Lord’s anointed” as soon as he saw him. Samuel seemingly still had the description of Saul in his mind. The Lord’s rebuke alludes to as much in his correction of Samuel. He warned Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him,” meaning Eliab (v. 7, see 9:2 and 10:23 for Saul’s description; and 15:23, 26; and 16:1 for Saul’s rejection). The Lord then gave Samuel criteria to consider in the selection process. Rather, than follow human standards, what is on the outside, Samuel was to follow God’s standard, a person’s heart, what is on the inside.

Employing this new standard, Samuel assessed each of Jesse’s sons as they passed by him, each time declaring, “The Lord has not chosen this one.”

After seven of Jesse’s sons passed by, Samuel turned to Jesse and asked if he had any more sons. Jesse acknowledged there was another son. But apparently, David did not fit Jesse’s mold, for he did not initially present him before Samuel. He was the youngest and was outside tending sheep (v. 11).

Two things come to mind with this description of David (not named until verse 13). First, “youngest” could also be understood as “smallest,” a clear contrast to Saul, who was tall. Second, the author(s) may have used Jesse’s comment about David’s tending sheep as prelude to his service as shepherd king over Israel.

At Samuel’s request, Jesse sent for David. When David arrived, the Lord called Samuel to action: “Rise and anoint him; he is the one” (v. 12). Unlike previously dealings with David’s brothers, Samuel did not make this selection on his own. So there in the presence of David’s brothers, Samuel poured the oil on David, anointed him as king. Simultaneously, the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power.

Without further fanfare, Samuel returned to Ramah.

A word about David’s appearance seems in order. While the Lord declared appearance was not to be a factor in selecting a king, verse 12 does give a physical description of David. He was ruddy (think Esau in Genesis 25:25), with “a fine appearance” (literally, beautiful eyes) and “handsome features” (think Joseph in Genesis 39:6). It should be noted, however, that David’s physical appearance was coincidental to his selection as king, not the basis of it.

The rest of the chapter describes how David and Saul met. Verses 14-20 record the torment Saul endured from time to time from an evil spirit. With language indicating the ancient belief that God was directly responsible for both the good and evil, both the narrator and Saul’s men refer to this torment as coming from Lord (vv. 14-15).

Their proposed solution to ease Saul’s pain was to call for a musician who could play the harp. One of the men mentioned he knew someone. It was David, son of Jesse (v. 18). The man further described David as brave, a warrior, articulate and fine-looking. But most importantly, “the Lord is with him.” Saul sent for Jesse and requested David’s service. Jesse sent David along with some offerings.

Saul liked David so much he brought him on full time (vv. 21-22) as one of his armor-bearers. And whenever called upon, David would play the harp to relieve Saul’s torment.

Unbeknownst to Saul, his replacement had arrived.

Saul saw David in the mold of a servant; the Lord saw him in the mold of a king.

Discussion questions

• When have appearances deceived you?

• What did God see in David’s heart that led to his anointing by Samuel?

• What might God see in you that you do not see in yourself?

Posted: 4/05/06

CYBER COLUMN:
Sand on the seashore

By John Duncan

I’m sitting here under the old oak tree, pondering the tides of life. The ocean tides ebb and flow amid picturesque sunsets, where the orange sun reflects on blue waters while the ocean tides ripple to the shore. Life has its ebb and flow and sunsets and ripple effects, too.

During spring break, I took a trip to Mexico. I walked on the sandy beach with the sand sandwiched between my toes. Can I, as a preacher of good news, ever walk on the sandy shores of a beach without thinking of God’s word to Abraham that he will bless his chosen people as the sands of the sea? (Genesis 22:17) I take that to mean that God’s one big blessing will come in small does like tiny grains of sand squishing together on ocean shores to make a beach where seashells turn up and crabs burrow and seaweed washes up and where sunbathers lay out under the scorching heat and little girls and boys with plastic shovels build sand castles.

Can I ever think of sand without thinking of Joseph storing up grain during the Egyptian drought like the sand of the sea? (Genesis 41:49)

Can I ever think of sand without thinking of God’s blessing to the Israelite tribe of Zebulun, that God would bless them with a feast that would be like finding treasures in the sand? (Deuteronomy 33:19)

Can I ever feel sand between my toes without thinking of Job in his anguish, complaining that his pain outweighed the sum total of the sands of the sea? (Job 6:3)

Or Jesus talking about a man who built his house on the sand and the house fell like a mansion in California that mudslides into the Pacific Ocean because of the drenching rain or Jesus writing in the sand with the woman caught in adultery while the steely eyed Pharisees looked on with skepticism? (Matthew 7:26; John 8:8)

I walked on the sand in Mexico with my family following. We looked for a place to lay our stuff and sit in the sunshine and watch the beautiful ocean tides ebb and flow. As I walked I observed—two teenagers, one a boy drunk as a skunk, whatever that means, and a girl puking her guts from a day of combined sun and moonshine; swimmers with snorkels skimming the depths for colored fish; a ski boat pulling a parasail draped against the horizon and a blue sky; jet skiers and sailboaters cruising the ocean waters that, from a distance, looked like glass; swimmers laughing; and beside me on the shore, a boy playing in the sand while building a sand castle that the ocean tide kept pounding and dissolving his walls.

We finally found a landing spot with beach chairs. I settled on the shore, then later swam out to the iceberg, a huge plastic balloon in the water, the equivalent of a rock climber’s paradise. I climbed the iceberg and slid down into the water and swam back to the shore. I sat on the shore again. I observed the scenery as the tropical sun radiated heat to the sand.

I noticed a man helping a woman out of the water. Did she cut her foot on coral? Did she twist her ankle moving about in the tides and shifting sand? Had a swimmer accidentally kicked her and now she could barely walk?

The man lifted her from the water as they walked, their upper torsos harmoniously gliding out of the water. My eyes sat in wonder as I saw that she had one leg. They fell on the sandy shore, she bracing the fall with her arm and wrist and he picking her up again. They laughed, as if to say to one another amid the smiles that all is well. He picked her up completely, cradling her like a child in his arms, and gently placed her on the beach. He turned and went back to the ocean, the ebb and flow of the ocean cascading against his legs while he kept his eyes on her.

All the while, I am thinking of Abraham and Joseph and Job and Jesus and sands of the seashore and weighty sand of anguish and words in the sand and blessings like tiny grains of sand dropping into our lap to make a beach of blessings. I am thinking too of life, that as much as I hate to spiritualize the moment, and with respect to the disabled in our world, that we are all crippled in some way, physically, emotionally, mentally or spiritually, with weights and burdens of trouble and care that wash against our lives and dissolve the walls like that little boy’s sand castle.

I am reminded that we in our despair and crippled helplessness and in life limping along that we need Jesus to carry us in the ocean of life and to pick us up when we fall and to keep his eyes of love on us in the currents and tides of life.

I visited Riley Robeson and his wife, Laverne, the other day. They lived as saints. They are charter members of the church I am privileged to pastor. Their fortysomething daughter died not long ago, and my pastoral history for 19 years included funerals in the loss of a grandchild and son-in-law and memories of eating roast at their house and good times in the excitement of church growth. They live in a nursing home, where Riley says, “The food ain’t near as good as I used to get at home.” Now he walks with a walker and Laverne is in another world, barely recognizing people and talking out of her mind with words like “I wonder if someone is going to kidnap us and take us to South America and kill us?”

Just the other day, I told Riley: “I miss you at church. I really miss you.” He was always positive and visionary and encouraging, and when those kind of people are not around anymore, you miss them. So I told him so.

Riley said he missed me and the church, too. I said, “Brother Riley, I guess you never planned on this, huh?” Riley has worked hard all of his life, well into his eighties. A tear welled up in his eye but never came out, his misty eyes peering off in the distance and staring as if the blank wall held a beautiful scene like the blue ocean waters of Mexico.

“No,” he said, “I never planned on this. You just never know what you’re gonna do when the props get pulled out from under you. I just try to trust the Lord.”

“Props” took my mind back to the sandy shores of Mexico.

So there it is, blue ocean waters with sandy shores and a man lifting a one-legged woman out of the water and Jesus at the center of the ocean of life. Admit it or not, props get knocked out from under us in the ocean of life, the ebb of unexpected losses and the tide of tragedy and the cascading ripple of life itself, and we need for someone to carry us, lift us when we fall, and keep his loving eyes on us.

It’s spring. Under this old oak tree green leaves blossom. Bluebonnets poke their way from the Texas soil soon. Days get longer. Birds chirp. Fish jump out of the water. And somewhere there is a lady with one leg. All in all, Jesus came to prop us up, today, tomorrow, forever. And God blesses, in small doses one grain of sand at a time to form abundant life more glorious than the beach.

John Duncan is pastor of Lakeside Baptist Church in Granbury, Texas, and the writer of numerous articles in various journals and magazines. You can respond to his column by e-mailing him at jduncan@lakesidebc.org.

Posted: 4/05/06

Afghan president praises decision to release Abdul Rahman

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)—Afghanistan’s president praised his government for releasing a Christian who had been threatened with death for abandoning Islam.

Hamid Karzai said the nation’s judiciary was right not to bow to pressure from Muslim clerics and elected leaders, who had called for 41-year-old Abdul Rahman to be executed because of his conversion more than 14 years ago.

“This was a sensitive issue for Muslims, but—thanks to God—at a time when emotions were running high, the courts weren’t influenced by these feelings,” Karzai said in an address to judicial officials in Kabul, the Associated Press reported. “They made their decision, and it was the right decision.”

On March 26, Afghanistan’s Supreme Court dismissed the government’s case against Rahman. Legal officials gave conflicting reasons for the dismissal, citing a lack of evidence against him and a belief that he may be mentally unfit to stand trial.

Rahman was freed and went into immediate hiding March 27. He is now in Italy, where officials offered him asylum. Afterwards, hundreds of Afghans protested the release, as did the nation’s parliament, in a non-binding vote.

Rahman converted to Christianity while working for a Christian aid group in Pakistan in the early 1990s. He was only recently jailed after court leaders learned of his faith in a child-custody battle with his ex-wife.

Since his imprisonment made headlines, groups from multiple faiths, continents and political ideologies have decried the Afghan judicial system for the situation. Conservative Christian groups and impartial human-rights organizations in the United States first called attention to the situation but were joined by international human-rights groups, the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the New York Times editorial board.

President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice appealed to Karzai to assure Rahman’s safety. But Karzai said at the time that he could do nothing without violating the separation of powers between Afghanistan’s executive and judicial branches of government.

The Afghan Constitution, drafted and approved in the wake of the nation’s liberation from the theocratic Taliban regime in 2001, has separate sections protecting religious freedom and establishing Islam as the supreme law of the land. Religious-freedom watchdog groups repeatedly warned that the tension between the two provisions would provide too much leeway to conservative Muslim jurists in cases such as Rahman’s.

According to Compass Direct, an evangelical Protestant group that monitors persecution of Christians worldwide, at least two other Afghans Christians have been jailed in recent days. The agency declined to disclose details about the cases.

Posted: 3/31/06

Children’s home residents repay
kindness to Kokomo church

By Miranda Bradley

Texas Baptist Children’s Home

GORMAN—For 25 years, Kokomo Baptist Church sent a monthly gift to Texas Baptist Children’s Home. Over spring break, children’s home residents repaid the favor.

On New Year’s Day, a 35-mile-wide wildfire destroyed 60 homes and two churches around the Kokomo community, near Gorman. Four families in the 50-member Kokomo Baptist Church lost their cattle, houses and land.

But the church continued to give to others, collecting an offering for another church that burned in another community.

“As soon as we sent them a check, just days later, we got a check from them,” said Deacon Woodrow Browning. “It just goes to show how we have been supporting each other during this time.”

Likewise, Texas Baptist Children’s Home wanted to lend support to a church whose members had supported its ministry for a quarter-century.

Staff members and residents at Texas Baptist Children’s Home—a Children at Heart ministry—took up a collection and presented a check to Browning during a spring break mission project, when they helped community residents dig through ashes to recover personal items.

“God is so good,” Browning said tearfully. “It’s amazing how God blesses. Funds have come in, and he just continues to bless.”

In hindsight, Browning has trouble understanding how the blaze consumed the church so fast.

“It was a brick-veneer building with a metal roof,” he said. “There is no grass around the church.”

Fires cutting across the dried grasslands were spurred on by 45-mile-per-hour winds from noon into the night.

“It looks like the fire jumped and landed right on top of the church,” Browning said.

The church is rebuilding, and its new sanctuary’s frame already is taking shape. The new building includes classroom space, and the church added onto the floor plan to allow for growth.

Since the fire, Kokomo has met in a member’s garage and plans to do so until its new facility is complete. Even so, Sunday school attendance has increased from 25 to 35.

Browning has seen Kokomo rebuild once before. In 1969, the church was engulfed in an electrical fire that reduced the structure to scorched rubble. He was among the first to join in early 1970 when the church met temporarily in a Gorman funeral home.

Despite its past, Kokomo is rebuilding in the same location again. In June 2006, the church will celebrate its 100-year anniversary. They plan to start a new decade with a stronger structure and a brand-new vision.

“We’re tired of playing church,” Browning said. “With this new building, we hope to reach a lot more people for Christ. There are people around here who need Christ in their lives, and we want to help them.”

Updated: 4/04/06

IMB won’t seek trustee’s removal

By Greg Warner

Associated Baptist Press

TAMPA, Fla. (ABP)—Trustees of the International Mission Board decided not to seek the removal of one of their own for criticizing trustee actions, but they adopted new guidelines to prohibit and punish such criticism in the future.

After a closed-door executive session March 22, trustees of the Southern Baptist agency announced they had voted unanimously to rescind their January action against Oklahoma trustee Wade Burleson, who published statements on his weblog criticizing two trustee decisions from November.

The new guidelines require trustees to refrain from public criticism of not only trustee policies—like the November decisions defining a proper baptism and prohibiting use of a “private prayer language” by missionary candidates—but all board-approved actions.

Likewise, the new guidelines require trustees “to refrain from speaking in disparaging terms” not only of fellow trustees but—after an amendment —of all IMB personnel.

In interviews after the meeting, board members said the guidelines could have prevented the showdown with Burleson and now will give trustees other options besides removal for dealing with conflict among board members.

Burleson, who insists he did not violate any board trustee policies and was never confronted with specific charges, said March 22 he is pleased with the guidelines and will abide by them.

“I’ve said all along, the authority over trustees is guidelines,” said Burleson, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Enid, Okla., who did not speak during the open portion of the trustee meeting. “I can assure them there will be no one more faithful to the new guidelines, and to hold other trustees faithful to the guidelines.”

Trustee Mike Smith, chair of the trustee orientation committee, said the guidelines, drafted jointly with the trustee administration committee, were in the works for two years, before Burleson was elected to the board.

“We knew that it would be seen as a Wade Burleson document, but that wasn’t our intention,” said Smith, a director of missions for the Dogwood Trails Area in East Texas.

Several trustees said the guidelines are not retroactive and won’t be used against Burleson, who was accused of “broken trust and resistance to accountability” for allegedly disclosing trustee deliberations on his blog.

Burleson’s removal, if it had been approved by Southern Baptist Convention messengers in June, would have been the first time a trustee had been removed from an Southern Baptist agency, historians said.

Trustee chairman Tom Hatley said the Burleson controversy and the problems it created were “a small price to pay” for the significant improvements that had resulted. Trustees have improved their accountability procedures and discovered the need for “better and faster ways to communicate with Southern Baptists,” said Hatley, pastor Immanuel Baptist Church in Rogers, Ark.

Hatley said IMB trustees are now more aware of the younger generation of Southern Baptist pastors and leaders who rallied to Burleson’s defense. “This high-tech generation is fearless,” he said, adding their fearlessness is often taken for insolence.

Marty Duren, a Georgia pastor whose blog, sbcoutpost.com, has followed the IMB controversy and criticized trustees, said he is doubtful the 27-year “conservative resurgence” could have succeeded if the new IMB policy had been in place in SBC agencies when moderate Baptists were in control.

Duren, pastor of New Bethany Baptist Church in Buford, Ga., was among a handful of young pastors who attended the IMB meeting in Tampa.

Several said the guidelines signal a narrowing of dissent within the SBC.

“It is unconscionable that Baptists would move away from our cherished distinctives” of individual freedom and the right of dissent, said Benjamin Cole, pastor of Parkview Baptist Church in Arlington. In January, Cole threatened to ask the Southern Baptist Convention to remove all of the IMB trustees, saying their action against Burleson had done “irreparable harm” to Southern Baptists’ confidence in them.

While rescinding the action against Burleson was a good move, Cole said, the issue that is energizing opposition to the growing narrowness of the SBC's conservative leadership “has nothing to do with Wade Burleson” but everything to do with Baptist freedom.

The four-page “Trustee Responsibilities” document, approved overwhelmingly with only three votes against, replaces the 47-page 1987 booklet, “Ordered by God,” which trustee leaders said most trustees had not read.

The new document details rules for trustee attendance, advocacy, responsibilities, accountability and discipline. When discipline of a trustee is necessary, the document says, a number of options are available, including investigation, censure, suspension for a period of time, or removal by the Southern Baptist Convention, which appoints all denominational trustees.

The guidelines call on the trustees to employ biblical principles to seek resolution of individual differences that could damage trust. They are prohibited from “participation in any unauthorized caucus … on a recurring basis to advance a specific agenda.” And trustees are instructed not to share “non-public information” with anyone other than trustees and senior IMB staffers.

Trustees are “to speak in positive and supportive terms as they interpret and report on actions by the board, regardless of whether they personally support the action,” the document says.

“Trustees are to exemplify what it means to be Christ-like in decorum and sincerely committed to the Southern Baptist cooperative missions tasks,” says another section. “In this respect, trustees are to speak the truth in love. Trustees are to refrain from speaking in disparaging terms about IMB personnel and fellow trustees.”

“Individual IMB trustees must refrain from public criticism of board-approved actions,” notes the section on trustee conduct. “Experience has shown that it is not possible to draw fine lines in this area. Freedom of expression must give way to the imperative that the work of the Kingdom not be placed at risk by publicly airing differences within the board.”

Smith, introducing the document, said, “Certainly in here it’s alright to have disagreement. (But) when we leave here we ought to be positive.”

But other trustees said they were troubled if the policy will prevent them from explaining their disagreement to their constituents.

Several trustees offered amendments, which were discussed at length until it was decided to postpone action until the next morning. In the meantime, the two committees who brought the recommendation reworked the document, incorporating several changes requested by trustees.

Debate on the revised document resumed the next morning.

“I believe my trusteeship is primarily to the Southern Baptist Convention,” said Allen McWhite, director of world missions at North Greenville University in Tigerville, S.C.

Any trustee should be able to express “honest disagreement” with a board action he or she feels is “not in the best interest of the Southern Baptist constituency,” he said. “No trustee should ever be put in the position where he or she could not do that.” Under the new policy, the “only alternative” for a trustee in that position is to resign, McWhite said.

“When we become trustees, we give up some things,” including the freedom to speak against the board, responded Ken Cademartori, pastor of Mason-Dixon Baptist Church in New Freedom, Penn. If a trustee wants to speak publicly against an IMB action, he or she can resign, he said.

Other provisions in the guidelines include a requirement that trustees “are to covenant with the Southern Baptist Convention by wholeheartedly affirming the current edition of the Baptist Faith & Message,” the SBC’s doctrinal statement.

IMB trustees first adopted that requirement in 2001. The new document adds, however: “Annually new trustees will be given the opportunity to express this covenant by signing a statement affirming the BF&M at orientation.”

Trustees previously required all missionaries to affirm in writing their agreement with the doctrinal statement. Several trustees said they should not ask the missionaries to do something they had not also done.

The new trustee guidelines also note: “Trusteees who are interested in any aspect of the operations of the board or the IMB are encouraged to use all available channels and opportunities for securing all relevant information from within the board and IMB structures.”

The board debated at length a policy to require IMB staffers to provide trustees with any requested information. But Hatley referred the motion to the administration committee for review.

Burleson declined to predict what will happen at the SBC meeting in June. Although he has been invited to participate in various upcoming meetings informing Southern Baptists of the dissatisfaction in the convention, Burleson said he has not decided if he will attend. “I’ve learned over the last 20 years I don’t like politics.”

Trustee Rick Thompson, pastor of Council Road Baptist Church, who had spoken in favor of Burleson’s position, called the decision to rescind “a good move.” Asked if the new guidelines would have prevented Burleson’s earlier criticisms of the board, Thompson said, “They’re very specific, and Wade is a man who abides by policy.”

California trustee Jerry Corbaley, a member of the administrative committee, likewise said he was pleased with the guidelines, which provide trustees with several ways to deal with “personal conflicts.”

Corbaley, director of missions for the North Coast Baptist Association, said the guidelines are not retroactive and so would not be applied to Burleson’s earlier blogging. But he added, there might be some earlier materials still available on Burleson’s blog site that would not comply with the new guidelines.

Nonetheless, he said, “let the people of God start fresh.”

Posted: 3/31/06

Immigration debate energizes faithful

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)—The debate over immigration reform currently dividing America at large and congressional Republicans in particular is—ironically—uniting a wide array of the religious community that views immigration reform as a moral issue.

The Roman Catholic Church, mainline Protestants and Hispanic evangelicals have been at the forefront of a movement to deal with the nation’s problem with illegal immigration in a way that attempts to balance enforcement of the law with compassion for migrant workers. The union of the groups comes despite some voices in conservative circles arguing for a policy focused on harsher enforcement of existing immigration laws.

“We’ve got an immigration system (that) impacts on basic human dignity and human life. The status quo is morally unacceptable, because we witness abuse in the workplace, by smugglers and people dying in the desert,” said Kevin Appleby, an immigration-policy specialist for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“We feel there’s an obligation to speak out and say, ‘Look, the system is broken—it doesn’t acknowledge the reality of migration today, and we need to change it.’”

On March 30, the Senate took up debate on the Border Control Act, a bill sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.). It is similar to a bill, already approved in the House, that would focus on enforcement in preventing undocumented workers from making their way into the United States—mainly along the U.S./Mexico border.

In the week leading up to the Senate action, hundreds of thousands of immigrants, Hispanics and allies protested the House bill, including strikes by high school students from California to Virginia and a march that drew a reported half-million people to downtown Los Angeles. The protests also included a group of mainline and evangelical Protestant ministers, Catholic priests and Jewish rabbis who marched, in their clerical garb, on Senate offices March 27.

The demonstrators and other critics of the House bill have described its proposed measures for cracking down on illegal immigration as “draconian,” including provisions that would build a wall along the Mexican border and criminalize providing humanitarian aid to those immigrating illegally.

For instance, the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, an umbrella group for Hispanic-American evangelicals, has said the House legislation “would in essence deport the 11.5 million undocumented immigrants (estimated to be in the United States) and create punitive consequences for faith-based organizations that assist any undocumented individual.”

Partially in response, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted March 27 to approve a separate immigration-reform bill that explicitly exempts religious groups from prosecution for providing humanitarian aid to undocumented immigrants and sets up programs that would register immigrant workers, get them to pay taxes and penalties, and place them on the path to permanent status or full citizenship.

Four Republicans—who spanned the spectrum from Pennsylvania moderate Sen. Arlen Specter to very conservative Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback—joined the committee’s minority Democrats in approving the alternative bill. Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), one of the alternative bill’s main supporters, credited “the faith community” with forcing it to the Senate floor.

The reform the Kennedy bill represents is needed badly, said Alejandro Camacho, a Texas Baptist pastor who regularly works with Hispanic immigrants.

“It is just ridiculous how the laws have separated our families and our congregations,” said Camacho, pastor of Iglesia Bautista Cristiana in McKinney, and director of a nonprofit organization called Immigration Services.

Camacho handles immigration-law cases for undocumented immigrants in Texas—almost all of them Mexican natives. He noted the vast difference in wages between the two neighboring countries—blue-collar workers can easily make 10 or even 20 times their previous salary by simply crossing the border—drives many heads of Mexican households to cross the Rio Grande in search of work.

But they often leave all or part of their families behind, sending any extra money they earn back to Mexico. The difficulty often comes, Camacho said, when such workers feel they need to return home.

“I have a lot of people, a lot of families who are in (federal deportation) proceedings because they messed up—because they went to go see their father who is dying,” he said.

When such workers—who often are poorly educated and unaware of the vast array of U.S. laws governing immigration— attempt to return to their jobs in the United States and get caught, current law bars them from re-entering the country for a several-year waiting period.

Worse, Camacho said, “If they come back illegally, they will be barred forever.”

He also noted that stepped-up enforcement of immigration laws in the days since 9/11—designed to thwart terrorists attempting to cross U.S. borders—have snared many immigrants for reasons entirely unrelated to terrorism.

“This is nonsense, really,” he continued. “Immigration (law) as it is, it destroys, it destroys; it’s very inhuman.”

Supporters of the harsher House bill have criticized the Senate alternative as weak on law enforcement. They also say it opens the door to further economic hardship for blue-collar American workers, who must compete with an onslaught of immigrants willing to work for lower wages.

“The bill essentially provides for a sweeping amnesty program for the 11 million-plus illegal aliens already in the United States,” said a statement from the American Conservative Union. The group said the bill risks border security because it “undermines respect for the rule of law and encourages more illegals to storm our borders.”

Carol Swain, a law professor at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, has written that a similar guest-worker program proposed by President Bush is “another amnesty program that places the interests of illegal immigrants ahead of those of low-skill, low-wage Americans— primarily poor whites, blacks and immigrants from disfavored countries— who compete with the illegal population for jobs in the service sector.”

But the Catholic Church’s Appleby said that the U.S. economy would be seriously impaired if all illegal immigrants were deported tomorrow, because there are simply not enough other workers to replace them—and there will be even fewer in the future.

“We benefit from the presence of these immigrants overall, economically,” he said.

Economists have noted that there are very few goods and services currently sold in the United States that do not depend on illegal-immigrant labor somewhere in their supply chain. The fact that Mexican immigrants are willing to work for less compensation, and in more dangerous conditions, than the vast majority of American workers keeps prices down on a vast array of goods.

However, Appleby added, even if the United States benefits economically from immigration, giving illegal immigrants paths to legal status is just a beginning for truly moral immigration reform.

“By the same token, (immigrant-)sending countries like Mexico are benefiting from the status quo. … They, in our opinion, should be doing to create more jobs in sending communities so these people can provide for their families where they are,” he said. “A person should have a right not to migrate, a right to stay where they are. And that is the goal over time—that migration is driven by choice and not by necessity.”

Updated: 4/04/06

NAMB trustees impose controls on agency’s president

By Robert Marus

Associated Baptist Press

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (ABP)—Trustees of the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board met in an eight-hour closed session March 23, emerging with recommendations that impose “executive-level controls” on NAMB President Bob Reccord and other administrators at the agency.

Reccord was not fired, and board leaders said he technically was not “disciplined.” But the board will enact guidelines to improve accountability on the CEO, apparently aimed at reining in some of his more controversial activities.

Meanwhile, NAMB Chief Operating Officer Chuck Allen resigned, along with two mid-level executives he hired.

In the special called meeting at the board’s suburban Atlanta headquarters March 23, trustees heard the findings of an ad hoc panel appointed in February. The committee was formed to respond to news reports, first published by Georgia Baptists’ newspaper, the Christian Index, outlining allegations of poor management at the missionary-sending agency.

Those news reports also detailed NAMB’s failure to meet expectations since it was formed in 1997 by the merger of the Home Mission Board and two other Southern Baptist agencies.

The nine-member study panel consisted mostly of NAMB trustee officers and chairpersons of the board’s standing committees. Trustee chairman Barry Holcomb, pastor of Bethany Baptist Church in Andalusia, Ala., said he and fellow panel members had recommended appointment of a second ad hoc committee, charged with creating new policy and procedure guidelines to help prevent future controversy.

“It was a long day, but I think at the end of the day, the North American Mission Board is going to be a stronger agency,” Holcomb told reporters, in a press conference with the board’s officers following the meeting. “Southern Baptists, I think, will be pleased that the trustees of this agency have dealt with the issues that we have been presented.”

The entire business portion of the meeting was conducted in executive session, with all guests and non-voting members of the board asked to leave. The board voted, without dissent, to enter the closed session since it would involve personnel issues, Holcomb said.

In a nod to the meeting’s import, SBC President Bobby Welch, pastor of First Baptist Church in Daytona, Fla., attended. Welch serves as a trustee of all SBC agencies and boards by virtue of his office.

According to the Christian Index, the number of career missionaries funded by NAMB has dropped 10 percent since 1997, when NAMB was formed as the Southern Baptist successor to the Home Mission Board. The Index also cited a lack of a consistent evangelism strategy, a loss of momentum in church-planting efforts, and a drop in NAMB cash reserves from $55 million to $23 million.

The paper also raised questions about NAMB’s dealings with subcontractor Steve Sanford, a former church member of Reccord’s when he was a Virginia pastor. Sanford was asked to perform an audit of NAMB’s communications strategy in 2003, which NAMB officials say led the agency to outsource at least 28 positions in its communications and Internet areas. NAMB later hired InovaOne, a company founded and owned by Sanford, to perform some of those services.

The study committee’s report—a version of which was released to reporters March 24—found no clearly unethical behavior by Reccord or the board. However, it repeatedly detailed past actions and practices that could leave the agency open to criticism or make it appear less than accountable to Southern Baptists.

For instance, a change in the way that the board counts missionaries—which inflated the count to match an SBC-adopted goal of 5,000—“has the potential to be confusing to Southern Baptists,” the report said. “While NAMB has clearly defined those categories through its publications and at the convention, perhaps a better job must be done to educate Southern Baptists about the valuable role of our MSC (short-term volunteer) missionaries to Southern Baptist life.”

The report determined that the use of Sanford’s companies for both the communications audit and the resultant outsourcing did not explicitly violate any NAMB ethics policies, but could raise questions nonetheless.

“While the trustees discovered no intentional attempt by Dr. Reccord to show favoritism to a ‘friend’ by retaining and using Steve Sanford and InovaOne for NAMB’s media strategies, they do believe that this decision left both (him) and the board open to the charge of a conflict of interest,” it said.

The report also acknowledged that NAMB had spent more than $3 million since the audit on Sanford’s media ventures.

Among the other issues raised in the Index article were questions about Reccord’s extensive travel and speaking schedule, which frequently includes trips and events not directly related to NAMB or other Southern Baptist work. It also questioned his involvement with his wife’s speaking ministry, and questioned the prudence of several special initiatives that NAMB has instituted under Reccord’s leadership, in some cases investing millions in projects that were soon abandoned or placed on hiatus.

For example, the report acknowledged NAMB lost more than $1 million—at a time when it was belt-tightening in its traditional ministry areas—on an aborted series of young-adult conferences in 2004-2005. Called “Elevate,” the elaborate events were designed to bring 20-somethings together to learn how to apply their faith in their workplace. They were designed to pay for themselves, but attendance at the initial Elevate conferences was far below expectations.

NAMB officials ended up paying for the shortfalls—including extensive off-budget marketing and planning expenses—out of the board’s cash reserves. The program subsequently was suspended.

The trustee report concludes with six recommendations, including establishment of a new trustee subcommittee charged with creating the new policy guidelines to deal with such issues in the future. The recommendations are:

— The subcommittee recommend rules “to be used as a guide for directing the travel, speaking, and on-campus office time required for the president of the agency.”

— The panel create a similar set of guidelines for proper handling of competitive bidding for outsourcing contracts.

— The committee develop “controls to be used as a guide to be followed when the president of the agency wants to develop new initiatives, including the appropriate oversight and approval by the board.”

— The panel recommend criterion “for clarifying what constitutes poor management by an executive officer and how it should be handled.”

— The committee establish procedures “that will provide the agency and its head with greater levels of accountability to the board and the Southern Baptist Convention.”

— The board “task its duly elected officers, in perpetuity, with the role of monitoring these controls, utilizing them as part of the president’s annual review, and reporting the status of these controls annually at an assigned full board meeting.”

When asked by reporters if Reccord had been disciplined, Holcomb said, “Was he disciplined in an official sense in the executive session? The answer is ‘No.’”

Holcomb said that Reccord “recognizes, just as all of us do, that he’s not perfect and we’re not perfect. … I think that the recommendations that the board adopted today will help him.”

But Holcomb said some of the problems can simply be attributed to growing pains in an agency that is still quite new, relatively speaking.

“The Home Mission Board had an over-100-year history. The North American Mission Board is still an infant, and we still have a learning curve,” he said.

Allen, the chief operations officer; Benj Smith, executive director of strategic planning; and Rick Forbus, director of the leadership initiatives team, resigned the day before the March 23 meeting. Trustee leaders and other sources said the resignations were not the result of the original investigation but because of other issues that surfaced.

Reccord released a statement March 24 saying he was “thankful that the trustee process worked.” He also noted that the month-long period since the Index article was first published “has been a time of great distraction for all of our staff from the task of North American missions…. Now it is time to get back to the work. Where mistakes have been made, I have made a pledge to use this process to correct those errors and work with our trustees to make NAMB a stronger agency.”

Trustee vice chair Bill Curtis, pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Florence, S.C., said that trustees would also take responsibility for righting NAMB’s ship. “The trustees are prepared to acknowledge that it is a shared responsibility where we are at this point,” he told reporters.

The full report is available on NAMB’s website at www.namb.net