Posted: 12/02/05

Ellis Association sends
missionaries to Central America

By George Henson

Staff Writer

WAXAHACHIE–In an effort to follow God wherever he leads, Ellis Baptist Association has sent its own missionary family to Central America.

Officially deemed the association's international associate, Ariel Murillo and his wife, Jazmin, will serve as facilitators for the association's churches as they attempt to evangelize the Lenca people.

The Lencas live in a mountainous, rugged part of Honduras, and census efforts have proven difficult, but at least 100,000–maybe 125,000–Lencas live scattered across a broad swath of hard-to-reach country.

Missionaries have tried to make inroads to the Lenca people, but they still are considered an unreached people group because less than 1 percent of the population can be counted as Christians.

Ellis Association Executive Director Larry Johnson acknowledges it's unusual for an association of churches to send its own missionary. But he insists it is a strategy born directly out of the association's mission statement. It says, in part, “Ellis Baptist Association is a partnership of autonomous churches cooperatively networking to expand God's kingdom locally and globally … .”

“We had done the local part, but we hadn't done the global part as well,” he said.

For almost a decade, the association has made church starting a primary emphasis, but those efforts have been within Ellis County. Now, the association is ready to start churches in Honduras, but it has been a long time in coming.

In 2002, the association seriously began looking at making the global part of its mission statement a reality. While the details weren't in place, “we knew we wanted to do something significant, something long-term, that would impact the kingdom,” Johnson said. “We were interested in making a difference.”

About that time, he read the Southern Baptist International Mission Board booklet The Church Planting Movement. It describes a strategy of starting “rapidly multiplicative indigenous churches,” and Johnson thought it was the process he had been looking for.

“It helped me see what we needed to be doing in our church planting–not only here, but wherever we went,” Johnson said.

As he began looking for a location to concentrate the association's global mission efforts, Honduras was not the first place he looked, but Keith Stamps, an IMB representative for Central and Middle America, suggested the Lenca people of Honduras.

Most people groups in Central America have a trade language they use in dealing with other people groups, plus their native language, Stamps explained. The Lenca language was lost more than 100 years ago; so, a missionary to the Lencas would have only one language to learn.

While the IMB sends missionaries to the Lencas, they have made limited headway into the culture in which most nominally consider themselves to be Catholic.

Lenca communities are isolated, agricultural and primitive. Homes are made from a mixture of mud and bamboo, with roofs of clay tile or nylon. A home typically is 20 square meters, and eight people usually occupy one bed.

“Most of these villages are very remote,” Murillo said. “There are not roads to some of the places we'll be going.”

Murillo, though not a Lenca, is a native of Honduras. His father started churches there until 1983, when the family moved to first to Illinois and then in 1994 to Louisiana to start churches.

During his teenage years, his relationship with God and his father became estranged, Murillo acknowledged.

The change came through a storm–Hurricane Mitch–which struck Honduras in 1998.

While it had been years since he had been to Honduras, Murillo said something within him was drawing him back there to help with relief efforts.

“I remember asking my father, 'I know we have family there; isn't there something we can do?'” he recalled.

His father put together funds and a team to help with the relief efforts. “I'm not living for the Lord at the time, but for some reason, I've got to go,” Murillo said.

During the day, the team rebuilt houses and provided medical treatment; at night, they led revival services. The last night, Murillo rededicated his life to Christ.

That trip was a turning point for yet another reason. During that trip, he met his wife, also a native Honduran. They were married in 2000.

“From the moment we married, we knew we would be involved in missions. And it would be in Honduras; that's where my heart is,” he said.

The Murillos and two young daughters now are in Honduras as the international associate for Ellis Association. He will act as the strategy coordinator of a church-planting movement among the Lencas.

The strategy calls for no church buildings. Instead, they will help start house churches with native pastors.

Murillo knows from personal experience the work will be hard.

“My father worked there for about six months,” he recalled, “It was the one place he couldn't start a church.”

Even so, Murillo can't wait to get started. “When the Lord gives you something, you've got a peace about it,” he explained.

Murillo will begin by meeting the Lenca people and assessing the needs. He then will help Ellis Association churches decide how they can be a part of the ministry.

“There will be teams going down, probably several times a year, but what they will be doing will be strategic and according to a master plan,” Johnson said.

The exact nature of what will be done may be uncertain at this point, but it will not be the sort of thing that has a short-term impact without thought of how it impacts the ministry to the Lencas long-term, he said.

“It may be digging a ditch, but it will go toward our mission of planting churches, not feel-good stuff, ” Johnson said.

Murillo and Johnson see God's hand in their finding one another. At a Christmas party last year at First Baptist Church in Lafayette, La., Pastor Perry Sanders said Murillo needed to meet Mike Helton.

Murillo did not know Helton, and a meeting would have meant a drive to Lake Charles, so he dismissed it. Before Murillo left the party, Sanders again brought up the meeting with Helton, so Murillo agreed.

Helton had been surfing the Internet and came across Ellis Association's website and noticed their interest in Honduras.

After meeting with Murillo, he called Johnson to see if the association still was interested in the Lencas because he had a man to recommend.

Johnson said that while nothing had been happening with the desire to start the work in Central America for some time, four other resumes also arrived that week, confirming for him that it was indeed God's timing that the association again pursue the ministry.

A man neither Johnson nor Murillo knew had put them together. And that affirms for both of them that God has been present throughout the process.

Because Ellis Association is one of few associations to send a missionary, some may look to Johnson as a trailblazer, but he said that would be incorrect.

“Sometime people will say, 'Larry, you're a cutting-edge thinker,' but I'm really not. I'm just trying to go where God leads.”

Posted: 12/02/05

Wayland offers international
students home away from home

By Teresa Young

Wayland Baptist University

PLAINVIEW–Wayland Baptist Uni-versity became temporary home this year to two freshmen from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates–probably the first representatives from that country to attend the Texas Baptist school.

The incoming freshmen responded to a recruiting trip just a few months earlier by Debra Sherley, Wayland's international student adviser.

Sherley sees the two students as the first fruits of what likely is to be a positive endeavor for Wayland as the university explores recruiting possibilities overseas.

“In 2004, the Mar Thoma church in Lubbock approached Wayland about a partnership,” she explained. Mar Thoma is a Christian church with roots in India and the Middle East.

“A doctor there knew of families who wanted to send their kids to a Christian school, and he thought we should visit the United Arab Emirates,” she continued.

Wayland representatives met with the Lubbock physician, John Lincoln, to talk about the possibilities of an overseas visit, discussing the similarities in the culture there and in the United States.

Wayland President Paul Armes then handed Sherley information about an upcoming American education conference scheduled in Dubai.

“We saw this as a call from God to walk through the doors he had opened for us during the meetings with Dr. Lincoln,” Sherley recalled, adding that plans immediately began for travel to the conference and visits with churches there.

A few weeks before Sherley left for Dubai, the second-highest-ranking official in the Mar Thoma church, Joseph Mar Irenaeus Suffragan Metropolitan, visited the Wayland campus in Plainview at Lincoln's urging.

The visit with Wayland officials provided additional information on the Mar Thoma church and its theology, and Metropolitan learned more about Wayland's commitment to academic excellence in a Christian atmosphere.

The partnership thrived as Wayland and the Lubbock church made connections with pastors in Mar Thoma churches across the United Arab Emirates.

The two-week trip took shape, with plans not only to attend the conference, but also to speak in churches in several cities and visit with families about Wayland.

While in the United Arab Emirates, Sherley contacted pastors at Indian, Syrian and Orthodox churches, as well as a Baptist church whose pastor was a Texas native, and the Indian Cultural Center in Doha, Qatar.

“The pastors were excited that a Christian school was reaching out to their students. None ever had,” she said. “In one church, they even let me speak to the congregation from the pulpit, and I later learned that they rarely ever allow a layperson to speak to the church. The response was overwhelming, and we were inundated with questions, words of appreciation for our visit and requests for business cards and brochures. … God's hand was in everything we did there.”

Although the country claims a population that is 96 percent Muslim, Sherley met many Christians who were interested in the university.

Although there are several universities in Dubai's Knowledge Village–a large state-of-the-art campus set aside by the government for universities to offer programs–none are American or Christian. While students there often travel out of the country for an education, most go to the United Kingdom, Canada or Australia, all of whom heavily recruit in the United Arab Emirates.

Sherley discovered many parents want their students in a safe environment where they can grow spiritually as well as intellectually, and they are not aware of many options.

Students typically leave the United Arab Emirates for their education. So, the country is experiencing a “brain drain,” Sherley said, since those students often do not return. Non-nationals must leave the country at the age of 18 unless their parents are paying for their education in the country.

Because of turmoil in the Middle East, U.S. visas have been difficult to obtain. However, Sherley said the embassy in the United Arab Emirates has promised to be more accommodating for students wishing to study at Wayland.

Wayland's international student population has, in large part, traditionally been athletes. But in order to be a truly international university, Wayland must recruit both academically driven and athletic students in order to grow in diversity and retain these international students, Sherley said.

She dreams about creating an international programs office that would recruit international students and promote exchange study programs for American students, as well as provide services and immigration referrals for local resident aliens.

Sherley plans another recruiting trip to the area in the spring of 2006. She also is considering visits to India to make contacts with Mar Thoma churches there.

“Was this a call from God to take an international step of faith or just an interesting experience for me?” she asks hypothetically.

“Wayland has always been known as a trailblazer. Look at the bold move the school made in the early 1950s when it opened its doors to black students. Did that move cause it to lose status or money? Not in the long run … and that's what we're about–the long run to eternity.”

Posted: 12/02/05

Wreck gives 'invincible' athlete a new perspective

By Michael Stephens

ETBU Sports Information Intern

MARSHALL–“Invincible” is how Micah Huckaby described himself, and “indestructible” was the way his teammates on the East Texas Baptist University football team viewed him prior to Aug. 14, 2004–a day that would change his life forever.

Huckaby was coming off of an All-American Southwest Confe-rence season in 2003 and was expected to take over leadership duties on a defending conference champion Tiger football team.

He had trained hard that summer and was “bigger, faster and stronger” than ever, he recalled. He expected 2004 to be his big season.

But on Highway 80, halfway between his hometown of Hallsville and Marshall, Huckaby's truck collided head-on with another vehicle. The accident instantly killed the young woman driving the other vehicle.

Thrown from his truck by the impact, Huckaby landed on the pavement and sustained knee and shoulder injuries that still trouble him.

The accident forced Huckaby to miss the entire 2004 season as he recovered from his physical injuries. But the emotional scars presented the greatest challenge.

He found the healing began when he met the husband of the woman who was killed in the wreck.

“I was nervous at first, but when I met him at (his wife's) funeral, he spoke to me,” Huckaby recalled. “He hugged me and said, 'If the death of my wife changed–strengthened–your relationship with Christ, then she didn't die in vain.'

“I always had been active in church, but I did not believe that I had done anything special–no reason for the Lord to allow me to live in an accident where the other driver was killed. What had I done that was so special that the Lord would spare me?”

In time, Huckaby concluded it wasn't what he had done but what he would do for Christ that gave his life purpose.

“The accident opened my eyes to the love of Jesus Christ,” Huckaby said. “The Lord uses me, football and my experience to help change people's lives through my story.”

Huckaby has shared his message–about how God uses broken people, not invincible ones–with the ETBU Baptist Student Ministry, the high school football team in nearby Jefferson and with an ETBU alumni group.

This past summer, he and ETBU defensive end Chad Glover traveled to the Czech Republic with Christian Outreach International. There he played in an exhibition game, worked in a sports clinic for children and shared his faith with anyone who would listen. Huckaby's Chris-tian testimony contrasts his life before his wreck and after.

“Before, I be-lieved that I could go through anything. Now, I know that God will carry me through everything,” he said. “Before, I believed that I could train and rely on myself for many things. Now, I know to rely on him and not myself.”

Huckaby brings to his newfound passion for evangelism the same intensity he displayed on the gridiron.

“I only know one way on the football field, and that is all out,” he said. “I want to live my life for the Lord in the same way,” he said.

Posted: 12/02/05

Alabama appeals for racial harmony

By Jennifer Davis Rash

Alabama Baptist

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (BP)–Alabama Baptists at their annual meeting endorsed a call to use the 50th anniversary of the Montgomery bus boycott, beginning this month, as a way to foster racial harmony.

Messengers at the Alabama Baptist State Convention sessions at Whitesburg Baptist Church in Huntsville also approved a record budget for 2006.

In presenting the resolutions to messengers, Jay Wolf, pastor of First Baptist Church in Montgomery and chairman of the resolutions committee, emphasized the importance of the resolution on racial reconciliation.

The world's attention will be focused on Alabama with the anniversary of the bus boycott, providing a stage for promoting unity and the progress made in race relations in Alabama, Wolf noted.

In the past, he acknowledged, Alabama Baptists sometimes have taken the wrong side of race, following the culture instead of taking a stand for what is right.

“God calls us to be reconcilers,” he said. “If we can get black and white churches working together, that will be massive.”

The resolution, which passed without debate, endorses “a call to use the season of the 381 days of the Montgomery Bus Boycott Commemoration to foster unity among the African-American and white churches.”

Messengers also adopted a record Cooperative Program base budget of $42,645,000, up slightly from the current year's $41,500,000; a 2006 CP state causes budget of $500,000; and a CP challenge budget of $43,650,000.

Messengers also approved resolutions affirming Alabama Baptists' historic opposition to gambling in any form and supporting the sanctity of marriage.

Henry Cox, pastor of First Baptist Church in Bay Minette, was re-elected to a second one-year term as president. Roger Willmore, pastor of Deerfoot Baptist Church in Trussville, was re-elected to a second one-year term as first vice president. Jimmy Jackson, pastor of Whitesburg Baptist Church in Huntsville, was elected as second vice president. Mary Sue Bennett of Montgomery was re-elected re-cording secretary. All were elected without opposition.

Posted: 12/02/05

Tennessee weathers stormy meeting

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (ABP)–Disaster served as a distraction from denominational politics for messengers to the Tennessee Baptist Convention's annual meeting.

Meeting at First Baptist Church in Clarksville, messengers had to seek shelter in the church's basement for more than an hour when a series of tornadoes struck the western and central parts of the state.

After they reconvened to finish the afternoon business, officials decided to cancel the evening service when weather reports predicted another round of severe storms would pass through the city.

Before adjourning, messengers elected a president by only 18 votes over his rival. Phil Jett, pastor of Englewood Baptist Church in Jackson, edged Roger “Sing” Oldham, pastor of First Baptist Church in Martin, on a 468-450 vote.

They elected Ron Stewart, pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Knoxville, first vice president and Larry Reagan, pastor of Adam's Chapel Baptist Church in Dresden, second vice president.

The two new vice presidents had the support of Concerned Tennessee Baptists, a group rallied around the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message.

Tennessee Baptists delayed action on a proposed resolution of relationship with Belmont University in Nashville pending study of a document that contains a possible “reverter clause.”

Belmont had informed Tennessee Baptist leaders the school plans to begin electing its own trustees–up to 40 percent of whom could be non-Baptists. School officials also said Belmont does not anticipate receiving further funds from the convention.

Belmont leaders indicated a desire to continue a “fraternal” relationship with the convention, which messengers were scheduled to consider.

But just a week prior to the annual meeting, Executive Director James Porch learned about a contract–signed the year before convention officials established the school–that might affect the outcome of Belmont's move. It stipulates that the school's assets would revert back to the convention should Belmont fail or “pass from Baptist control.”

A search by convention officials did not produce the contract but did find minutes from an administrative committee, dated July 31, 1951, instructing the board's attorney to draw up such a contract.

During a Tennessee Baptist Executive Board meeting in November, Belmont President Robert Fisher acknowledged the contract's existence and said both internal and external counsel reviewed it. He described the document as “an irrelevant contract superseded by about five different actions.”

During the convention's opening session, messengers approved a motion from Tim McGeehee, pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Tullahoma, which postponed action on the Belmont relationship until the Executive Board studied the contract.

After discussion, messengers approved the motion overwhelmingly.

Later in the convention, messengers adopted a substitute 2005 budget of $36,708,431, which reallocated the $2,330,304 that would have gone to Belmont. The Southern Baptist Convention received the largest amount of the reallocation ($825,940), while Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City and Union University in Jackson received an additional $500,000 each. The remainder was divided among Tennessee missions and ministries and various TBC entities.

Posted: 11/29/05

Family Bible Series for Dec. 11

No better time to be a missionary than Christmas

• Romans 1:1-7, 13-17

By Donald Raney

Westlake Chapel, Graham

We all like the Christmas season. With the special music, decorations and general feelings of good will, it easily is one of the most beloved times of year.

Yet how often do we think about our responsibility to the baby in the manger? How often do thoughts of being actively involved in spreading the news about Jesus through missions enter our thinking during this season?

Many churches have a special emphasis on missions and take up offerings for missionaries during the Christmas season. While this certainly is a wonderful tradition, it far too often is the only connection with missions many people have. Missions often is seen as something reserved for the specially called “professional missionaries” who leave home and live in distant lands. Many well-intentioned believers feel that since they are not called to that life, offering prayers for missionaries and giving money to mission causes is sufficient.

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Yet the baby born in a manger would later tell his followers to “go therefore and make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19). This Great Commission was given to all believers without any qualification concerning special calling. All believers are given the responsibility of active participation in drawing all people back to God.

Romans 1:1-7

Paul clearly understood the missionary call that comes with acceptance of Jesus as Lord. In his letter to the Romans, he begins by identifying himself as a “bond-servant of Christ Jesus.” While a bond-servant is not a slave (at least not in the modern sense of that word), he is duty-bound to carry out the plans and wishes of his master.

Paul also saw himself as merely one in a long line of such servants of God dating back to the great prophets of the Old Testament. What Paul brought to this lineage was the next step in the revelation. While the prophets of old looked forward to God’s great day of salvation, Paul proclaimed that that day had arrived through the person of Jesus.

Through a relationship with Jesus, believers receive not only grace, but also a call to be apostles. Elsewhere, Paul refers to this calling as that of an ambassador (2 Corinthians 5:20). Such a call not only is to be a messenger who carries a particular message, but a representative who lives among the target audience and seeks to convey the message through both words and lifestyle in order to “bring about the obedience of faith” among the people.

Specifically, Paul saw his mission as being an apostle to the Gentiles; those who were not necessarily familiar with the beliefs, customs and practices of the Jews. The Christian church today, a predominantly gentile body, owes much of its existence to Paul’s fulfillment of that calling. That same mission was passed from Paul to those who he reached with the gospel. We are called not only to be recipients of God’s infinite grace, but also to be apostles of that grace to those who do not know him. Just as Paul, a Pharisaic Jew, was called to go to those who were different than himself, believers today are called to take the message to those who are different than us.

Romans 1:13-15

Not only did Paul see his mission to the gentiles as a calling, he also referred to it as an “obligation.” Yet for Paul, this was not burdensome. It was more of a driving force he could not ignore. Paul had a hunger that all of the people of the world should hear the gospel. This hunger compelled him to take long journeys that consumed years of his life and often put him in dangerous situations.

It was this drive that enabled him to persevere through persecutions. It was this “obligation” that led Paul to set his eyes on preaching the gospel in Rome and possibly Spain. Paul did not consider this call to be an apostle on mission to be a burden. The burden for Paul was the masses of people who never had heard the message.

During this season, many of us will spend hours searching for the “right gift” for people on our list. What motivates us to devote such time and effort? That is the feeling of “obligation” Paul felt for people he had never met. That is the zeal with which we are each called to proclaim the gospel to all people through words and actions. What better gift could we give?

Romans 1:16-17

Many today fail to proclaim the gospel to those around them because they do not want to appear as a religious fanatic or some type of “Jesus freak.”

Paul here reminds us the gospel never should be something we are ashamed of. The gospel encapsulated the very power of God to meet the deepest needs of the human condition. While there are many good things that we can and should do to meet physical needs, sharing the gospel is the only thing we can do that may result in the eternal salvation of the person to whom we are ministering.

We need not be concerned about any possible reactions or responses to sharing the gospel. We only need to be certain we are being faithful to our calling to share and leave the results up to God. “The righteous man shall live by faith (v. 17). We are called to live in full reliance on God, knowing he will take care of us as long as we are faithful to fulfill our calling to be apostles on mission.

Discussion question

• What does being an apostle mean to you?

Posted: 12/02/05

Around the State

Four students from the East Texas Baptist University School of Fine Arts competed in a regional conference of the National Association of Teachers of Singing Student Auditions. Jennifer Howell and Taylor Johnson both advanced to the semifinal round with Johnson finishing fifth. Cortney Brinker and Rachel Farley also competed.

Baylor University won the top team award for the ninth consecutive year at the Model Organization of American States. The Baylor team also took six of the 14 awards presented. Students from 22 universities assumed the roles of diplomatic representatives to the Organization of American States. Repre-senting various countries, participants researched and debated various issues of concern to the hemisphere, such as decentralization, terrorism, privacy issues, renewable fuels and telecommunications standardization. Baylor's team represented Venezuela and Uruguay.

The Collegian, Houston Baptist University's student newspaper, was a finalist in the Associated Collegiate Press' 2005 Newspaper Pacemaker competition. Final-ists were selected based on excellence in coverage and content; quality of writing and reporting; leadership on the opinion page; evidence of in-depth reporting; layout/de-sign; and photography, art and graphics. Alice Rowlands, associate professor in mass media, is the publication's adviser.

First Church in Denton ran its annual Judgement House for 11 nights. A total of 3,245 people attended. More than 600 people made spiritual decisions during the performances, including 234 professions of faith in Jesus Christ. Pictured are members of the cast portraying Jesus and angels. Jeff Williams is pastor.

Penny Poole has been named director of institutional effectiveness at Wayland Bapt-ist University. She and her family are members of Park-view Church in Plainview.

Cassie Hoyer, a senior Douglas MacArthur Academy of Freedom major at Howard Payne University, was earned the top speaker's award at the Texas Undergraduate Moot Court competition held at Texas Tech University. Forty-four teams from across the state participated in the event. After defeating the other 87 participants, Hoyer was presented a trophy and cash.

Hardin-Simmons Univer-sity's Acton Master's of Business Adminstration in Entrepreneurship program has been rated among the best in the nation in the 2006 edition of the The Princeton Review. The program was ranked first as “most competitive” in the country and third in the “best professors” category by the New York education services company. About 70 percent of the students who graduated from the program in 2004 had a job within three months with an average salary between $70,000 and $80,000.

Two Dallas Baptist University athletes, Katie Noss and Amie Morton, have earned All-American honors through their efforts at the National Christian Collegiate Athletic Association's National Cross Country Champion-ships held at Cedarville University in Ohio. Noss placed fifth in the race while Morton placed ninth, both running personal bests.

The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor chemistry de-partment has been awarded a $75,000 grant from the Robert A. Welch Foundation. The grant is to support chemical research by members of the university's faculty and to provide students with educational opportunities through re-search. It will be paid out in equal installments over a three-year period.

Four couples with Texas ties have been appointed as missionaries by the Internation-al Mission Board of the Southern Bap-tist Conven-tion. Bill and Dana Blanken-ship will work in central, eastern and South-ern Africa providing field support. Both Texas natives, they consider Cottonwood Church in Dub-lin as their church home. They have three children–Em-ily, Blanton and Ethan. Don and Jennifer Hipp will serve in Middle America and the Carib-bean, where he will work as a strategy coordinator. Longtime employees of Cal Farley's Boys Ranch in Borger, Trinity Church in Am-arillo is their church home. They have four children–Hannah, Mimosa, Isabel and Liberty. Lew and Brandi Johnson will serve in central, eastern and southern Africa as evangelists and church planters. They consider Travis Avenue Church in Fort Worth as their church home. Loren and Susan Robinson will serve as field support in Western Europe. He was minister of education at Robinwood Church in Seagoville from 1986 until 1995. The have one adult son, Michael.

Anniversaries

Bob Fagan, 25th, as pastor of Memorial Church in Lubbock, Nov. 23.

Inspired by the staff of the Baylor University School of Social Work, women at Bedford Baptist Church in Bedford, Va., sewed 121 one-piece rompers for orphans in Romania. The church learned about their need for warm clothing from a Roanoke, Va., pediatric oncologist who is involved in volunteer missions there. Polly Manson, a Bedford Church member and 1954 graduate of the now-disbanded Carver School of Social Work at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, spearheaded the project after reading a newsletter article about how the Baylor social work staff sewed flannel, one-piece outfits for babies and toddlers in a Ukrainian orphanage rather than exchange gifts with each other last Christmas–a mission project also reported last year in the Baptist Standard.

Richard White, fifth, as pastor of Fellowship Church in Lubbock, Dec. 3.

Wil Tanner, 10th, as pastor of Pilgrim Church in Lubbock, Dec. 24.

Retiring

Bob Cavin, from the Baptist General Convention of Texas staff. He served eight years as growth and new work consultant in the Bible study/discipleship division and an equal amount of time as director of the Texas Baptist Leadership Center. He is executive pastor of Mimosa Lane Church in Mesquite, where his wife, Karen, has served as minister of childhood education the last 12 years.

Lynn Ashcraft, as pastor of North Orange Church in Orange, Dec. 18. A reception will be held from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. He has served his present church 32 years and has been in the ministry 46 years. Other pastorates include Watt Church in Watt, Searsville Church in Valley Mills, First Church in Lott and First Church in Troup.

Retiring

Fred Haddock Jr., 34, Oct. 30 in San Marcos. He was minister of worship at Calvary Church in San Marcos. He is survived by his wife, Rosanna; mother, Loyjean Matlock; brother, Tom; and sister, Angie McCoy.

Jack Selcraig, 91, Nov. 9 in Houston. He served as an Air Force chaplain and was pastor of several Texas churches before retiring as pastor of Freeway Manor Church in Houston. He was a member of South Main Church in Houston. He is survived by his wife, Vietta; daughters, Marilyn Butler and Elaine Furlow; sons, Jim and David; seven grandchildren; and one great-grandson.

Billy Copeland, 52, Nov. 9 north of Brownwood, as the result of a traffic accident. The former Aransas County Sheriff's Office deputy and Bangs police chief died after his vehicle was rear-ended. His wife, Cathy, also was hospitalized due to the accident. His daughter, Megan, was in the vehicle but not seriously injured. Copeland served as youth minister at Crossroads Church in Lake Brownwood at the time of his death. In addition to his wife and daughter, he is survived by his sons, John and Matthew; stepson, Shannon Nelson; stepdaughter, Shawna Gonzales; and sisters, Libby Read and Donna Magnon.

Craig Lawless, 48, Nov. 21 in Dallas. His death was the result of a heart attack, although he did suffer from multiple sclerosis. He was associate pastor/administrator of Lakeside Church in Dallas. He is survived by his wife, Lisa; sons, Chris and Michael; and one granddaughter.

Events

Prestonwood Church in Plano will present its three-act Dallas Christmas Festival Dec. 7-11. Performances will be at 7 p.m., with additional matinee performances scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The festival features the 500-plus member Prestonwood choir and orchestra, and a cast and crew of more than 1,000. Act I of the festival is a traditional American Christmas revue; Act II presents the choir singing holiday favorites; Act III tells the story of the birth, life and death of Christ through the eyes of Peter. Christ's life is portrayed through scenes of the miracles he performed, the Last Supper, the crucifixion, the resurrection and ascension. For more information or tickets, call (972) 820-5040 or go online to www.dallaschrist masfestival.org. Jack Graham is pastor.

The sixth annual Waco Christmas Celebration will be presented at 1 p.m., 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 10 and at 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 11 at Columbus Avenue Church in Waco. The production will feature a cast of more than 200 children, youth, college students and adults. No admission will be charged.

The choir of Gambrell Street Church in Fort Worth will present two choral works Dec. 11 at 6 p.m.–Christmas Oratorio by Camille Saint-Saens and A Ceremony of Carols by Benjamin Britten. No admission will be charged. For more information, call (817) 926-1785. Clyde Glazener is pastor.

First Church in Mabank will present “City of Light,” a music and drama presentation, Dec. 17 and 18 at 6 p.m. No admission will be charged. For more information, call (903) 887-3921. James Harms is pastor.

Ordained

Dean Gartman and Kelly Mann as deacons at Calvary Hills Church in San Antonio.

Posted: 12/02/05

Baptist Briefs

Carson-Newman College names Elliott distinguished alum. Ralph Elliott, the Old Testament scholar whose book, The Message of Genesis, sparked heated controversy in the Southern Baptist Convention, will be honored by Carson-Newman College in April as a distinguished alumnus. His 1961 book, published by the Broadman Press imprint of the Southern Baptist Sunday School Board, viewed the first 11 chapters of Genesis as symbolic rather than historic. Elliott lost his seminary post when he refused trustee demands that he not republish the work.

Henry plans to hand off Orlando pastorate. Jim Henry–a two-term Southern Baptist Convention president–will step down as co-pastor of First Baptist Church in Orlando March 31. Henry, 67, who has been pastor of the Orlando congregation since 1977, announced his plans in a letter sent to church members. In May, the church called David Uth as co-pastor, grooming him to follow Henry.

LifeWay COO announces retirement. Ted Warren, executive vice president and chief operating officer of LifeWay Christian Resources, will retire Feb. 1 after 12 years with the Southern Baptist publishing house. Warren, 58, joined LifeWay in 1994 as chief financial officer and vice president for the business services group, becoming executive vice president and COO in 1995. Before going to LifeWay, he worked 22 years in the oil and gas industry, serving in the early 1990s as president of Grace Drilling Co. and, prior to that, as executive vice president of Texas Oil & Gas Production Company.

Dakota Baptists cut budget. Messengers to the Dakota Baptist Convention's annual meeting approved a $1.2 million budget for next year–a 12 percent decrease. Bill Savery, pastor of First Baptist Church in Custer City, S.D., was elected president. Other officers are Vice President James Riekeman, pastor of First Baptist Church in Williston, N.D., and Recording Secretary Kathy Harbert of First Baptist Church in New Underwood, S.D. Messengers from 41 of the 88 congregations in the convention attended the meeting.

Montana Baptists honor disaster relief workers. More than 60 disaster relief volunteers who made a 4,000-mile trek to the Gulf Coast to help hurricane victims were recognized at the Montana Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting in Great Falls, Mont. Messengers also approved a $1.5 million budget–the largest in the state convention's history–and finalized a partnership with the Tennessee Baptist Convention. Montana Baptists elected by acclamation President Darwin Scofield, pastor of Libby Baptist Church in Libby, and Vice President Greg Peterson, pastor of Little Rockies Community Church in Zortman.

Moraga leads CBF Hispanic initiative. The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has tapped New Mexico pastor and former Texas Baptist church planter Bernie Moraga to serve as field consultant for its national Hispanic initiative. Moraga is pastor of First Spanish Fruit Avenue Baptist Church in Albuquerque, N.M., and has served as volunteer coordinator for the CBF Hispanic network. CBF has set a goal of helping to start 400 Hispanic churches by 2011.

West Virginia Baptist pastors, laymen share top posts. Messengers to the West Virginia Convention of Southern Baptists' 35th annual meeting approved a $2.6 million budget for 2006–roughly equal to the current year's budget–and elected two pastors and two laymen as officers. West Virginia Baptists elected President C.J. Adkins, pastor of Westmoreland Baptist Church in Huntington; First Vice President Tim Kearney, a layman from Good Shepherd Baptist Church in Scott Depot; Second Vice President Seth Polk, pastor of Cross Lanes Baptist Church in Cross Lanes; and Recording Secretary Fred Morgan, a layman from Fairlawn Baptist Church in Parkersburg. Messengers approved resolutions supporting the display of the Ten Commandments on both public and private property and condemning homosexual behavior as "perversion."

Posted: 12/02/05

Russia trip marks 10 years
of Buckner's international ministry

By Felicia Fuller

Buckner Benevolences

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia–As the noonday sun beamed across the music room at a Russian orphanage, a silver-haired woman took her seat before an arc of chattering children. Unmoved by the commotion, she smiled knowingly, folded her hands in her lap and waited. At her side, translator Vladimir hushed the youngsters with a wave of his finger.

“My name is Sandy Woody,” she began. “I am a babushka (Russian for 'grandmother'), and I've come to tell you that God loves you. He has a special plan for each one of you. There's nothing you have to do to be good enough for God. He loves you just the way you are.”

Volunteer Lisa Williams of Louisiana, an internationally adoptive mother, shares a moment with a toddler with Down syndrome. (Photo by Felicia Fuller)

The concept of Christ's unconditional love was lost on some but not, among others, 9-year-old Olga. In 2004, she was one of 14 Russian orphans who visited Texas for two weeks through Buckner Baptist Benevolences' Angels from Abroad program. During her stay, Dallas doctors donated their services to correct her strabismus–an optic muscle malady that had plagued her since birth, causing her eyes to appear crossed. Today, her brown eyes are balanced and her vision sharp as she throws playful glances at her peers.

Olga represents the countless children who have been touched by mission workers serving alongside Buckner Orphan Care Interna-tional in Russia during the past 10 years. In fact, Buckner's work abroad began at an orphanage in her native St. Petersburg.

Recently, 45 Buckner volunteers returned to that orphanage where the Texas Baptist agency's international ministry began.

“In my life, my eyes were changed, and I was changed,” Olga said. “Now, I may see far away and blink. Before, I couldn't do that. I like math, and I've started to study much, much better than before in my school. I like to sing songs and dance. My eyes help me to do that. I thank Buckner very much.”

Transforming the lives of children like Olga is the foundation upon which Buckner was built, said Mike Douris, vice president and general manager of Buckner Orphan Care International. Orphans are among the most vulnerable of all God's people, he continued, and both Old Testament prophets and New Testament apostles insisted they be properly cared for. “That is what BOCI is called to do.”

As a ministry of the 126-year-old Buckner Baptist Benevolences, Buckner Orphan Care International partners with churches to serve orphans worldwide through humanitarian aid, mission trips, orphanage improvements and social services.

Buckner made its foray into the international arena in 1995, when government officials in Russia sought Buckner's counsel on ways to improve its post-communist orphanage, foster- and-kinship care systems.

Buckner's first international adoption soon followed. By the spring of 1996, Buckner was sending volunteers to work and serve in the orphanages.

Without a viable adoption or foster-care system, orphanages are the default destination for Russian children who, at a rate of 113,000 a year, are abandoned by their parents due to alcoholism, poverty and other problems.

“We found the conditions at these institutions, in a word, deplorable,” said Amy Norton, director of Buckner's international programs. “We worked fervently on ways to improve living conditions for more than 700,000 children who call the orphanages home.”

And the results are apparent.

Today, Buckner Orphan Care International is entrenched in eight countries and sends humanitarian relief to another 30 nations. With legal reforms in Russia allowing for a program of de-institutionalization, Buckner provides training and support for foster families in Russia and, most recently, collaborated with government officials to write a book on methods of placement for homeless children.

In St. Petersburg alone, Buckner maintains a full-time staff of 20 Russian nationals who form a small corps of care and ministry support for orphanages in the region. They also serve as translators to mission groups, including more than 700 volunteers who participated in 42 Buckner international mission trips last year.

As Buckner celebrated a decade of international ministry in St. Petersburg, 45 Buckner volunteers gathered to conduct Vacation Bible School and distribute new shoes, warm winter coats and other aid in 12 area institutions.

Among those institutions was a hospital that sits on five acres in the heart of St. Petersburg. Two years ago, in a Buckner video documentary titled “A Place of Hope,” administrator Anatoly Zheleznov said: “We're short of many things. We do have medical equipment” but “our diagnostic and lab equipment break often, and we don't have the money to replace them.”

Today, Zheleznov proudly points to ramped-up staff, renovated bathroom facilities, new exam rooms, updated medical equipment and a modernized playground. Among the most novel improvements, he said, is a fully staffed and equipped sensory therapy room, where children engage in therapeutic play to identify and relieve stressors that can lead to behavioral problems.

“Buckner is a lifeline. Now we can focus our efforts on serving the children,” he said, adding that a variety of Buckner initiatives, such as the Grandmother Program, which recruits Christian women from Russian churches to spend one-on-one time with motherless children, offer orphans new hope for a brighter future.

When she joined the Buckner follow-up team four years ago, Olga Vlasenko found the delapidated halls of the hospital especially depressing and stressful–so much so that she dreaded weekly ministry visits.

“It was in a terrible state … holes in the walls, metal beds with no mattresses, bad smells, babies with no diapers. The kids called the hospital 'prison.' They said to me, 'Olga, we hate it here.'”

Most haunting, she said, were the plaintive sounds of babies wailing for attention. “There was nobody there to touch them–seven or 10 babies, just one nurse.”

But when Buckner began investing money for reconstruction, medical equipment and additional staff, things changed.

“Now, I ask the children, 'Do you like to be here?' They say, 'Yes, Olga, we want to be here. It's a nice place.' And they are sad when they have to go.”

At Veritsa Orphanage, director Efimova Svetlana said the Buckner-led improvements to the facility are “really a sight to be seen.”

In the early days of her tenure at Veritsa, “the building was in really poor condition,” Svetlana said. “Buckner is doing a terrific job helping with the restoration.”

A sturdy gate now borders the property, and new playground equipment erected in November offers outdoor recreation. The gate, she said, “was extremely important because we had problems with the locals and needed to protect our kids.” An extra measure of protection, a taller fence to surround the playground, now is needed to bar villagers from climbing the embankment near the outer gates.

“We have a big problem with drug users and alcoholism in this village, so we're trying to do the best thing for our kids,” she said, adding Buckner has been a major partner in their efforts through donations of humanitarian aid, money and ministry resources.

Among the most practical gifts, she noted, and especially beneficial this time of year, are the new boilers that funnel hot water to the main building and two outlying structures: one designated for sick and HIV-positive children, the other for girls 16 months to 6 years old.

As she struggled to enumerate the benefits Buckner brings, Svetlana conceded: “It's very hard to remember everything. Buckner is helping a lot–with the medicine, shoes, clothing and all these things.

“We've had the bad experience of some companies from different countries pledging support and then disappearing. I'm not blaming them. They could have their reasons–political or financial or whatever. But Buckner has stayed the course through difficult situations.”

For Douris, leading teams overseas for so many years begs the question: What motivates a missions volunteer.

“The answer is Christians have to love to feel complete,” he said. “Orphans are treasures, and we are tools of God to show them how much God loves them.”

Posted: 12/02/05

Bush calls for religious freedom in China

By Jason Kane

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)–Human rights activists praised President Bush's call for religious freedom during his recent visit to China, but they called the Communist government's apparent unwillingness to make concessions discouraging.

The topic came to the foreground during the president's diplomatic swing through East Asia. He visited Japan, South Korea, Mongolia and China, where his appeals for religious freedom were largely ignored by the Chinese government and press.

Nina Shea, director of the Washington-based Center for Religious Freedom, a division of the human rights organization Free-dom House, called China's indifference to the president's requests “disturbing.” She said the appeals haven't “done anything and, in fact, it's been repression as usual.”

A few weeks before the president's visit, the Chinese government sentenced a Beijing underground church leader to three years in prison for selling Bibles. Critics call the action a prime example of China's religious oppression, which they say has included beatings, imprisonment and torture of religious individuals and groups not registered with the government.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said U.S. officials complained “quite vociferously” about such repression in the weeks before Bush's visit.

In private meetings with Chinese President Hu Jintao, Bush emphasized his belief that religious and political freedom “go hand in hand,” he told reporters.

“A society which will recognize religious freedom is a society which will recognize political freedoms as well,” Bush said. “And part of a system which recognizes the right of people to express themselves is a system which also recognizes the right of people to worship freely.”

The Bush administration named China a serious violator of religious freedom in its annual State Department report to Congress.

Michael Cromartie, chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, said the president's actions in China were an “extremely positive” sign the Bush administration takes international religious freedom seriously. The commission, created by Congress, does not make policy but advises U.S. government officials.

“It cannot hurt that when the president of the United States meets with Chinese leaders, one of the first things he says is that people ought to be free to express their religion,” Cromartie said. “The president should be applauded for linking religious freedom to political freedom and human rights.”

Shea, a member of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, said China's response makes it clear economic sanctions will be necessary to persuade Chinese officials to make constructive changes.

“Words, no matter how sternly delivered, are not going to make an impact,” Shea said. “That's very distressing for all of us.

Posted: 12/02/05

Posted: 12/02/05

Faithful called to shore up wall of separation

By Marv Knox

Editor

Although some Americans want to knock down the “wall of separation” between church and state, people of faith who understand their heritage must resist those efforts, U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards told participants at the T.B. Maston Christian Ethics Awards banquet.

Edwards received the 2005 Maston Award for his stalwart defense of religious liberty, announced Jimmy Allen, chairman of the T.B. Maston Foundation. The organization's namesake was a longtime professor of Christian ethics at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth.

“It is inconceivable that Americans would consider dismantling the wall that separates church and state. But the chisels are out in many forms,” said Edwards, who represents Texas' 17th Congressional District, which stretches from the southern suburbs of Fort Worth, through Waco and parts of Central Texas, down to the Bryan/College Station area.

Edwards addressed the banquet through a videotape and live telephone feed. He originally intended to attend the Nov. 18 banquet in Dallas, but he stayed in Washington to vote in a rare Friday night session of Congress.

He cited several examples of the “chisels” that would knock down or bore holes in the legal/philosophical wall that separates church and state in America.

They include the “so-called faith-based programs” that would impose religious qualifications for some federally funded jobs, he said. Another is a proposal to provide government funding for construction of churches destroyed or damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

And a bill that would allow pastors to endorse political candidates from their pulpits “will divide churches like nothing else,” Edwards predicted. “It would demean the spirit of purity of our houses of worship.”

“The threat against church-state separation is well-funded. It has misled the American people,” he said. The idea of separation between church and state “now has a negative connotation for the majority of Americans,” he noted, adding, “That has frightening implications. …

“'Separation of church and state' doesn't mean keeping Christians out of government, but government out of church.”

Although Christians and others currently find themselves on the defensive, the battle for religious liberty is winnable, Edwards said. He suggested several actions they must take to preserve freedom of religion:

“People of faith must become the face of the defense of religious liberty,” he said. The cause is harmed when atheists and other unbelievers take the lead, he said, insisting many Christians and others of strong religious conviction advocate church-state separation specifically because of those convictions.

“We need a better-educated public,” he added, recommending the use of public-opinion polls “to find out where our message misses the mark.”

“We must have a long-term media strategy,” he suggested, noting adversaries of church-state separation are extremely media-savvy.

“We must create a nonpartisan 'Madison-Jefferson list,'” he urged. Such an index would help religious liberty advocates channel small campaign contributions to like-minded political candidates who are under attack for their views on church-state separation.

“We need to build a grassroots network in every congressional district,” he said. “We've got to let legislators know there is support for church-state separation.”