Posted: 12/02/05

2nd Opinion:
'Tis the season of God's extravagance

By Lisa Price

The Christmas holidays tend to make us reflect on past years, and the most memorable celebrations seem to be indelibly printed on our minds like album snapshots with captions. If I had to choose a caption for the Christmas of 2004, I think it would be “extravagance.”

While the word “extravagance” often is associated with negatives such as materialism and waste, in this case it was not. The extravagance was not related to squandering resources or even to human generosity, but it was the extravagant love of God toward his children. Our family celebrated a Christmas where God's decorations and gifts far outshined anything we could do or even imagine.

My husband had been invited to perform a wedding, and we were privileged to start Christmas week on a beautiful Caribbean island, where we enjoyed aquamarine water, snow-white sand, gorgeous tropical plants and undersea creatures of all kinds. We basked in the warm sun and felt the cool brisas on our faces. The scenes were so breathtaking that we truly felt like we were in a dream. The sights were something you see on a postcard or in a book, but you cannot imagine how it can be real.

And then God's gifts continued in the miracle of a white Christmas on the Texas Gulf Coast. Unbelievable!

We had the same feeling of disbelief that we had felt earlier in the week in Cozumel. God continued to shower us with the beauty of his creation. Everyone reveled in the first flurries during the late afternoon, but God had more in store. When we emerged from the church after the Christmas Eve service, the snow had begun to fall in earnest, and our family hurried home to bundle up and run outside to play. We laughed as we fought over the few pairs of gloves and warm hats we could find buried under swimsuits and shorts. The outdoor fun lasted until well after midnight, and we all fell into bed expecting the miracle to be over by morning.

But at first light, we were amazed to see what God had done to our yard, our town and much of the Gulf Coast. Eight to 10 inches of exquisite, brilliant white coated the ground! When we weren't outside frolicking in the snow, we found ourselves drawn to the windows, gazing in awe-struck wonder. Whenever there was a lull in the conversation, someone would say, “Remember the time it snowed on Christmas?” Then we all would chuckle contentedly.

All over our community, warm beds were empty, paper-wrapped gifts remained unopened, dinners were uncooked or hurriedly eaten, and God's gift of extravagance was all that seemed important.

It reminded me of the ultimate extravagance when God sent his Son to be born. Shepherds left their sheep untended. Magi traveled hundreds of miles from their lives of comfort. And angels left heaven itself to announce the glorious good news. The gift was so extravagant, so wonderful, that life was changed forever. I wonder if the shepherds spent that first Christmas day looking at each other and saying, “Remember the time God came to earth as a beautiful baby?”

How can we ever reciprocate? Of course, we can't!

What God wants is the heart and life of each person. And that is the gift each of us can give him anew for Christmas 2005.

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20)

Lisa Price is minister of music at First Baptist Church in Sweeny.

Posted: 12/02/05

DOWN HOME:
He made parenting a 'bearable' task

As if our family weren't traveling through enough transition already, I just learned Stan Berenstain died at age 82.

Our youngest daughter, Molly, is finishing her first semester of college, so Joanna and I still are trying to figure out how to live productively in our “empty nest.” Our oldest daughter, Lindsay, is getting married in less than two weeks, and we're trying to learn how to be gracious and loving in-laws to Aaron. And our dog, Betsy, is declining by the week, and we're beginning to consider end-of-life issues for our beloved pet.

Up-side all that, the death of someone I never met might appear insignificant. Appearances would be deceiving.

For years now, I've felt like Stan and Jan Berenstain helped Jo and me raise Lindsay and Molly, and they even helped with Betsy.

They were our nightly companions as we read at least one book from their Berenstain Bears series to the girls each evening at bedtime.

The Berenstains created a parallel universe populated by Mama Bear, Papa Bear, Brother Bear and Sister Bear (and, after our girls had moved on to “chapter books,” Honey Bear). Although they lived in a tree house “beside a sunny dirt road deep in bear country,” and we lived in brick homes beside paved streets in the city, their daily lives mirrored the events, issues and challenges faced by our young family.

So, not only did Lindsay and Molly prepare for bed and learn to read by listening to Jo and me read about the Berenstain Bears night after night after night, but they also learned moral lessons as well.

The Berenstains filled their books with life issues and right-or-wrong problems.

The Berenstain Bears and the Truth, in which Brother Bear breaks the no-soccer-in-the-house rule, then breaks Mama Bear's favorite lamp and tries to cover it up by telling a lie, helped us all learn the value of telling the truth, even when the consequences are painful.

The Berenstain Bears and the Trouble With Friends, in which Sister Bear gets crossways with her best friend, Lizzy Bruin, taught us how to deal with people and the importance of making up.

In retrospect, although we practically read the cover off of The Berenstain Bears and the Messy Room, I'm not sure Molly learned much from that particular volume.

The news of Stan Berenstain's death caught me by surprise. I hadn't thought much about the Berenstain Bears the past few years. But all of a sudden, I was lying in the middle of Lindsay's bed, a girl in foot pajamas on either side, reading with great expectation as Papa Bear built a bigger bed for Brother Bear so the soon-to-arrive Sister Bear would have someplace to sleep.

Then I thought about all those people, like the Berenstains and Dr. Seuss and Mr. Rogers, as well as teachers and folks at church, plus family and friends and neighbors, who helped Jo and me “train up” our daughters.

Thanks be to God, because parenting is too big of a job for parents alone.

— Marv Knox

Posted: 12/02/05

EDITORIAL:
Women of Kireka set worthy example

Before long, Time magazine will unveil its Person of the Year for 2005. The editors probably have made their selection already, or at least they have narrowed the field to a group of finalists. If not, they would do well to consider the women of Kireka, Uganda.

Reporter Bruce Nolan of The Times-Picayune in New Orleans told their story on Thanksgiving Day. The Dallas Morning News repeated it in an editorial last week.

Kireka is a slum overlooking Kampala, Uganda's capital city, in west-central Africa. It's a one-industry town: The men strip-mine boulders from quarries on the hillside. The women pound the boulders into stones the size of walnuts, which are used for construction. They work by hand, pulverizing stone by stone. They earn $1.20 per day.

Kireka is a refugee colony. Many residents are members of the Acholi tribe, who were run out of northern Uganda by a civil war that has devastated the region for many years. They subsist in Kireka, but their hearts beat far from home.

Most of the women in Kireka also are HIV-infected or have full-blown AIDS. In the early '90s, a quarter of the Ugandan population was exposed to AIDS. And although that percentage has decreased–due in large part to education and to Christian-backed abstinence programs–the consequences of the disease will linger for decades. So, the chronically ill women climb the hillside every morning to break rocks to earn a little money to feed their children.

But although they live in a refugee slum, and their bodies are wasting away because of disease, poverty and inhuman labor, their hearts are huge. They felt the pain of tsunami victims late last year, and they experienced the agony of Hurricane Katrina victims this summer and early fall.

When the women of Kireka heard how Katrina wrecked the U.S. Gulf Coast and scattered other mothers and their children far from home, they wanted to help. They shared their concern with Rose Busingye, a Ugandan nurse who founded a relief agency to assist the residents of Kireka. With Busingye's help, they banded together–200 women strong–to pool their earnings and send them to victims of Katrina.

They collected almost $900. Can you comprehend that sacrifice? It defies the imagination: These Ugandan women make only $1.20 per day and battle disease and malnutrition every waking hour. Yet they care so much for victims of a storm on the other side of the globe that many of them broke rocks for weeks to donate most of their income to people uprooted by Katrina. They gave their money to AVSI, a Catholic Italian aid organization in Kampala, which is channeling the money to the United States.

They did it because they relate closely to people who understand loss, Busingye explained: “Those people who are suffering, they belong to us. They are our people. Their problems are our problems. Their children are like our children.”

For women like Akulla Margaret, who knows she will die of AIDS, the chance to help another sufferer is intensely personal. “When I die, my children will be left like those in America. Someone will have to care for them,” she said. “I want to care for someone also.”

The article and editorial didn't say so, but the women of Kireka most likely were empowered by the Spirit of Christ. According to Operation World, Uganda's population is 89 percent Christian, and these women worked through two Christian relief organizations. At any rate, their gifts reflected Christ's kind of love. It's agape, the willful love that sacrifices so that another is blessed, the selfless love that asks nothing in return, the bountiful love that grows as it is given away.

The Morning News editorial astutely compared these women to the widow, praised by Jesus, whose offering consisted of two copper coins. Jesus declared she had given more than all the big shots who who wrote their offerings on fat checks with many zeroes. “All these people gave out of their wealth,” he said, “but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

We have reached the time of year when Baptists traditionally give offerings to support foreign missions. This year, many other worthy causes seek our help, particularly those that have provided relief from the disasters that have besieged our world, but also those whose receipts have been down because hurricane relief has been up. We can wring our hands and worry about the magnitude of the need. Or we can adopt the attitude of the women of Kireka.

Marv Knox is editor of the Baptist Standard.

Posted: 12/02/05

Falls Creek encampment
cancels Texas Week after 2006

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

The 2006 Texas Week at Falls Creek Baptist Conference Center marks the end of a tradition spanning more than four decades.

The May 29-June 3 camp will be the final Texas Week at the Oklahoma Baptist encampment, said Dale Berry, pastor of First Baptist Church in Jacksboro and a member of annual event's steering team.

“We kind of knew deep down this was coming, and every year we've asked, 'Will we be able to have Texas Week next year?'” Berry said.

Increased demand by Oklahoma Baptist churches compelled the conference center's leaders to add to the summer schedule an eighth “Oklahoma Week” for youth and move a children's camp into the Texas Week slot, said Falls Creek Manager Gary Fielding.

Last summer, more than 45,500 young people attended one of the seven Oklahoma Week events at Falls Creek, Fielding noted. Falls Creek Baptist Conference Center–a rustic facility in the Arbuckle Mountains that bills itself as the world's largest youth assembly–is owned and operated by the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma.

Since the first Texas Week at Falls Creek in 1963, more than 85,000 Texas Baptist teenagers have participated in the camp.

Although the numbers participating in Texas Week have declined somewhat in recent years as school schedules have cut into the summer, Berry hopes the final Texas Week will draw churches eager to participate in the landmark event.

The 2006 Texas Week will feature preacher Clayton King and worship leader Carl Cartee, both with Crossroads Worldwide ministry in North Carolina, he noted.

Beyond next year, Texas churches still will be able to participate at Falls Creek youth camps–just not in a week designated specifically for Texas Baptists, Berry explained.

“Texas churches already participate with us, and we hope to have more in the future that blend right into our (Oklahoma) weeks,” Fielding said.

Guidelines posted on the Falls Creek page of the Oklahoma Baptist convention's website say churches not affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma may register for any week of camp by reserving a cabin after Oct. 20. First preference will be given to Oklahoma Baptist churches, and other congregations that wish to participate in the camps must be either “a cooperating Southern Baptist church from another state or an evangelical church that agrees to the basic beliefs of Southern Bap-tists.”

The basic Southern Baptist beliefs are outlined in an abridged version of the Baptist Faith & Message posted on the web page. The article on family, for instance, does not include a controversial statement included in the 2000 version of the document: “A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ.”

Full information about registration, fees and the process for securing a cabin is available at www.skopos.org.

Posted: 12/02/05

International Mission Board seeks to tie tongues

By Robert Marus

Associated Baptist Press

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (ABP)–The International Mission Board no longer will appoint Southern Baptist missionaries who use a “private prayer language”–a controversial practice related to speaking in tongues and previously practiced by board President Jerry Rankin.

The Southern Baptist Convention agency already excludes people who speak in tongues in public worship from serving as missionaries. But the mission board's trustees voted Nov. 15 to amend its list of missionary qualifications to exclude those who use a “prayer language” in private.

The restriction of “prayer language”–a private version of the charismatic worship practice of tongues-speaking–was approved by a vote of 25-18, according to the mission board's website. Some trustees did not vote on the issue during their Huntsville, Ala., meeting, the agency reported.

The policy guideline, which applies only to new appointees, states: “In terms of general practice, the majority of Southern Baptists do not accept what is referred to as 'private prayer language.' Therefore, if 'private prayer language' is an ongoing part of his or her conviction and practice, the candidate has eliminated himself or herself from being a representative of the IMB of the SBC.”

The policy interprets New Testament passages dealing with glossolalia–the Greek word for speaking in tongues–as talking about a spiritual gift enabling the bearer to speak a language that “generally is considered to be a legitimate language of some people group,” and adds that a “prayer language as commonly expressed by those practitioners is not the same as the biblical use of glossolalia.”

It also notes that the Apostle Paul's “clear teaching is that prayer should be made with understanding.”

This is not the first time trustees of the agency have addressed tongues-speaking. When Rankin was elected in 1993 as president of the agency–then known as the Foreign Mission Board–some controversy stirred over reports he had engaged in such private prayer practices.

At the time, Rankin reportedly acknowledged he has “prayed in the Spirit” privately. He also interpreted, or translated, a message spoken in tongues at a public worship service in Singapore, where he served as a regional missions director for the agency prior to his elevation to the top spot.

In 1995, two years after he was elected, Rankin and the mission board fired missionaries Charles and Sharon Carroll of Singapore for promoting charismatic practices–despite the fact Rankin condoned the Carrolls' speaking in tongues when he was their Singapore-based supervisor.

Rankin said in 1995 that the Carrolls' practices–which grew to include being “slain in the Spirit”–simply went too far. The Carrolls' termination was considered an early test of Rankin's leadership and his openness to the charismatic movement.

Mission board spokes-person Anita Bowden declined to comment further on Rankin but said the new policy was “obviously not connected to him in some way.” She said Rankin was on vacation and likely not available for comment.

Bowden added the prayer policy will not apply to International Mission Board missionaries appointed before Nov. 15. It also will not apply to Rankin or other nonmissionary personnel at the agency's Richmond, Va., headquarters, she said.

Another agency spokesperson said a full copy of the new guideline was not available because it had been adopted as a framework. “A work group was assigned to work on the final wording of the policy,” Van Payne said.

According to news reports on Rankin's election in June 1993, trustees fully aired the issue of Rankin's prayer practices in an executive session before voting on him.

“He spoke forthrightly on the charismatic issue and convinced a majority of trustees that he is not charismatic and is opposed to the modern charismatic movement, but is very interested in being filled with the Holy Spirit,” said Leon Hyatt, a trustee from Louisiana at the time and a member of the search committee that picked Rankin.

Hyatt, who currently is pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Pineville, La., confirmed that account Nov. 29 as “accurate,” but said he would not elaborate because the committee's discussion of Rankin's prayer practices “was confidential, and I don't think that even after this period of time I should comment on it.”

Hyatt said he had not spoken to Rankin about the issue in the 12 years since his appointment.

Joel Gregory, who was chairman of the search committee and pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas at the time, said Rankin had convinced the panel his past prayer experiences “would not fall into the category of unknown charismatic utterances.”

Gregory, who now is a visiting professor of homiletics at Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor University, confirmed that account Nov. 29. He also noted the 12-member search committee “represented quite a spectrum, really, at that time–from very moderate people from Virginia to people on the other side of the aisle”–and all members were satisfied with Rankin's answers on his prayer practices.

Also on Nov. 15, International Mission Board trustees elaborated on their policy for the forms of baptism acceptable for missionary candidates.

The new policy declares candidates must have been baptized in SBC-affiliated churches or have received believer's baptism by immersion in another denomination or non-denominational church. If the candidate received baptism in another tradition, it must be viewed as symbolic rather than sacramental or regenerative.

Also, the church or denomination in which the baptism took place must adhere to the doctrine of the “security of the believer,” or the belief that one cannot lose one's salvation.

The vote to approve the baptism policy was approximately two to one, according to the mission board's website.

Posted: 12/02/05

Lower Jordan River is open
sewage canal, environmentalists say

By Michele Chabin

Religion News Service

DEGANYA, Israel–At the Alumot Dam on the edge of Kibbutz Deganya, a cooperative community located a couple of miles south of the Sea of Galilee, visitors can smell the Jordan River long before they see it.

Once there, two Jordan rivers come into view. North of the dam, the water is calm and clean enough for swimming, and every year tens of thousands of Christian pilgrims flock to Yardenit, the picturesque baptism site on the Israeli side of the Jordan, the river in which Jesus was baptized.

South of the dam, the river is tainted with untreated and partially treated sewage, saline water and fish pond effluents that tumble from large drainage pipes built into the riverbed. The stench is choking.

This pollution, coupled with the diversion of much of the river's clean water by Israel, Syria and Jordan, is endangering the river–the backdrop of so many biblical narratives–to the point of extinction.

“In the summer, the Lower Jordan River (the river below the Galilee) is dry in certain places, and this is a totally man-made problem,” said Gidon Bromberg, an Israeli environmentalist, as he watched the toxic water drain menacingly into the river, which meanders another 200 kilometers from this junction.

“The Lower River is an open sewage canal, and the sad irony is that the sewage water is keeping the river flowing. Being baptized in the water below the dam–something that takes place on the Jordanian side of the river–cannot be too spiritually uplifting,” said Bromberg, who heads the Israeli branch of Friends of the Earth Middle East.

The Jordan River's main water source is precipitation from Mount Hermon, a snow-covered peak shared uneasily by Israel and Syria in the north. Three streams originating in Lebanon, Israel and the contested Golan Heights also feed the river. On its way to the Dead Sea, its final destination, the Jordan swells the Huleh Lake and the Sea of Galilee, and waters the Jordan Valley.

The river's slow but steady decline began in the 1950s, when Israel started to divert the water for agriculture and other domestic use. Jordan and Syria built a series of dams and canals on the Yarmouk River, the Jordan's main tributary, further cutting the flow to the river. Yet another large Jordanian-Syrian dam is slated to open by 2006, a fact that makes the issue that much more urgent for environmentalists.

Prior to the diversions 50 years ago, the average amount of water that flowed down the Jordan to the Dead Sea each year was 1.3 billion cubic meters, according to environmentalists. Today it's just 50 million to 100 million cubic meters annually.

“In summertime, up to half of that flow is untreated sewage from communities in Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority,” Bromberg noted.

If it were up to environmentalists, local countries would import more produce in order to save the Jordan and other water sources in the water-deprived Middle East.

“Agriculture accounts for just 2 percent of Israel's GDP (gross domestic product), yet it utilizes 30 percent of the fresh water in the country,” Bromberg said, pointing out an Israeli grove of banana trees within sight of the Yarmouk River. “In Jordan, where agriculture accounts for 6 percent of the GDP, 70 percent of the fresh water is used for crops. The economies would benefit more from tourism projects.”

Friends of the Earth Middle East, one of the few successful partnerships between Israelis, Palestinians and Jordanians, has recently stepped up its efforts to bring the Jordan River's sorry state to world attention. One July publicity stunt saw Jewish and Arab mayors from local municipalities jumping into the clean part of the river, hand in hand.

“Water can be a bridge for peace,” Nader Khateeb, the organization's Palestinian director, told a group representing 200 nongovernmental organizations during a seminar at the United Nations. “The water resources are so scarce in the Middle East that we have to work together with our Israeli neighbors in order to help guarantee that we as Palestinians get our fair share of water and all together stop the pollution of the water resource.”

Religious leaders, who also have a stake in the embattled Jordan, say more needs to be done to get the word out.

“The whole Sea of Galilee and Jordan River are in and of themselves a holy site,” said David Parsons, information officer for the International Christian Embassy, an evangelical ministry that brings thousands of Christians to the Holy Land every year. “If this news gets out, I think a lot of Christians will be very concerned.”

Posted: 12/02/05

Kansas school board at center
of intelligent design debate

By Bobby Ross Jr.

Religion News Service

ARKANSAS CITY, Kan. (RNS)–At the Sirloin Stockade, the state school board chairman leading an assault on “neo-Darwinian biological evolution” bowed his head and prayed aloud before eating his buffet lunch.

A veterinarian and farmer, Steve Abrams makes no secret of his Christian faith or his belief that God created Earth in six 24-hour days less than 10,000 years ago.

“I am a young-Earth creationist,” Abrams said as country music played in the background. “That is different from science. Good science has the tenets, I believe, of what is observable, measurable, testable, repeatable and falsifiable.

“I don't believe Genesis is observable, measurable, testable, repeatable and falsifiable. You take it on faith.”

But Abrams, 56, insisted he's not trying to impose his religious views on the state's 460,000 public school students.

His critics–from major science organizations to the editorial board of The New York Times–see it differently. Led by Abrams, the board's conservative majority voted 6-4 last month to adopt new science standards critical of the theory of evolution first advanced by Charles Darwin.

In the process, the board put Kansas near the center of an escalating national debate over how the origin of the world should be taught in public classrooms.

It's a fight that pits advocates of intelligent design–the idea that a higher intelligence must have guided Earth and its life forms in their development– against evolutionists, who say the supernatural has no place in science class.

Board member Janet Waugh of Kansas City, who opposed the new standards, said Abrams and fellow “fundamentalist Chris-tians” control the board and threaten to make Kansas a national laughingstock by dismissing a century of science.

“I am a Christian, and I personally believe in the Genesis version of creation in the Bible,” said Waugh, a Lutheran who leaves open the possibility that the six days were not 24-hour days. “But I don't believe my faith should be taught in a science class.”

Abrams said he first ran for his hometown school board in the late 1980s out of concern for high school graduates' poor reading skills–not to push any kind of moral agenda.

Later, he won election to the state board, where in 1999 he helped rewrite the science standards to remove most references to evolution, including the age of Earth and the big-bang theory.

The next year, Kansas voters ousted three state board members who opposed teaching evolution. In 2001, the moderate-controlled board restored evolution to the standards. But last year, conservatives regained control of the board, setting the stage for the recent vote.

A father of four and grandfather of 10, Abrams owns the Cottonwood Animal Clinic and maintains a 1,000-acre farm that his great-great grandparents settled in 1878.

Abrams, who grew up raising livestock, said anyone watching the cattle industry has seen cows evolve over the last 30 to 40 years.

“They're much bigger,” he said. “They're much leaner.”

But that's different, he said, than evolution from one species to another.

“Do I think neo-Darwinian biological evolution is proven beyond a fact? No,” he said. “I believe it has great holes in it. It is not good science to teach that as dogma.”

Pastor Gale Rider of Mount Zion Community Church, who has known Abrams 45 years, speaks in spiritual terms when talking about the criticism his friend and parishoner has received about Kansas' new science standards.

“Any time you try to show the truth from God's word in any way, shape or form, there's a lot of people that are going to back up against that,” Rider said, his Bible open on his desk.

Under the new standards, Kansas students will study not only “the best evidence for modern evolutionary theory,” but also “areas where scientists are raising scientific criticisms of that theory.”

While intelligent design proponents pushed for the changes, “these standards neither mandate nor prohibit teaching about this scientific disagreement,” according to the document.

In addition to the new science standards, the board's conservative majority proposes changes to the teaching of sex education, expansion of charter schools and adoption of a school voucher program, according to Kansas newspaper reports.

Last month, they hired former anti-tax activist Bob Corkins as the state's new education commissioner. Four of the six conservative members face re-election next year–Abrams is not among them–and a fierce election fight is expected over evolution and other issues.

But Abrams, who has served on the board since 1995, said he's not worried that the board majority could swing again to moderates.

Polls show most Kansans–and most Americans–believe God was involved in the creation of Earth and the universe, but opinions on teaching public school students about the origin of life vary according to the specific questions asked.

“There's not many people on the fence,” said Abrams, who reported receiving 4,000 e-mails in the first three days after the board's vote. “People are either adamant evolutionists or they're adamantly not, at least if you go by the communications that come to me.”

Posted: 12/02/05

Texas Baptist Forum

Get with the program

I have followed this dispute between the two Baptist groups in Texas since its inception. The fact of the matter is that both groups are right but do not have the right to insist the other accept their point of view.

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

"The people of China want more freedom to express themselves, to worship without state control, to print Bibles and other sacred texts without fear of punishment. … By meeting the legitimate demands of its citizens for freedom and openness, China's leaders can help their country grow into a modern, prosperous and confident nation." President Bush Speaking during his recent trip to Asia (RNS) "Ruth and I have enjoyed our time together these last few months, and we both feel at peace about the decision to have the New York meetings be our last. We know that God can still use us to reach people with the gospel message in other ways, and we look forward to seeing how he will do so." Billy Graham The famed evangelist, who recently turned 87 and suffers from Parkinson's disease, held his last crusade this June in New York. (RNS) "I woke up one day and thought, 'My God, I'm about to have a baby; how am I going to teach my child what the meaning of life is when I don't know myself?' If she asks why she's here and who is God or why are people suffering, I want to have answers. And I want to ask those questions, too." Madonna Pop singer, discussing how the birth of her daughter affected her thinking about spiritual matters (RNS/USA Today)

The Baptist General Convention of Texas is social in context and views Scripture from that point of view, whereas the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention is evangelistic and sees its mission and interpretation of Scripture from that point of view.

I for one can assure you that there is room for both, and both have a mission, and both could, in fact, be correct. Jesus is more than one point of view.

It would be nice to hear no more from either side and just get with the program as each sees it! I bet most people feel the same way I do.

Tom Reynolds

Lubbock

Respect, not racism

I voted for Rick Davis as president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas at the annual meeting in Austin. One of my African-American brothers questioned his nomination. I concluded he was suggesting a racial motive for the second nomination.

As a good Baptist, I can neither speak for the other 400-plus people who voted for Davis, nor would I try.

I voted for him for two reasons. First I have known Rick for several years in my short ministry. He has been a friend and a mentor. I know he cares for his congregation and for Texas Baptists, and I know he is a very capable leader. Second, I voted for him because he is passionate about winning lost souls.

I must confess that I was not informed on Texas Baptists Committed's “acceptable” slate of candidates this year. I certainly did not know Michael Bell was the nominee or that he was African-American. I just knew a friend and colleague that I know and love was going to be nominated.

Jim Denison preached a wonderful sermon several years ago in Corpus Christi. He said it is time to get over the great commotion and get on with the Great Commission. My motive and vote was about the importance of evangelism in our great state.

Daniel Downey

Lorena

Thankful for TBM

In reference to “Baptist Men involved in God's activity” (Nov. 21): I had the honor to work with the Texas Baptist Men Dallas kitchen in Lufkin, riding out Hurricane Rita at Harmony Hills Baptist Church. I also worked in Vidor at First Baptist Church. Both churches are awesome and are lighthouses for the Lord.

At Lufkin, the small Dallas unit was set up to feed 4,000 to 5,000 people each day. In the first 10 days, 85,000 meals were prepared, with “rookies” doing the cooking. At Vidor, I worked with chainsaw units from Evansville, Ind. They returned home in time for a tornado, and Baptist Men from Virginia and Oklahoma took their places.

The men that I met, worked with and saw God working through were an awesome and life-changing experience.

I witnessed to a Red Cross driver from California who was in awe of the work that was being done. He was not saved, but the seeds were planted for the Holy Spirit. None of this could have been done without the leadership of the “Carpenter,” the Lord Jesus the Christ, who was the basis for the witness.

I am sorry for the victims' losses to Rita and Katrina, but I'm so thankful for the experience with Texas Baptist Men.

Victor Norman

Longview

Cost of longevity

Phillip Wise's answer to the question of whether it is wrong for a Christian to be treated with stem cells harvested from a legally murdered Chinese baby (Nov. 7) lacks something.

Our medical dictionary shows that a person is created the instant an egg is fertilized and it becomes an embryo. A 4- to 5-day-old embryo is a tiny infant–fetus–not a liver or heart. It must be killed for its stem cells.

The Bush administration has caused all the stem cells in our labs to become contaminated? Should we ignore the news that useable stem cells are being found in skin, hair and umbilical cords?

Only the very rich can pay for this expensive cure/replacement. Therefore, it should be available to Medicare so we can all live forever. Forget about retirement for our children.

The question is this: How many Peters must be robbed to make Paul live for 200 years, and what does he/she say to God about the death of wonderfully made fetuses to prolong that old age?

Shirley Wright

Detroit

Posted: 12/02/05

Texas Baptist professors
teach at Nigerian seminary

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

Nigerian Baptists share the same theology and mission as Texas Baptists. They even sing the same hymns.

Now a group of Texas professors is teaching them like they are Texas Baptists.

Several professors at Baptist General Convention of Texas-affiliated universities have formed an association known as “Friends of the Nigerian Seminary” and are teaching in Nigeria as often as possible.

Bill Carrell, dean of Christian studies at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor who enlists professors to teach at the Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary in Ogbomoso, said the school presents a strategic opportunity to strengthen Baptist work in a large portion of Africa.

The seminary is located in one of Nigeria's largest cities and sits next to a Baptist hospital. About 500 students seeking to take the gospel across the country attend the school.

“It was obvious this is a thriving seminary ministering to some of the best students,” Carrell said of his first visit to the seminary.

Despite the seminary's importance to the region, Carrell said, the school has many needs. The institution is trying to attain its accreditation. The library needs to be replenished. There is a limited faculty.

Texas Baptist professors can help with the last issue, Carrell believes. Professors from Hardin-Simmons University's Logs-don School of Theology already have taught courses in Nigeria. Several professors are planning a return trip in March.

Professors teach classes in three-week spans, providing their theological and ministerial expertise to Nigerian Baptists. The goal is to equip students to better serve God in their ministry settings, said Ken Lyle, associate professor of New Testament and Greek at Logsdon School of Theology.

“The ultimate goal is for these folks to get the best training they can get and have it expressed in ministry,” said Lyle, who is going on his second teaching trip to Nigeria this spring. “That's a goal you have whether you're teaching in Nigeria or Abilene.”

Carrell believes Texas Baptist professors are making a significant contribution to the future of Nigeria and all Africa. These students will take the gospel wherever they travel, he explained.

“Nigeria is a wonderful, beautiful place with a lot of challenges, a lot of obstacles to overcome,” Lyle said. “The folks at the seminary there are very committed to training their people for the ministry. We want to be part of that.”

The Texas Partnerships Resource Center of the Baptist General Convention of Texas recently has opened a partnership with the Nigerian Baptist Convention. Staff members can connect Texas Baptists with service opportunities in the country. For more information, visit www.bgct.org or call (214) 828-5180.

Posted: 12/02/05

On the Move

Neil Adams to Bethlehem Church in Douglassville as pastor.

Jack Allen to First Church in Tuleta as pastor.

Bud Ammerman has resigned as pastor of Choate Church in Kenedy.

Jeff Atchison has resigned as pastor of First Church in Schulenburg to start a church in Mission.

Phil Barton has resigned as pastor of First Church in Pottsboro.

Stephen Boney has resigned as music minister at Calvary Church in Abilene.

Jason Bryant has resigned as pastor of First Church in Charlotte.

Olan Bullard to Crutchfield Heights Church in Sherman as pastor.

Billy Chambers to First Church in Stratford as intentional interim pastor.

Hardy Clemons to Trinity Church in San Antonio as interim executive pastor.

Larry Combs to First Church in Cash as pastor.

Justin Cook has resigned as youth minister at Georgetown Church in Pottsboro to serve a church in South Carolina.

Bruce Cox to White Mound Church in Mound as interim pastor.

Russell Crosby to Turnersville Church in Gatesville as pastor.

Caleb Crouch to First Church in Giddings as minister of youth.

Nolan Duck to Westbury Church in Houston as interim pastor.

Steven Edwards to Fourth Ward Church in Ennis as interim pastor.

Jerry Fleming to First Church in Wills Point as minister of music and senior adults from First Church in Rosenberg, where he was minister of music.

Chris Gaines to Mission Brenham/House of Worship in Brenham as minister of youth.

Kirk Gentzel to First Church in Sherman as youth minister.

Terry Gleaton has resigned as youth minister at Highland Church in Denton.

Herb Hardwick to Bethel Cass Church in Linden as pastor.

J.V. Helms to Morales Church in Edna as interim pastor.

Riann Heyns to Valley Creek Church in Flower Mound as small groups pastor.

Aimee Hobbs to Broadway Church in Fort Worth as minister to children and their families from Calvary Church in Waco, where she was assistant to the minister to children.

Luke Holmes to Hyde Park Church in Denison youth minister.

Aaron Householder to Southview Church in Lincoln, Neb., as pastor from First Church in Venus.

Chance Horner has resigned as youth minister at Clearfork Church in Hawley.

Jeff Johnson to Baptist University of the Americas as an instructor from Seventh and Main Church in Bonham, where he was pastor.

Loren Johnson to First Church in Milano as interim pastor.

Clif Kapka to Caps Church in Abilene as university coordinator.

David Kemerling to Baylor University's Louise Herrington School of Nursing as interim director of student ministry from the University of Texas-Dallas, where he was an academic adviser.

Ron Layman to First Church in Howe as youth minister.

Jeffrey Lee to Calvary Church in Tulia as pastor.

Alisha Lombardi to Mission Brenham/ House of Worship as children's ministries director.

Vernon Lummus has resigned as pastor of Enon Church in Doddridge, Ark.

Victor Lyons to First Church in Marlin as minister of music.

Nick Martineau has resigned as pastor of White Mound Church in Mound to start a church in Wichita, Kan.

Matthew McAnally to Hyde Park Church in Denison as music minister.

Lyn Means to First Church in Paducah as pastor from Unity Church in La Vernia.

George Merriman to First Church in Tehuacana as music leader.

Chris Moore to Lakeview Church in Lacy-Lakeview as pastor.

Andrea Morris to First Church in Gregory as youth director.

John Morris to First Church in Sealy as pastor.

David Newberry to First Church in Brookshire as pastor.

Timothy Ortner to First Church in Bremond as minister of youth.

Darren Otjen to First Church in Big Wells as interim pastor.

David Pate to First Church in May as pastor.

Vance Purkey has resigned as minister of education and youth at Fairview Church in Grand Prairie to serve a church in New Mexico.

Barbara Ragan to East Sherman Church in Sherman as youth minister.

Jack Riley to Faith Memorial Church in Archer City as pastor.

Ronnie Rogers has resigned as pastor of Memorial Church in Denton to serve a church in Virginia.

Jim Rust to Enon Church in Doddridge, Ark., as pastor.

James Sain has completed an interim pastorate at Second Church in Vernon.

Mike Seay to Second Church in Vernon as pastor.

Luther Shelander to Mount Zion Church in Rockdale as pastor.

Tom Shelton to First Church in Moody as pastor.

James Shugart has resigned as pastor at First Church in Mount Calm.

Craig Sims to New Hope Community Church in Venus as pastor.

Gordon and Vickie Smith to Emmanuel Church in Fairfield as children's minister.

Danny Stinson to First Church in Queen City as minister of worship and administration.

A.R. Stokes has resigned as pastor of Morse Street Church in Denton.

Paul Stripling to Hermitage Park Church in Houston as interim pastor.

Moses Vaca to Primera Iglesia in Cameron as pastor.

Alvino Valdez to High Valley Church in San Saba as pastor.

Jared Vineyard to First Church in Hillsboro as youth/student minister.

Jonathon Whedbee to First Church in Petersburg as music minister.

Carl and Marta Whitworth to First Church in Bremond as ministers to children.

Michael Whitworth to Lakeview Church in Lacy-Lakeview as youth minister.

Posted: 12/02/05

Port Neches youth choir
shares the gospel in Spain

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

A group of young people from First Baptist Church in Port Neches recently discovered moving to their own beat can have a powerful impact on those around them.

The youth choir from First Baptist Church spent time in Denia, Spain, singing hymns in public squares and marketplaces in an effort to spread the gospel in the city.

“People were just amazed,” said Tim Holder, the church's minister of music and senior adults. “Over there, you don't have people involved in the mainstream churches. It's just older people. People just came up and said: 'Why? Why did you come?'”

The young people's lyrics seemed to penetrate people's lives, Holder said. Some people turned to face the choir and listened intensely. Others prayed.

News stations covered the choir's performance at the mayor's home and carried it across the nation. Some news people cried during the performance.

Later, choir members prayed with each person at a nursing home where they sang in English and Spanish. English songs were translated by Jorge Pastor of the Alfa & Omega School.

“People's lives were changed,” Holder said. “We had a Muslim be saved. There were a number of professions of faith.”

The performances were part of a mission trip that also included a sports camp and arts and crafts activities. Young people from Port Neches taught Spanish young adults how to play several sports, including football and baseball.

“We wanted to go and do with them things that they enjoyed and in that process show Jesus cross-culturally through sports, through arts, through music,” Holder said.

Initially, the Spanish youth were hesitant to get close to the Texans, Holder acknowledged. But members of First Baptist Church in Port Neches showed the young people they were loved.

Soon, the separation fell, Holder said. “Christ crosses all those barriers, even the language barrier.”

This trip was facilitated through the Texas Partnerships Resource Center of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. For more information, visit www.bgct.org or call (214) 828-5180.

Posted: 12/02/05

Bumper crop of disasters
ratchets up the 'Rapture index'

By Nancy Haught

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)–Whether you see earthquakes, hurricanes and tsunamis as natural disasters or acts of God, this has been a bad year for the world and a good one for the rapture index.

The index, a feature on the www.raptureready.com website, is a measure of how quickly the world is careening toward the Second Coming of Christ. On a good day, it claims 15,000 hits.

Some Christians use the term "rapture" to describe the moment when, they believe, Jesus will call them home to heaven and the rest of the population will struggle on with only the Antichrist and the apocalypse to look forward to. The time between the rapture and the Second Coming is called the tribulation. It's a view of the end times made popular in the early 20th century by the Scofield Reference Bible and in the past few years by the Left Behind novels.

Interest in all of this is peaking these days, spurred on by the apparent frequency and intensity of earthly disasters, the recent release of the third Left Behind movie and the prospect of a bird-flu pandemic.

Keepers of the Rapture Ready website are Terry James of Benton, Ark., and Todd Strandberg of Bellevue, Neb., two biblical prophecy devotees who have been polishing their concept since 1987.

James and Strandberg developed a list of 45 categories, from false Christs to inflation, famine and floods. Every few days, they assign each category a number from 1 to 6 to reflect its intensity, according to recent news stories. They tally the numbers to come up with the rapture index, a number James calls “a speedometer that says how fast we're heading toward the tribulation.”

On a recent day, the rapture index was at 159, well over what James and Strandberg call the “fasten your seat belt” mark of 145. “It's been up around 159 for some time now,” says James, who has written 15 books on biblical prophecy and fully expects the rapture to occur in his lifetime. So far, he's waited 63 years.

James knows not all Chris-tians see Scripture and the signs the same way he and Strandberg and the whole Left Behind crowd do. The website gets a lot of critical mail, and some of it is posted online.

“Some people get really hostile over anything on the site,” James said. “To me, that shows the truth of what we're doing. … We don't condemn anybody; we only point out what God says about sin in general.”

Barbara Rossing

Not all Christians have jumped on the rapture bandwagon. Many see it as a modern twisting of what they believe biblical prophecy really is–not so much predictive as prescriptive.

Barbara Rossing, a New Testament professor at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago, is familiar with the website but doesn't think it holds much appeal for Christians like her who have condemned the Left Behind series and argue the rapture is not a biblical concept. She wrote The Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation.

“World events should be a wakeup call to us,” Rossing said. “We should be thinking about what our calling is, as people of faith in the world today. We need to be thinking about how to connect the dots–not in an Antichrist-end-times kind of way–but in terms of how God is at work in the world for healing, for justice and for love.”

James is familiar with the criticism, and it doesn't shake his confidence in the rapture.

“I'm of the opinion that every Christian will go (in the rapture), regardless of the state of their walk with Jesus,” he said. “We're all in God's family.”

Nancy Haught is a staff writer for The Oregonian of Portland, Ore.