North Carolina Baptists still may give to Fellowship

November 18, 2005

Posted: 11/18/05

North Carolina Baptists
still may give to Fellowship

By Greg Warner

Associated Baptist Press

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (ABP)–Fundamentalists in the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina elected their candidate as president, toughened the convention's stance against gay-friendly churches, replaced the interim executive director and approved new institutional trustees.

But they failed in another key objective–to eliminate a budget arrangement that allows moderate churches in North Carolina to fund non-Southern Baptist causes.

The flurry of actions came during the Nov. 14-16 annual meeting of the convention in Winston-Salem.

A motion to eliminate four spending plans that allow churches to choose what Baptist causes they support outside North Carolina–including the moderate Coop-erative Baptist Fellowship–failed. But money contributed to CBF through the convention's budget will no longer count as state “Cooperative Program” funds.

This was the second year in a row Ted Stone of Durham tried to delete the four budget options and return to the traditional one-budget channel that requires contributions sent outside North Carolina to go only to the Southern Baptist Convention.

Many moderates have remained involved in the North Carolina convention because they could support CBF and not support the SBC.

Stone's motion lost 56 percent to 44 percent.

During debate, Stone said of the four-option budget, “Instead of bringing us together, it has divided us” and “undermined the work” of the SBC and North Carolina convention. Eliminating the CBF would “restore a sense of honesty to the way we do cooperative missions in North Carolina,” he said.

But Dave Stratton of Brunswick Island Baptist Church in Supply argued eliminating the four plans “will have the effect of further splintering this convention” and would actually decrease funding for Baptist causes in the state as moderate churches move funding elsewhere.

Messengers approved a motion instructing the convention's board of directors to expel any church that “knowingly affirms, approves or endorses homosexual behavior.”

North Carolina Baptists already prohibit churches that condone homosexuality from contributing to the convention, which is a condition of membership.

The new policy likely will exclude congregations “that affiliate with any group that the church knows to affirm homosexual behavior.” That would shut out about 25 churches affiliated with the Alliance of Baptists, a national organization open to “welcoming and affirming” homosexuals.

“It is most important that we as a convention uphold the teaching of the inerrant word of our heavenly father,” said Bill Sanderson, pastor of Hephzibah Baptist Church in Wendell. “I believe we must stand up for absolute truth, not relative truth or untruths, as it seems so many others are willing to do these days.”

Speaking against the policy, Rob Helton of Cherry Point Baptist Church in Havelock, said he agrees homosexual behavior is an “abhorrent sin,” but he added, “I struggle also with a policy to exclude members based on that one sin. I believe according to Scripture that all sins are equal in the sight of God.”

Conservative Stan Welch, pastor of Blackwelder Park Baptist Church in Kannapolis, was elected president with 70 percent of the vote.

But the surprise nomination of moderate leader Blythe Taylor, associate minister of St. John's Baptist Church in Charlotte, drew 30 percent of the votes from the 3,276 messengers registered.

The board of directors elected Mike Cummings, director of missions for the Burnt Swamp Baptist Association, as acting executive director.

Cummings replaces George Bullard, current associate executive director. Bullard had been expected to remain until a search committee finds a new executive director. Instead, he will retire in August.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.



Thanksgiving observances reflect political agendas

November 18, 2005

Posted: 11/18/05

Thanksgiving observances
reflect political agendas

By G. Jeffrey MacDonald

Religion News Service

ATLANTA (RNS)–Ever since John Winthrop proclaimed in 1630 a mission to establish “a shining city on a hill” to inspire the world, America has grappled with notions of a national destiny led by the hand of God.

Now questions of a divine national purpose are playing out in a new setting–the Thanksgiving table. Agenda-driven groups are equipping gatherings nationwide with reflections on the holiday's meaning.

America's Table is a 20-page reflection for Thanksgiving prepared by the American Jewish Committee. It tells the stories of eight contemporary immigrants who found refuge and opportunity in America. (RNS photo courtesy of American Jewish Committee)

Like the particular snippets of American history invoked in each, these readings vary according to each sponsoring group's answer to the divine destiny question. They differ as to whether Thanksgiving should conjure thoughts of America as God's chosen instrument, or as an affront to all things sacred or as a mixed bag where glories and shames of the past trace to human rather than divine decisions.

To look closely at these reflections is to see distinct worldviews aiming to define what the holiday–and the nation–is all about. The efforts to define Thanksgiving's deepest meaning, one dining room table at a time, mirror larger–often political–agendas to shape how Americans understand their country as one nation under God.

Thanksgiving “has a series of possibilities that are built into the institution,” said anthropologist Bradd Shore, director of the Center for Myth and Ritual in American Life at Emory University in Atlanta. “It's about America, it has the Pilgrims, it has thanking God, it has turkey.”

Suggested reflections are “an attempt to renegotiate a holiday that was ambiguously religious,” he said, adding that if groups can get enough people to accept their vision of Thanksgiving, “then you've changed the culture.”

That's exactly what Barbara Rainey, an evangelical Christian, says she had in mind when she wrote Thanksgiving: A Time to Remember, a 2002 reflection that takes about 45 minutes to read or hear on a newly released compact disc.

Rainey worried that schoolchildren weren't hearing about the faith that inspired Pilgrims to reach the New World, she said, so she begins the book by characterizing Thanksgiving as “both distinctly Christian and exclusively American, a holiday for celebrating faith, family and freedom.”

She goes on to tell how early European settlers nearly starved on their God-given mission to establish a haven for religious freedom, but “sustained by God's grace,” they survived.

“Children growing up in America don't really understand our Christian heritage,” said Rainey, whose husband, Dennis, is president of Family Life, a $43 million evangelical ministry in Little Rock, Ark. “I just want to see Americans become more grateful for the privileges we have because we may not have them always, and the surest way to lose them is to lose understanding of where (this freedom) came from and why we have it, and to realize that being a free people is a great gift.”

Other evangelicals share a similar goal. Colorado-based Focus on the Family posts five Thanksgiving-related reflections on its website this month.

On the other hand, the American Jewish Committee and 10 other organizations are offering another type of reflection, on the immigrant history of America, emphasizing human rather than divine agency.

This 20-page reflection, downloadable free of charge from the American Jewish Committee's website, tells the stories of eight contemporary immigrants who found refuge and opportunity in America. It contends preservation of this tradition rests squarely on human shoulders.

“We are the stewards of America,” the text says. “In America, each of us is entitled to a place at the table.”

But it notes those rights haven't always been protected.

“Not every journey was easy,” the text reads. “The first arrivals sometimes shunned those who followed. Not every journey was voluntary. The first African slaves landed in Jamestown a year before the Pilgrims settled in Plymouth. Not every journey was righteous. Native Americans were devastated by a new nation's need to conquer, cultivate and build.”

The American Jewish Committee maintains its reflection is ideal for interfaith gatherings and appropriate for a Thanksgiving celebration that is evolving for many Americans.

In its reflection, United American Indians of New England is even more critical of American history. On Thanksgiving Day, Native Americans from as far away as Hawaii will gather with an estimated 1,000 white sympathizers in Plymouth, Mass., for the organization's 36th annual National Day of Mourning.

When coverage of the event arrives via television in living rooms, perhaps between football games, organizers hope to get viewers thinking about America's failure to practice moral righteousness from the beginning.

“What we're protesting is the whole mythology of Pilgrims and this whole fantasy that's presented as history,” said Mahtowin Munro, a leader of the Native American group.

It's a fantasy, Munro said, “that the Europeans came over here and the native people somehow welcomed them with open arms and were treated very fairly by the Pilgrims.”

“It doesn't tell a true history of this country. It certainly doesn't tell a true history what happened to us. It certainly doesn't talk about things like genocide,” which she said resulted from battles between European settlers and natives in the 17th century.

Despite a checkered history, others see a nation inextricably tied to God. Among them is Ken Masugi, a senior fellow at the conservative Claremont Institute in Claremont, Calif. In the most recent of his annual written statements on the meaning of Thanksgiving, he argues presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln established the tradition to be “a holy day, a day for prayer and recognition of Almighty God's authority over man.”

A nation that remembers its permanent relationship with God will be happier, healthier and less inclined to seek financial benefits from government, he said.

“Thanksgiving is something everyone understands, but we have lost touch with its highest meaning,” Masugi said. “What we are as a nation relies on a recognition of something transcendent, and that something is religious. … Without an appreciation of our dependence on the divine, I think we're lost as a people. Trying to find satisfaction purely in the material world is a hopeless chase.”

To straighten the nation's course, he recommends doing what he does at Thanksgiving–reading aloud from Lincoln's proclamation of 1863, which offers thanks for “gracious gifts of the Most High God” and ends by offering “humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience.”

It's as relevant today, he said, as it was then.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.



Texas Tidbits

November 18, 2005

Posted: 11/18/05

Texas Tidbits

DBU named among top wireless campuses. Intel Corporation recently named Dallas Baptist University among the top 25 campuses in the United States for its on-campus wireless Internet capabilities. The process of installing a wireless network on the DBU campus started in 1999 and was completed this summer.

DOM elected Southwestern alum president. David Kimberly, director of missions for Central Texas Baptist Area, was unanimously elected president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary's Baptist General Convention of Texas alumni association at the group's gathering in Austin, held in conjunction with the BGCT annual meeting. Elwin Collom, incumbent president of the alumni organization and pastor of First Baptist Church in Coahoma, nominated Kimberly.

ETBU presents Christmas concert. The East Texas Baptist University School of Fine Arts will present "Christmas in Marshall: A Concert of the Season" at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 2 in Baker Auditorium of the Rogers Spiritual Life Center. The event, co-sponsored by ETBU and the Marshall Regional Arts Council, features holiday music performed by groups from the ETBU music department conducted by Choral Director James Moore and Band Director Brent Farmer. Admission costs is $5. For more information, call (903) 935-4484.

Meyer family endows Hinson chair at Truett Seminary. The Paul and Jane Meyer Family Foundation gave $1.5 million to Baylor University's Truett Theological Seminary to endow a chair in Christian Scriptures in honor of Bill Hinson–a 1953 Baylor University graduate and longtime pastor who now serves as vice chairman and chief executive officer of the Haggai Institute. Truett Dean Paul Powell appointed David Garland, associate dean for academic affairs, as the first professor to occupy the chair.

UMHB chemistry department receives grant. The Robert A. Welch Foundation awarded a $75,000 grant to the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor chemistry department. The purpose of the grant, which will be provided in $25,000 installments over three years, is to support chemical research by members of the chemistry department faculty–Darrell Watson and Dennis Dillin–and provide an opportunity for students to study chemistry in a less-structured way.

Baylor museum professor honored. Kenneth Hafertepe, professor in museum studies at Baylor University, was one of three winners of the 2005 publication awards at the Southeastern Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians conference in Fort Worth. Hafertepe was presented the 2005 article award for "The Romantic Rhetoric of the Spanish Governor's Palace, San Antonio" published in Southwestern Historical Quarterly in October 2003.

Wayland breaks ground for activity center. Wayland Baptist University will hold the official groundbreaking for the Pete and Nelda Laney Student Activities Center at 11 a.m. Nov. 21. Speakers include Trustee Chairman Vernon Stokes, President Paul Armes and Laney, former Texas speaker of the house. A reception will follow immediately in the atrium of the Mabee Learning Resources Center. The 50,000-square-foot facility will include a double gymnasium, an indoor elevated running track, a weight room and aerobics area, classrooms, a student lounge and snack bar area, and a climbing wall. Construction is expected to be completed by the beginning of the fall 2006 semester.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.



TOGETHER: Texas Baptists have much work to do

November 18, 2005

Posted: 11/18/05

TOGETHER:
Texas Baptists have much work to do

This year's Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting left me with a profound sense of gratitude at being part of this great family of believers. We celebrated what Baptists, as part of the larger body of Christ, “bring to the table.”

Other Christians bring their gifts, their insights and their faithfulness, but this is what Baptists bring–a passion for missions and prayerful, thoughtful faith.

On Monday evening of the annual meeting, I set forth the following seven-point agenda for the BGCT:

wademug
Executive Director
BGCT Executive Board

bluebull Begin new churches. The eternal destiny of millions of people in Texas is at stake. Do we care that there are 4 million more Texans today than there were 10 years ago? That in the next five years we expect another 2 million new Texans? I believe God is calling the BGCT to help start 1,500 churches by the end of 2010.

bluebull Affirm the children. It's time we affirm the priority of ministry to children, just as Jesus did. Children need to know they are loved, that someone believes in them, that God not only created them but knows their name. We will work to help strengthen families, but we must do more. We can work with schools, tutor children, provide clothing, study the issues that plague children and make sure our elected representatives understand the needs of children.

bluebull Pray for God's peace. We pray for God's peace to reign in the souls of people, and we pray for God's peace to reign in families, churches and communities. We are followers of the Prince of Peace, and we must never allow our prayers and hopes for peace to be silenced or discouraged by war. And as we pray for peace, we must work for justice.

bluebull Transform lives and communities. When a church understands itself to be the presence of Christ in its community everything begins to change–sometimes just a little, and sometimes a lot. People need a Jesus kind of church, because a Jesus kind of church is a transformational, reconciling, life-changing, community-changing church. I appeal to every Texas Baptist church. Implement a strategy to reach your community for Christ.

bluebull Inspire courageous servant-leaders. There is just one thing worse than a dictator for a leader; it's a leader who is afraid to lead. The BGCT is focusing resources to help in calling out, equipping, supporting, connecting and encouraging ministers for a lifetime of ministry.

bluebull Share in the giving. If we did not have the Cooperative Program giving plan, we would be trying our best to figure out how to develop one. You will know your church has caught the vision when they begin to see the Cooperative Program not as an expense to be borne, but as an engine for delivering eternal blessing around the world.

bluebull Touch the world. Every church can have at least one ministry in its local community and one ministry somewhere else in the world. And you can double that every two years. What needs to be done? Look around your community and use Jesus' words to help you determine what you need to be doing.

We are a blood-bought people. We dare not act as though this is all about us. Someday, we will gather around the throne of God, and we will sing: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever. Amen” (Revelation 5:13).

We are loved.

Charles Wade is executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.



Storylist for 11/14/05 issue

November 18, 2005

Storylist for week of 11/14/05

GO TO SECTIONS:
• Around Texas       • Baptists      
• Faith In Action

      • Departments      • Opinion       • Bible Study      





• Tennessee university to elect own trustees

Articles from our 11/14 issue



• Transforming Community



• Transforming Community

• Donation enables church's enhanced community ministry

• BGCT leaders discuss bylaws changes

• Baptists respond to new Baylor president

• Baylor interim may be Mercer president

• Photo exhibit raises awareness about homeless

• Hurricane response funds put to use

• Musical upbringing provided foundation for ministry

• Federal official addresses Hispanic laity

• Mystery of God only answer for serious evangelicals

• Piper Institute names Brooks executive director

• South Texas School president elected

• Faith motivates volunteers engaged in community service

• Disinterested students discover Christ in university classes

• Doubting seeker finds faith at Wayland Baptist University

• Texas Tidbits

• On the Move

• Around the State

Previously Posted
• Baylor regents unanimously elect Lilley president



• Alabama Baptists deny brouhaha over brewer's water

• Brantley Center houses volunteers

• Baptist Briefs



• San Antonio church seeks to transform its community



• Novelist trades vampire tales for early life of Christ

• Ancient church ruins discovered near Megiddo, Israel

• Even intelligent design advocates see problems

• Movie explores dark days of 'Man in Black'

• 'Painter of light' offers warm and welcoming images

• Girls of Grace promotes teen modesty, chastity

• Most ministers dissatisfied with their prayer lives

• Marriage amendment decisively approved

• Eight nations cited for religious liberty violations

• Religious Right suffers setbacks at polls

• Sex ed ruling reviled



• Cartoon

• Classified Ads

• Texas Baptist Forum

• On the Move

• Around the State



• DOWN HOME: Like father, like son

• EDITORIAL: 'Pour out your heart' & fight hunger

• TOGETHER: Constitution, bylaws reflect hard work

• 2nd Opinion: Laws can add 'cheerful' to giving

•Right or Wrong? Fair trade coffee

• Texas Baptist Forum

• Cyber Column by John Duncan: Life of a pastor



• BaptistWay Bible Series for Nov. 13: Regardless of leadership, follow God

• Family Bible Series for Nov. 13: Look to God for answers to life's hard questions

• Explore the Bible Series for Nov. 13: A lack of vigilance will bring sin to the fore

• BaptistWay Bible Series for Nov. 20: Wasted potential is a danger all face

• Family Bible Series for Nov. 20: Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom

• Explore the Bible Series for Nov. 20: When evil closes in, remember God's promises


See articles from previous issue 11/07/05 here.



Right or Wrong? Stem Cells (Again)

November 18, 2005

Posted: 11/18/05

Right or Wrong?
Stem cell research (again)

This past week, my doctor told me that, in a few years, stem-cell research could lead to a cure for my illness. My brother objects to stem-cell research. How should I think about this medical development?

Stem-cell research is one of the major hot-button topics in American society today. Unfortunately, many people have formed their opinion on the subject without knowing what stem cells are or what the research means. The first step in thinking about the issue is to become informed about it. It is a complex issue, but many resources are available to aid in that education.

Briefly, a stem cell is a type of primitive, unspecialized cell, which has the potential to develop into a cell with a more specialized function, such as a blood cell, brain cell or heart tissue. Stem cells also have the potential to replenish themselves indefinitely through cell division. As a result, stem-cell research provides the possibility of developing these cells into replacements to aid in the treatment of devastating illnesses, such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, Lou Gehrig's disease, heart disease and others.

The major ethical issue concerns how these stem cells are collected. Although stem cells can be collected in limited amounts from adults or even from umbilical cord tissue, the primary source of these cells today is from human embryos. At present, the process of extracting the stem cells destroys the embryo. The primary moral argument centers on this destruction.

For many pro-life supporters, this issue basically is the same as abortion. The foundational belief is that life begins at conception, and thus the embryo is a human being with a soul. The destruction of that embryo to remove stem cells would be murder and unjustifiable for any reason. Groups such as Focus on the Family, the American Family Association and the Roman Catholic Church oppose all embryo stem-cell research based on this belief.

For others, the decision is not quite so black and white. Some struggle with attaching human soul status to the embryo. Others weigh the loss of an unimplanted embryo's potential against the potential to drastically improve the life of a fully developed but diseased human. They see a greater good of relieving pain and suffering balancing out the loss of embryos. To them, a carefully controlled approach to stem-cell research is valid. Groups such as the National Institutes of Health and the American Medical Association support such an approach.

An issue like stem-cell research actually can help a person define his or her methods of decision making. It forces one to confront concepts about whether the most important thing is following strict rules or if the end justifies the means. How significant is the idea of the greatest good, and what or who determines any definition of that good? How does love lead us to act? All of these concerns form the basis for vastly different methods of decision making.

Ultimately, you must define what the important issues are in the situation, consider the principle parties involved, and weigh the costs versus the benefits. A major component in this decision-making process is being able to sort out the myths and irrational fears that surround any type of medical research that appear to be beyond the grasp of those who are not medical professionals. Learning what the facts are and then using those facts to form an educated decision should be the goal of all those interested in such situations.

Van Christian, pastor

First Baptist Church

Comanche

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.



BaptistWay Bible Series for Nov. 27: Everything is to be subjugated to God’s will

November 18, 2005

Posted: 11/15/05

BaptistWay Bible Series for Nov. 27

Everything is to be subjugated to God’s will

• Judges 17:1-6; 18:1; 19:1; 20:1-5; 21:25


By Ronnie Prevost

Logsdon Seminary, Abilene

“Just wait,” they told me, “things could get worse.” So, I waited and, sure enough, things got worse.

Have you ever felt that way? Throughout the book of Judges, we have read of Israel’s decline, or as this unit’s title puts it, Israel’s downward spiral. We may think we have seen the worst in Israel with the stories of idolatry, human sacrifice, unworthy and fearful leaders, and wasted potential we have studied.

The three intertwined tales found in this last lesson of the unit, however, show a climax—the worst of the worst. It is a sad summary of a people—supposedly God’s people—falling to pieces.

The first story, told in Judges 17:1-6, involves a man from Ephraim named Micah. He had stolen 1,100 pieces of silver—from his mother! Fearful due to a curse his mother pronounced at the discovery of the theft, Micah confessed. In response, she blessed him, counteracting the curse.

Sounds just like a loving mother, doesn’t it? The problem is, she let him keep the silver he used to mold an idol and also religious clothing and relics to use in worshipping the idol. He then paid a Levite to legitimize the idolatry by leading in that worship. To top that, the mother spent 200 pieces of silver to build the shrine where the idol would reside.

Next, in Judges 18:1, we read the tribe of Dan sought, “a place of their own where they might settle.” This tribe already had shown a reluctance to join the struggle for taking the land God had given them. They are chided, in Judges 5:17 for not following the judge, Deborah. Now they remained unwilling to receive the inheritance God particularly intended for them. It was too hard, the Amorites too strong. So, still doubting God’s power, they moved to the north and picked on someone smaller than themselves. No surprise then that when they came upon Micah, they took over his shrine and worshipped that idol.

Finally, Judges 19:1 and 20:1-5 tell the tale of a Levite—much like the Levitical priest of Micah—and his concubine. They had just reconciled after a marital tiff. Returning home, they spent one night in the town of Gibeah in the tribe of Benjamin. There some men of Gibeah rape and murder the concubine. The outrage that ensued brought an assembly of all the Israelite tribes, from Dan (now in the far north) to Beer-Sheba in the southernmost parts of Judah. Those there (400,000 infantrymen alone) swore vengeance and pronounced their justice: death to all the Gibeahite men (not just the guilty).

But things did not turn out as they had planned. Chaos resulted and the tribe of Benjamin virtually was wiped out. The extreme measure to which Israel went to cover their mistakes and attempt a remedy are both tragic and comic.

As bad as it can get, the three stories tell of “bottoming out,” each one topping the other for disgrace until the summary observation in 21:25, “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit,” which echoes what is written in 17:6.

How true it was. Israel had no king, and certainly not God. Moses was long dead. So were Joshua and the judges such as Deborah and Gideon. With no leader everyone, as the saying goes, “did their own thing.”

Of course, Israel was not sure whether or not they wanted a king. They wavered on that issue. There was the ill-advised attempt to recruit Gideon for that position. On the other hand, in 1 Samuel 12:12-15, they balked when God sent them a king (Saul).

Never satisfied. Seldom faithful. Hardly obedient. (How many commandments were broken in these three stories?) That final verse really does say it all.

The bad news is we really are no better today than the Israelites. It seems we can easily make idols out of everything—and anyone! In our desire to be fiercely independent, we do things our way with no consideration of God as our king. As happened with Israel, our lives, too, fall to pieces when we exclude God from them. We say we long for direction from God, but refuse to follow when his commands direct us to a direction we fear to go.

Chaos is inevitable—in our lives, our world and our churches—when we follow our own selfish ways. Continuing to be like Israel in that day, we seek our own remedies. The result is similar: chaos and confusion are compounded. Individually and collectively, we fall apart.

Is there hope? Oh, yes! The entire Bible is filled with stories of good people gone bad and bad people whom God makes good. Throughout Scripture, we read about the evil of which people are capable when they do not follow God—and the great things that God can do through them when they follow God. After all, isn’t that why God came down as his Son—to pick up the pieces of broken humanity and our broken lives? Without Jesus as our King, the downward spiral of our lives is inevitable. With him we can be whole.


Discussion question

• How does our idolatry today cause brokenness in our lives and our churches?

• How does/can God put broken lives and churches back together?


News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.



Family Bible Series for Nov. 27: Submission to the will of God is an imperative

November 18, 2005

Posted: 11/15/05

Family Bible Series for Nov. 27

Submission to the will of God is an imperative

• Job 42:1-17

By Donald Raney

Westlake Chapel, Graham

Few people find the idea of submission to be appealing. We willingly submit to the authority of the law and our employer to avoid repercussions, but most do not willingly submit to the will of another person. Often, even in the midst of physical or emotional suffering, many people stubbornly refuse to place themselves under the authority of someone else.

In times of significant struggles, some may even fail to submit their will to God’s care and leadership. Yet it is precisely when we have submitted ourselves to God that he can most clearly reveal himself and his will to us. It only is when we have surrendered our plans and perspectives to God that we are open to accept God’s instruction.

Few people in the Bible learned this lesson more clearly than Job. After all of the speeches by his friends and Job’s own repeated declaration of innocence before God, Job ultimately comes to realize that when life caves in, the best plan is to continue to submit to and honor the sovereign Creator.


Job 42:1-6

For the first 37 chapters of Job, God’s voice is not heard outside the heavenly assembly. God patiently allows the speeches of Job and his friends to continue until Job boldly calls on God to answer for the way Job has been treated. Out of his growing frustration, Job challenges God’s sense of justice.

God answers in chapters 38-41. In those chapters, God clearly asserts his unique place as the Creator by outlining his power, knowledge and sovereignty over all of creation. The tone of God’s words in these chapters does not appear to be that of a reprimand of Job. Yet God clearly wants to remind Job of his position in relation to that of God.

It also should be noted that in these chapters God does not give Job an answer to his question of why he has suffered. He merely reminds Job that God is in possession of knowledge far surpassing all Job could dream of and that he exercises that knowledge in sovereignty over creation. Chapter 42 then represents Job’s response to God’s revelation.

God’s words appear to have had the desired effect. Job’s tone in chapter 42 clearly had changed from one demanding answers to one of humble submission to the power of God. He has been reminded of the gulf that lies between his knowledge and that of God.

In verse 3, he admits he had spoken of things that he did not understand. He then goes on to state that, since he now understands, he repents. Job is not repenting here of some great earlier sin that had led to his suffering as his friends had suggested. Instead he is repenting of the presumptuous attitude and accusation he made concerning God’s justice. While he will continue to bring his questions to God, Job now understands he is in no position to accuse God.


Job 42:7-9

Having heard Job’s response, God turns to address the three friends who had given Job advice. God clearly is displeased with the way they had spoken to Job. Twice God affirms they had not spoken the truth in offering their opinions. All suffering is not due to punishment for sin on the part of the one suffering. These men had not consulted God before offering their explanations of Job’s pain.

Job is shown to have been more righteous in his words than his friends by the repeated phrase “my servant Job.” These friends should thus repent and offer sacrifices to God. They will further benefit as the righteous Job intercedes for them. This is another way in which Job is honored by God. Having committed his own life to God, Job is in a position to offer genuine prayers for God to show mercy to his friends.

Intercessory prayer is indeed a powerful tool which God grants to all believers. It not only is effective in the life of the one being prayed for, but also affects the life of the one praying by strengthening his or her commitment to God and keeping his or her focus on the needs of others.


Job 42:10-17

The book of Job concludes with the happiest of endings. God returns to Job all he had lost and more. His health is restored, he becomes financially prosperous again and he regains a large family. While it appears Job certainly was rewarded for remaining faithful to God, we must be very careful how we handle and apply the end of this story.

God is not promising to reward financially or otherwise all believers in this life. Indeed such a claim would contradict the primary message of the book. Just as suffering is not a sign of punishment for disobedience, prosperity is not a sign of blessing for obedience.

Job tells us we cannot break God’s thoughts and acts down into a simplistic equation that mandates certain actions by God. God’s ways are much higher than ours. While God does want us to bring our questions to him, he alone ultimately holds the answers and determines when to reveal them. Our task is to remain faithfully submitted to God and enjoy whatever blessings God sends.


Discussion questions

• What are some of the ways that we can maintain our submission to God?

• When was the last time you personally experienced the results of intercessory prayer?

• If you could have any one question answered by God what would it be?


News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.



Explore the Bible Series for Nov. 27: Circumstances can’t defeat God’s purposes

November 18, 2005

Posted: 11/15/05

Explore the Bible Series for Nov. 27

Circumstances can’t defeat God’s purposes

• Romans 8:28-39

By Trey Turner

Canyon Creek Baptist Church, Temple

A particular circumstance tests the application of this lesson on God’s providential care.

I baptized the same morning Kyle Lake was tragically killed doing the same. University Baptist Church in Waco saw their pastor electrocuted while serving the Lord among the congregation he loved.

I have ministered to families in grief, performed funerals and heard news of tragic circumstances before, but this scenario disturbs me because baptism in a church should be safe. It challenges previously assumed “safe-places” with a reminder that safety is not surety.

What can the believer hope for in God’s provision? Can he or she expect safety? Comfort? Protection from death or illness? What do these circumstances mean for that believer’s faith?


God’s work: No worries (Romans 8:28-30)

Grief makes people feel so alone. Quoting Romans 8:28 can seem like a mean lecture from well-meaning people who have not experienced this grief. They say, “Trust God; it will all work out.”

The Apostle Paul talked about how the Spirit of God helps people when they do not know what to pray (v. 26). Here he begins by saying what believers do know: “We know that God works” in circumstances. Even when people do not know how God can redeem bad circumstances, he works in them because God works “in all things.” By themselves, “things” cannot and do not work themselves out. The belief that “all things work together” must be understood instead to mean, “God works in all things.”

Paul’s conviction, “we know,” is the Christian’s hope—the firm belief that God works all circumstances toward a good end. Specifically, God is bringing the believer through even bad circumstances to a God-honoring end—his or her completed end as a sanctified disciple of Jesus Christ.

Paul says the thought should not linger which says, “God cannot use this incident.” Instead, affirming, “God will see me through and I will be more than I am now.”


God’s love: No doubts (Romans 8:31-32)

Read the “if” statement as the grammar suggests saying, “Since God is for us,” what can keep the believer down? Since at great effort, God has worked to bring the believer redemption, why would one think he would stop short of that goal? He or she is encouraged to have a steadfast hope. In difficult circumstances, do not doubt God’s love.


Christ’s work: No charges (Romans 8:33-34)

Since the believer does not doubt God’s goodness, nor does he doubt God’s love, should the believer have reason to doubt the power of Christ’s work? There is no one who can bring a condemning word which will stick because Jesus Christ is the one who reaches. God’s love is for everyone … the believer’s goodness cannot be brought into question. Jesus accomplishes the Christian’s justification completely as he or she responds to God’s work in Christ.

Since the Christian responds to God’s choosing, the Christian’s salvation means charges that the believer does not belong to God or is not faithful to God cannot be brought. Jesus himself is serving as his or her advocate to accomplish continuing sanctification. Jesus’ work on the believer is ongoing and will be finished


Christ’s love: No separation (Romans 8:35-39)

Therefore, what circumstance can take the Christian out of God’s purposes? Nothing. Paul’s own experiences are such that he and his companions stare death in the face and still see God complete his goals of redemption. They celebrate God’s mercy even as they are redeeming others. Paul’s list of those things which are most likely to paralyze a believer’s courage add up to nothing, for he says, “I am convinced” these forces and distances cannot separate the Christian from God’s ongoing, active redemption.

It is with humility that I approach the great loss of University Baptist and especially that grief of the Lake family. One trembles under such pressure, yet Paul affirms the magnificent activity of God from the midst. Fellow believers, pray Christ’s joy as you see his mercy and fellowship through these difficult times. May the wonder of his strength overwhelm you and keep you close to him. Finally, may his ministry to you serve as fuel for God’s glory as you minister to others.


Discussion questions

• What fears do Christians have today?

• What fears keep believers from obedience?

• What fears keep believers from ministry?

• From these verses, how would you encourage people to overcome their fears and find courage to be faithful despite them?


News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.



Harris: Leaders model evangelism lifestyle

November 18, 2005

Posted: 11/15/05

Harris: Leaders model evangelism lifestyle

By Jenny Pope

AUSTIN—Congregations will reflect the lifestyles of their leaders—especially when it comes to evangelism, Pastor Jeff Harris pastor of Grace Point Baptist Church in San Antonio told participants at a seminar during the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting.

“Evangelism begins and ends with you,” Harris said. “Either you embody the lifestyle or you do not. If you do not have a passion for lost people, your own people never will. That passion has to come from you, the leaders.”

Harris has focused his efforts on the neighbors in his cul-de-sac, holding picnics and praying intentionally with his family for opportunities to share Christ’s love. He has seen eight neighbors come to faith in Christ.

“There are opportunities we miss everyday,” he said. “When we begin to live out our faith in our lives, it becomes an epidemic, infectious, and it will spread in our community. Like Acts 1:8 says, ‘When the Holy Spirit comes on you in power, you will be my witness.’ You have to expect things to happen.”

When ministers teach church members how to embody their faith and expect things to happen, leaders also must equip them to share their story, he said.

“Your people do not need another program,” he said. “They already have the knowledge to share their story and the Holy Spirit within them. The only thing they need to know is I once was lost and now I’m found.”

Harris said he does not consider himself an expert and will never write a book on the subject.

“There’s already a book; it’s called the New Testament,” he said. But he does not shy away from speaking the truth about the churches he sees today.

“Some of us are so legalistic we’re starching our underwear,” he said. “We need to loosen up a little bit. We’ve gotten so acculturated where we only have church parties with church people. … It’s true—lost people stink. But we cannot protect our kids from the world. We can only prepare them for it.”



News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.



Austin church impacts community by going door-to-door

November 18, 2005

Posted: 11/15/05

Austin church impacts
community by going door-to-door

By Miranda Bradley

AUSTIN—Opportunity knocked this week for Eva Agueera, a five-year Austin resident. When she answered the door, Robert Flores stood with a Bible in hand. After a brief conversation in her apartment doorway, Agueera accepted Christ as her Savior.

Agueera’s was the first home visited by Flores, a member of the Iglesia Bautista Principe De Paz Baptist evangelism team. The team of 20 meets three times a week for training so they can make the most of their door-to-door ministry.

Leady Santos, 16, said she is always eager to share Jesus with others.

“Sometimes they will be skeptical because I’m so young. But, I’m doing this for God, even if they don’t open the door.”

Pastor Nestor Menjivar, said he has a different goal for his team than most.

“We are not doing this to grow our church,” he said. “We’re trying to get the word of God out there, to plant a seed.”

Menjivar’s ultimate goal is to seek out possibilities for new churches in homes or apartment complexes.

Much of the community around the church does not have transportation to and from church. That was the case for Agueera, who had not attended church services since she moved from Mexico. Without a car, she was unable to take part in worship services she loved so much. That, Menjivar said, drives the motivation for satellite churches.

“Evangelism is different these days,” he said. “You have to keep a kingdom view, or you will become discouraged.”

Dozens of people have converted to Christianity as a result of the evangelism teams’ ministry. Some of them do not attend Iglesia Bautista Principe De Paz. But Menjivar does not complain.

“And that’s OK with me,” he said. “We’re just planting the seeds for a ministry that will come later. Maybe the harvest is not for us to reap.”

Flores has only been involved in the ministry for two months, but said his greatest thrill is when a person accepts the Lord.

“Whenever you see something like that it feels great,” he said after leading Agueera to Christ. “You know you will see them in heaven then.”

Menjivar credits ministries like the door-to-door evangelism effort for increasing the church’s visibility in the area.

“People know who we are,” he said. “The difference between us and some other ministries is we are not saying they need to join our church. We’re inviting them to meet Jesus Christ. That’s the best gift we can possibly give them—the opportunity for salvation.”


News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.



BWA honors Texas Baptists as ‘full members’

November 18, 2005

Posted: 11/15/05

BWA honors Texas Baptists as 'full members'

By Craig Bird

AUSTIN—Denton Lotz, general secretary of the Baptist World Alliance, presented Baptist General Convention Texas Executive Director Charles Wade with a framed membership certificate signifying the recent acceptance of the BGCT as a full member in the 100-year-old Baptist fellowship.

Lotz noted when the BWA was founded 100 years ago, “85 percent of the world’s Christians lived in Europe and the United States, but now 60 percent of Christians live in the southern hemisphere. There are 400 million believers in Africa, 550 million in Latin America and 360 million in Asia.

“The church has moved south—and I don’t mean south to Texas but south of the equator,” he said during the BGCT annual meeting. “God didn’t call just the NATO countries when he gave us the Great Commission. He gave it to Christians everywhere.”

Lotz pledged that BWA will continue its work supporting Baptist churches around the world as they preach the gospel, will help the needy through Baptist World Aid and work to promote and protect human rights and religious freedom.

“We want religious freedom for everyone, everywhere,” he said. “We want Hindus and Buddhists and Muslims to be free to worship—but we demand the same freedom for Christians.

“We will continue to tell countries like Saudi Arabia and Yemen that since you take advantage of your freedom to build mosques in the United States and Europe, then you need to grant us the freedom build churches and freely share our faith in your countries.”


News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.