Posted: 10/28/05

Kirbyville church showers
hurting community with kindness

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

KIRBYVILLE–Before Hurricane Rita hit, Pastor Charles Burchett asked his church members to be “wells of refreshing.” After the storm, they let the waters flow.

First Baptist Church became a stabilizing force in Kirbyville, a town that only recently had clean running water and electricity restored. Long after the storm, gas stations and grocery stores in the community still were not completely functional.

Burchett expects chainsaw crews to be cutting down and removing trees from people's homes until the end of the year.

“We will be working in people's yards,” he said. “Priority one is getting trees off houses. We are working with elderly and poor who cannot get the trees off their houses.”

People gather for prayer at First Baptist Church in Kirbyville the night after Hurricane Rita moved through the area.

Local residents recognize First Baptist as the place to find help in Kirbyville. The Federal Emergency Management Agency set up at the church, providing food, ice and other supplies.

An Arkansas Baptist feeding team set up on the church's parking lot. Texas Baptists brought numerous supplies to help. Texas Baptist Men chainsaw teams also worked in the area.

Ted Elmore with the Baptist General Convention of Texas contacted Hilltop Baptist Church in Mount Vernon and told Pastor Van Patton that First Baptist Church in Kirbyville was in need of baby supplies. The request matched Patton's passion to help children affected by the recent hurricanes.

That night, Hilltop members brought First Baptist Church $5,000 in supplies. The BGCT reimbursed the congregation for its expense.

“Babies are my favorite subject when it comes to God's people. God put it on my heart to go help them,” Patton said.

First Baptist Church members gave food to people throughout the community. Members enlisted other churches to help them.

Once residents in town had their needs met, the church moved supplies to a location outside of Kirbyville to better serve people living in rural areas that had more needs.

Burchett's wife, Beverly, said church members demonstrated the Spirit of Christ in serving others. And it opened avenues to share the gospel.

Members freely talked about their faith and prayed with people as a result of their relief ministries.

“We have seen the wells of refreshing flow from our church,” she said. “The community's view of us is so positive.”

People need to have their physical needs met, but they need much more in trying times, Mrs. Burchett said. She can see this every time she looks at a person who drives to the church to pick up food.

“You can just see it in their eyes,” she said. “They need more than food. They need a touch from the Lord.”

Kindness from Christians is changing lives and an entire community, she commented.

“People have seen there is love,” Mrs. Burchett said. “We love them. We love each other.

“I believe our community will never be the same.”

Posted: 10/28/05

Russian orphan still needs adoptive family

DALLAS–Oksana, a 13-year-old orphan from St. Petersburg, Russia, still needs a family after visiting North Texas last summer through Buckner Orphan Care International's “Angels from Abroad” program.

Oksana lived with a volunteer host family for two weeks as part of the “Angels” initiative, designed to help raise awareness about the needs of older children living in Russian orphanages and Buckner's programs to improve their lives.

The urgent nature of the adoption need is both physical and emotional, said Mary Ann Hamby of Buckner International Adoption, also an adoptive parent.

“Every day these children live in an orphanage, they are deprived of the resources, love and nurture a family provides. There is an urgent need to find families for children age 7 and older and also for sibling groups,” she said.

Oksana's host family described her as “sweet, helpful and considerate. She enjoys music and is especially nurturing with animals and young children. She's initially cautious with strangers but becomes fun-loving and silly when she gets comfortable. She's also very adventurous and athletic, and sometimes a bit mischievous, but in a playful way.”

For more information about international adoption, Buckner hosts several International Adoption Workshops throughout the year for interested families.

Upcoming workshops are scheduled Nov. 18 in Houston and Dec. 13 in Fort Worth.

For more information about Oksana or any other children available for adoption through Buckner, contact Sharon Hedrick at shedrick@buckner.org or call (866) 236-7823 toll-free. Buckner International Adoption's workshop correspondence video and free pre-application now are available online at www.bucknerinternationaladoption.org.

Posted: 10/28/05

Fertility, not theology, cause of decline

By Greg Warner

Associated Baptist Press

CHICAGO (ABP)–The decline in membership of mainline churches over the last century had more to do with sex than theology, research by a trio of sociologists suggests.

The popular notion that conservative churches are growing because mainline churches are too liberal is being challenged by new research that offers a simpler cause for much of the mainline decline–the use of birth control. Differences in fertility rates account for 70 percent of the decline of mainline Protestant church membership from 1900 to 1975 and the simultaneous rise in conservative church membership, the sociologists said.

“For most of the 20th century, conservative women had more children than mainline women did,” three sociologists–Michael Hout of the University of California-Berkley, Andrew Greeley of the University of Arizona and Melissa Wilde of Indiana University–wrote in Christian Century.

“It took most of the 20th century for conservative women to adopt family-planning practices that have become dominant in American society,” the writers said. “Or to put the matter differently, the so-called decline of the mainline may ultimately be attributable to its earlier approval of contraception.”

While mainline churches could claim 60 percent of the total Protestant congregants in 1900, their share fell to 40 percent in 1960. Many religious observers and some sociologists attributed the drop–and simultaneous growth of conservative churches–to the lethargy of liberalism and the appeal of biblical certainty.

But simple demographics can account for almost three fourths of the mainline decline, the trio of sociologists said. “In the years after the baby boom, the mainline (fertility) rate declined earlier than did the rate of conservatives. Only in recent decades have the fertility rates of the two groups become similar.”

The researchers studied shifts in church membership from 1900 to 1975 and the accompanying differences in fertility rates between women in conservative churches–Baptist, Assembly of God, Pentecostal and the like–and mainline ones such as Presbyterian, Methodist, Episcopal and Lutheran.

They also created a demographic model that projected what would have happened to mainline and conservative memberships if the difference in fertility rates was the only factor influencing membership during the same period. “The answer is that it would look remarkably like it does in real life,” they concluded.

The trio also studied other factors that could have influenced the real-life shift in memberships. For instance, they looked at how many people switched from mainline to conservative churches during the period, and vice versa.

During most of the last century, more people moved from mainline to conservative churches than in the other direction. Conservatives were much more successful at retaining their church members, even when they married mainliners.

“The declining propensity of conservatives to convert to the mainline accounts for the 30 percent of mainline decline that fertility rates cannot account for,” they concluded.

The researchers investigated other possible causes for mainline decline–support for homosexual and abortion rights, a lower view of the Bible, a higher “apostasy” rate, and fewer conversions from outside the Christian fold. But they dismissed these other factors as irrelevant because none could produce numerical changes significant enough to explain the shift in church membership.

“Higher fertility and better retention thus account for the conservatives' rising share of the Protestant population,” they concluded.

However, the authors suggested, the trends underlying the mainline's decline “may be nearing their end.”

Fertility rates now are virtually the same between the two groups and will produce only a 1 percent decline in mainline membership over the next decade, they noted.

“Unless conservative Protestants increase their family size or mainline Protestants further reduce theirs, this factor in mainline decline will not be present in the future.”

Moreover, fewer people now are switching membership from mainline churches to conservative ones. While 30 percent of conservatives in the 1930s had come from mainline churches, only 10 percent of those counted among the conservatives in the early '90s had made the switch, the authors said.

That downward trend will continue–if only because there are fewer mainliners left to make the jump.

However, the sociologists cautioned, it could take 50 years before the conservatives' “demographic momentum” exhausts itself because people born during the conservatives' belated baby boom of the 1970s will be filling those pews for quite awhile.

Posted: 10/28/05

New stem cell methods answer
some questions, raise others

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)–Scientists have successfully tested two new methods designed to achieve the same ends as embryonic stem-cell research while avoiding the ethical controversy over the destruction of embryos.

The two methods are detailed in articles published on the website of the journal Nature. Both involve extraction of stem cells from embryos–highly valued for their potential to treat destructive diseases–without destroying an embryo that could otherwise grow into a healthy fetus.

Previously there was no definitive evidence such cells could be harvested without destroying the embryos that produced them.

Nonetheless, both new methods raise their own sticky ethical questions.

In the first study, two biologists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology took nuclei from mouse skin cells and implanted them in unfertilized mouse eggs. The resulting bundle of cells was essentially a cloned mouse embryo–a method scientists have referred to as “therapeutic cloning.”

However, researchers Rudolf Jaenisch and Alexander Meissner disabled genes in the cells' nuclei that allow embryos to grow placentas and continue to develop. The alterations rendered the bundles of cells incapable of further development.

The scientists then extracted the stem cells from the disabled embryos. In the second article, a team of researchers from Advanced Cell Technology in Worcester, Mass., grew eight-cell mouse embryos and then removed one of the cells, called blastomeres.

They then extracted the stem cells from the blastomere, while the other seven cells went on to develop into “apparently healthy mice,” the Nature article said.

Scientists are optimistic, the journal reported, both methods could be replicated using human embryos.

The first new method raises the specter of human cloning, as well as issues about the precise moral status of the disabled embryo that is created.

“I think this is an artificial concept, and I'm not comfortable with it,” said Alan Trounson, an Australian reproductive biologist who has done work on stem-cell research. “You do an engineering step to essentially destroy the embryo so that you can then use it.”

“It is unclear whether such an entity should be considered not an embryo, or simply an embryo altered for self-destruction,” said Tony Perkins, president of the Washington-based Family Research Council, in his e-mail newsletter. Perkins' group, like many conservative religious organizations, is strongly opposed to stem-cell research that destroys human embryos, as well as human cloning.

But an advocate of the first method told Nature the embryos created are not ones with an ethical status. “You have the embryonic equivalent of brain death,” said William Hurlbut, a professor at Stanford University.

The second method, meanwhile, poses moral difficulties for two reasons. First, scientists don't know with a high degree of certainty if the removal of one cell at the embryonic stage will cause long-term developmental problems for the resulting human. Second, the removed blastomere destroyed in the process itself may have the potential to grow into an embryo.

“If you grow it in certain conditions, it could divide and differentiate to have the same properties as embryos,” said Yuri Verlinsky, head of the Reproductive Genetics Institute in Chicago, according to Nature.

Posted: 10/28/05

TBM offers disaster relief

Eight Texas Baptist Men volunteers delivered water purification and cooking equipment to southern Mexico following Hurricane Stan, and two TBM emergency food service teams traveled to Florida to serve people affected by Hurricane Wilma.

Hurricane Stan made landfall south of Veracruz with 80 mph winds and destroyed at least 37,500 homes. The storm extensively damaged property in Chiapas, Veracruz, Guerrero and Oaxaca.

The Texas volunteers planned to show residents in the area how to use the cooking equipment and empower them to help their communities, TBM disaster relief leaders explained. Area residents were to be given water purifiers and trained in how to use them.

This ministry resulted from a request by the National Baptist Convention of Mexico through Dexton Shores, Baptist General Convention of Texas River Ministry coordinator.

“We've got thousands of people that are suffering great need, and as brothers and sisters in Christ, it's our desire to respond to that need as best we can,” Shores said. “The best way we can do that now is through the National Baptist Convention of Mexico.”

Hurricane Wilma made landfall Oct. 24 at Cape Romano, Fla., with sustained winds of 110 mph. The Texas disaster relief teams met at Marianna, Fla., for their assignments once the areas of greatest need were determined.

Posted: 10/28/05

Underwood resists idea of
potential Baylor presidential draft

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

WACO–Two groups representing past and present Baylor University faculty have written to the school's board of regents affirming Interim President Bill Underwood, and their leaders want the regents to retain him as interim for at least a full year.

At the same time, other Underwood supporters have raised the possibility of a campaign to draft him for the permanent president's post. But Underwood, who told the regents at their September meeting he wanted to remove his name from consideration for the permanent position, firmly insists he has not reconsidered.

“From the beginning of the presidential search process, I have thought that the best thing the committee could do would be to find a candidate to lead the university who has not been involved in any of the disputes we've had here. I think that's the best thing for the university,” Underwood said. “I am not a candidate for the presidency, and I will not be one.”

Underwood became Baylor's interim president June 1, after Robert Sloan left the post to become the university's chancellor. During the last two years of Sloan's 10 years as president, the Baylor Faculty Senate twice gave him “no confidence” votes, and regents voted three times on Sloan's continued employment–once reportedly coming within one vote of removing him from the president's post.

At its mid-October meeting, the Baylor Faculty Senate voted 31-0–with one member absent and one abstention–to approve a statement affirming Underwood and his leadership.

“Over the past four months, he has demonstrated an attitude of acceptance and respect for all faculty members, provided sound and transparent leadership, encouraged and modeled administrative efficiency, and undertaken concrete and intentional actions toward healing the university community. Interim President Underwood has the respect and appreciation of the Faculty Senate,” said the motion of affirmation mailed to regents.

More than 200 former faculty and staff also signed a letter to regents commending Underwood.

Baylor's Retired Professors and Administrators Program sent the letter, which noted, “The last several years have been characterized by great difficulties and much tension within the Baylor family.”

The letter commended regents for selecting Underwood as interim president, adding, “We strongly endorse your decision to allow him to continue in the restoration of trust and confidence” at the university.

Underwood's “quiet, level-headed leadership” has “created a very large measure of stability and greatly enhanced campus morale,” the letter stated. “Since his becoming the interim president, the spirit of cooperation and fellowship among all constituents of the Baylor family have improved significantly. His knowledge of Baylor, his sincere churchmanship and his generosity of spirit are qualities which are proving invaluable to Baylor's future.”

Faculty Senate Chairman Eric Robinson and Baylor University Retired Professors and Administrators Program Director Rufus Spain insisted their organizations' actions were not part of any effort to draft Underwood for the presidency.

“We're not trying to tell the regents what they should do,” Spain said.

But both Robinson and Spain expressed their desire to see the regents give Underwood an extended interim of one to two years.

“I believe Bill Underwood has done a good job up to this time, and he needs to be interim for at least a year or so,” Spain said. “We've got to get things settled here before we'll ever be able to get a good man in here (for the permanent president's position). I think Bill Underwood is the right person to do it for the interim. Who the right person is beyond that is up for grabs at this point.”

Many faculty members would like to see Underwood as the permanent president, Robinson said.

“This being said, it is obvious that many senators–and faculty–would like to see him remain as interim for an extended time because he is doing a great job,” he added.

Faculty report “a more comfortable work environment” and improved morale this semester, he noted.

“There was some discussion in the senate about how President Underwood's approach to faculty governance, attempts at organizational transparency, general respect for faculty and staff, and realistic outlook should be a model for the type of person the regents seek for our permanent president,” Robinson said.

Most faculty members believe Underwood is leading Baylor in the right direction and contributing to the university's organizational health, he observed.

“In addition, most faculty members understand that as the university becomes healthier, the quality of our applicant pool will improve,” Robinson said. “Therefore, it makes sense to me for the regents to give President Underwood more time–one to two years–to continue as the interim so we can ultimately get the high-quality president that Baylor deserves.”

Underwood expressed confidence in the regents' presidential search committee, saying, “I don't think they feel the need to rush. I am willing to serve for however long it takes.”

However, he added he hoped it wouldn't be two or three years. “Hopefully, the search committee can find someone sooner than that who can unite Baylor,” he said.

In the meantime, he plans to continue working on the goals of Baylor 2012 and meeting with faculty and staff to create an open and trusting climate on campus. As a symbol of that desire for transparency and openness, Underwood even ordered one of the doors removed from the president's office.

“I think we've made a lot of headway in improving the spirit on campus,” he said.

Posted: 10/28/05

Skater evangelism blends
boards & Bibles to reach teens

By Helena Andrews

Religion News Service

PORTLAND, Ore. (RNS)–Tattoos, piercings, skateboards–and Jesus? That combination may have seemed heretical a decade ago, but now mainstream churches have flipped a “one-eighty,” using skateboarders to bring teens into the fold.

“I think it often takes time for Christians to catch up on culture trends,” said Kevin Palau, executive director of the Oregon-based Luis Palau Evangelistic Association. The group produced Livin' It, a 40-minute DVD featuring skateboarders who also are Christians.

Livin' It has been one of the most popular skateboard videos of all time, and PalauFest Pro-ductions, the production arm of the evangelistic association, recently re-leased a second DVD, Livin' It LA. It features big-name skaters Christian Hosoi, Matt Beach, Lance Mountain, Lynn Cooper and others.

In addition, a “Livin' It Tour 2005” was launched earlier this year, with skateboard demonstrations and Christian testimonies in 20 cities.

“It takes time for churches and larger ministries to feel safe and comfortable with something new,” Palau said, but thanks to the ministry his father started in the mid-1960s, mainstream churches are seeing the advantage of blending boards and Bibles.

Skateboarding, which has gotten a bad reputation over the past 20 years as leading boarders into drugs, alcohol and sex, isn't the rebellious teen subculture it once was, Palau said. It's a powerful evangelistic tool, he said.

Skateboarders form a circle of prayer at an event sponsored by the Oregon-based Luis Palau Evangelistic Association.

The definition of Christian skateboarding is loose, but the Palau method melds wicked tricks on the half pipe with a Billy Graham-style evangelistic message. After demonstrating the newest moves, skateboarders then tell their personal stories to an attentive teen crowd.

Palau festivals have attracted young people with a combination of skateboarding, BMX biking, contemporary Christian music, food and a message from Luis Palau, the 70-year-old evangelist. The most recent festival was held earlier this month in Washington, D.C.

Tom Fain, a former pro skater turned youth pastor, says the Palaus have put a new spotlight on Christian skateboarding, but it has been around for years.

“My first experience with a skateboard ministry was actually in the late '70s, and there were a few organizations doing it back then,” Fain said.

In 1987, Skatechurch, arguably the nation's first organized skateboard ministry, was founded by two friends in the parking lot of Central Bible Church in Portland, Ore. Other groups followed, and traveling skateboard ministries sprouted across the country–the King of Kings Skateboard Minis-tries based in Idaho, Steel Roots in North Carolina and Glory Skateboards in California, among others. Estimates of how many skateboard ministries exist nationwide exceed 300.

The connection be-tween grinding and the gospel is obvious, Fain said. After winning the National Skateboarding Association's world championship in 1978, he said, he found his life empty.

“The fame and the money wasn't making me happy, so I just walked away from my career,” Fain recalled. So for most of the 1980s, he wandered the streets of Ventura, Calif., homeless, an alcoholic, sleeping on beaches and landing in the local jail.

Getting locked up, he said, is what saved him.

“I cried out to God one night, and someone gave me a Bible in jail,” Fain said. A week later, he stopped drinking, and in 1995, he convinced Sap Skateboards, a Christian skateboarding company with religious-themed boards, to sponsor him.

He traveled around Southern California demonstrating the company's boards and telling his story.

Now the owner of Sap and a youth pastor at Ventura Assembly of God, the 43-year-old Fain considers himself “a cutting-edge type of a Christian.”

The Palaus want to be on the cutting edge of evangelism. Since 1999, the ministry has been using skateboarding to grab the attention of the new extreme-sports generation. It builds a10,000-square-foot skate park at each of its U.S. festivals, which have seen nearly 2 million attendees in the past six years. About 30 percent of those are young people.

“Our vision was to take an evangelical celebration outdoors and make it more appealing to not just the Christian community, but the community at large,” said Craig Chastain, communications director for the evangelistic association.

By the Palau organization's count, about 52,000 people have converted to Christianity at these revivals. They want to add as many teens to that number as possible.

“More kids are riding skateboards now than are playing organized baseball,” Chastain said. So to extend their ministry even further last year, the evangelistic association got together with actor Stephen Baldwin to direct Livin' It.

But some Christians in the skate community take exception to selling evangelistic skateboarding videos, arguing they should be free.

“There's a lot of people right now trying to jump on the Christian skateboarding bandwagon to make a buck,” Fain said. “It's kind of sad. It's almost like they're compromising their beliefs.”

Palau organization spokesmen said the $10 retail price of their DVD is about one-third the price of most skate videos. Proceeds are re-invested in the ministry and the production of more DVDs. Kevin Palau said that of the 100,000 DVDs distributed so far, about one-third have been given away, including shipments sent to soldiers and chaplains in the military. Most have been distributed to churches and other ministries at or below cost, he said.

“It's very much a nonprofit ministry type of venture,” Palau said. “But our people have told us that if you just give something like this away it's not perceived as having value.”

Glen Darcey, a Christian skater since the 1970s who is shooting a DVD that will feature several pro skaters, said he doesn't plan to charge for his production. His goal is to go beyond the impact of the Palau DVD to get “reviews in Trans World, Skateboarder magazine or Thrasher–the legitimate skate outlets where non-Christian skaters would actually find out about it.”

While DVDs and their pricing will differ, there is agreement that skateboarding has become an effective vehicle for evangelicals to reach today's youth culture.

“People right now are hungry for something spiritual,” Fain said. “The method of reaching them constantly has to change to (adapt to) our culture, but the message we're delivering never changes.”

Posted: 10/28/05

Around the State

Baylor University's Martin Museum of Art is hosting two biblical art exhibitions. Talmud and the Art of Ben-Zion and Marc Chagall will run through Nov. 16 and showcase the works of two of the most important Jewish artists of the 20th century. Collector's Items: Biblical Art and Private Devotion will run through Dec. 3. Prints of biblical narratives dating from 1510 through 2000 are featured include the works of Durer and Rembrandt. The museum is open Tuesday through Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday noon to 5 p.m. For more information, call (254) 710-1867.

The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor will hold homecoming festivities Nov. 4-5. The events begin with homecoming chapel on Friday morning, when the Alumni Association will present the Distinguished Alumni Award and Honorary Alumni Award. The Heritage Club, graduates of 50 years or more, also will be honored. That evening will feature class reunion dinners, Friday Night Live, a pep rally and a dessert party. Saturday events include a golf tournament, campus tours and a tailgate party. Reservations for the barbecue lunch of the tailgate party must be made at (254) 295-4599.

Green Acres Church in Tyler has been named one of America's safest churches by GuideOne Insurance due to the church's risk-management efforts.

James Parker, Abilene businessman and philanthropist, has been named recipient of the John J. Keeter Alumni Service Award at Hardin-Simmons University. The award is presented to the alumnus who has contributed the most in his or her field of endeavor toward the betterment of HSU. His service to the university includes working on the board of trustees from 1995 to 2003 and the board of development from 2004 to 2006. He also is a deacon at First Church in Abilene, where he has worshipped since 1959.

Albert Reyes, president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas and Baptist University of the Americas, urged students to "shine like stars in a dark world" during his address at Hardin-Simmons University's fall convocation.

Howard Payne University has added nine faculty members and five adjunct instructors. New faculty include Corey Ash, instructor of music and director of bands; Cathi Ball, instructor of art; Mary Carpenter, assistant professor of Christian studies; Brett Coulter, assistant professor of math; Johnathan Marlow, associate professor of communication; Keith Mask, associate professor of psychology and department chair; Joe Miracle, instructor of communication and director of student media; John Sneed, instructor of social work and coordinator of field instruction; and Ronald Walenga, associate professor of chemistry. Adjunct instructors are John Alamo, music; Tim Cooper, computer information systems; Bethany Hastings, developmental math; Cleresa Reding, developmental math; and Randy Rives, Christian studies.

A review by the Com-mission of Collegiate Nursing Education has found East Texas Baptist University's department of nursing to be in full compliance.

Don Byrnes, retired legal counsel to the president, and Linda Clark, administrative assistant for the office of academic affairs, have received Houston Baptist University's Mayfield Outstanding Staff Awards.

Dallas Baptist University celebrated Sue Mitz's 40 years of service with a gala musical event. Performers from across the nation entertained a packed house to honor her contribution to their lives. The professor of music came to the university in 1965, the year the school opened its doors in Dallas.

Despite health issues during the year, Mission Service Corps missionaries Gerald and Ora Lee Tomes are gearing up for their Christmas ministry along the Rio Grande. Those wishing to contribute to their longtime gift distribution to the colonias can call (903) 784-7346 for a better idea of their needs.

Anniversaries

First Church in Eagle Lake, 130th, Oct. 9. Chris Thacker is pastor.

Mel Hooten, fifth, as pastor of South Park Church in Lubbock, Oct. 15.

Mike Haun, fifth, as minister of education and music at First Church in Maypearl, Oct. 29.

First Church in Eastland, 125th, Nov. 12-13. Robert Jeffress will preach the dedication sermon for the church's new multipurpose facility at 4 p.m. Saturday. Tom Goodman will preach the anniversary sermon at 10 a.m. Sunday. For more information, call (254) 629-3355. Shawn Brewer is pastor.

Retiring

Reggie Bowman, as minister of education at Pioneer Drive Church in Abilene, Oct. 23. He served the church nine years and was in the ministry 43 years. He will be available to lead conferences and other ministry on a part-time basis.

Jerry Griffin, as director of missions for Kauf-Van Association, effective March 31. One that date, he will have served 46 years in Kaufman County–33 years as pastor of First Church in Forney and 13 years with the association. The search team is collecting resumes for the next director of missions at the association office, P.O. Box 708, Terrell 75160.

Death

Fredalene Tapley, 77, Oct. 11 in Coleman County. She served with her pastor/missionary husband during 53 years of ministry in Texas and New Mexico. She was a member of Valera Church in Valera. She is survived by her husband of 57 years, Darrell; daughter, Nancy Whitworth; sons, Jim and Gary; sisters, Mary Lou Fuller, Edna Sparks and Helen Smith; and six grandchildren.

Events

A play to benefit The Well Community, a church for the mentally ill, will be held Nov. 4 and 5 at Cliff Temple Church in Dallas. The play, Venice in the Moonlight, entertains as well as educates about the difficulty of living with mental illness. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. with complimentary dessert, and the play begins at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $12 each. For more information, call (214) 942-8601, ext. 306.

Jonathan Martin, of family group The Martins, and Melissa Evers will be in concert at First Church in Devers Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. For more information, call (936) 549-7653. Harry McDaniel is pastor.

A training event for church planters will be held Jan. 9-10 at Northwood Church in Keller. The Turbo Training conference will be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days. Registration is online at www.glocal.net, and the cost is $100. Trainers will be Bob Roberts, Glenn Smith and Lance Ford.

Ordained

Jeff Campbell to the ministry at Faith Church in Corsicana.

John Eck, Ginny Howell, Jeff Newton and Lori Roberts as deacons at Broadway Church in Fort Worth.

Scott Nevins, Reggie Miller and Wayne Thomas as deacons at Crossroads Church in Marshall.

Larry Benton, Wendell Moore, Greg Petersen and James Tindell as deacons at Oak Grove Church in China Spring.

Sean Crowder, Cody Dailey, Scotty Fisher, Grover Fyffe and Stephen Keithley as deacons at First Church in San Marcos.

Carl White and J.D. Babin as deacons at White Creek Church in George West.

Sam Olaniram, Jeremy Winters and Bill Dunlap as deacons at Redbud Church in Lubbock.

Willow Laugen as a deacon at Wildewood Church in Spring.

Revival

Shady Shores Church in Shady Shores; Nov. 6-9; evangelist, Carl Lane; music, Mackey and Gale Willis; pastor, Bob Joyce.

Posted: 10/28/05

BGCT annual meeting focuses on unity

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

“One Family–One Mission” is the theme of the Baptist General Convention of Texas' 120th annual meeting, Nov. 14-15 at the Austin Convention Center.

“I would like to see Texas Baptists gather for a great celebration of what God is doing in our churches throughout the state,” said Charles Wade, BGCT executive director. “We will see demonstrated that we are one family and we have one mission. I hope when we go back to our churches, we'll go back excited and encouraged because we really make a difference in Texas.”

Texas Baptists have much to celebrate, he noted. They continue serving after a tsunami devastated South Asia and hurricanes struck Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Mexico. Christians are meeting physical and spiritual needs in every Texas Baptist church around the state, he said.

John Nguyen, pastor of Vietnamese Baptist Church in Garland, will preach the annual meeting sermon Nov. 15.

In addition to the celebration times, more than 65 seminars will be offered. They will provide information about ministry strategies and issues facing churches.

In business matters, messengers to the annual meeting will vote on a revised constitution that includes a reorganized and streamlined BGCT Executive Board structure.

The proposed constitution, which was affirmed last year, would take effect this year if approved. The document reduces the number of BGCT Executive Board members by more than half and eliminates many of the convention's boards, committees and commissions.

“The governance changes we will be voting on represent a new era of effective stewardship of our Texas Baptist human, congregational, institutional and individual resources,” BGCT President Albert Reyes said. “The changes are long overdue and represent the most dramatic and compelling organizational changes in a generation.”

Texas Baptists also will elect a new convention president. Reyes is eligible for another term as president but has said he will not run again.

He would be the second consecutive president to serve a single one-year term, following Buckner Baptist Benevolences President Ken Hall.

Michael Bell, pastor of Greater St. Stephen First Baptist Church in Fort Worth, is the only declared nominee for president. If elected, he would be the first African-American to serve in that post.

Messengers also will consider a proposed $49.4 million budget, an increase of about $2 million from last year's spending plan. Nearly $41.3 million depend on gifts through the BGCT Cooperative Program unified budget plan that distributes funds to ministries throughout Texas and around the world.

CityReach Austin, a collaborative evangelistic effort by Austin Baptist churches, and Weekend Fest, a Nov. 12 contemporary Christian concert featuring Tree63 precede the annual meeting.

Also prior to the meeting, a prayerwalk through the convention center is scheduled at 4:30 p.m., Nov. 12 starting in exhibit hall 4.

For more information about the BGCT annual meeting, visit www.bgct.org and click on the annual meeting icon.

Posted: 10/28/05

Institutional board nominees
to be considered at BGCT

The following information is provided in compliance with the bylaws of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Board nominations for trustees, regents and directors to be considered by messengers to the BGCT annual meeting in Austin, Nov. 14-15, are presented by the Committee on Nominations for Institution Boards.

Key: % nonchurch/denominational employee; # new trustee; + elected by an institutional board; @ elected at a BGCT Executive Board meeting and must be elected at the annual meeting; and E/1 one-year extended term. * The CNIB recognizes that these individuals are serving on two boards, which is contrary to policy; however, the CNIB recommends their approval. This situation occurred partially due to adjustments between the governing documents of the institutions and the BGCT. The committee felt their approval was in the best interest of the institutions and the BGCT. Steps have been taken to avoid this in the future.

Baptist University of the Americas

Term to expire in 2008: Jesse Aguilar, Converse; Doug Diehl, San Antonio; Phyllis Nichols, San Antonio; Johnson Omoni, Grand Prairie; % Juliet Smith, Orange; #% Jo Betsy Szebehely, Austin; # Roland Rodriguez, Dallas

Baylor University

Term to expire in 2009: Howard Batson, Amarillo; Bobby Dagnel, Lubbock; #% Gary Elliston, Dallas; % John Reimers, Beaumont

Dallas Baptist University

Term to expire in 2008: % Mike Arnold, McKinney; #% Ellen Byrd, Dallas; Jim Denison, Dallas; # Bob Dean, Garland; #+% Amy Jones, Grapevine; % Richard Keathley, Arlington; #% Wright Lassiter Jr., Dallas; #+% Alva Parks, Montgomery, Ala.; #% Dorothy Renfrow, San Marcos; % Scott Robinson, Dallas; #% ——– ——–, Dallas; % Joseph Williams, Dallas

East Texas Baptist University

Term to expire in 2008: Kenneth Branam, Irving; #% Gwen Estill, Texarkana; Bill Everett, Carthage; Harlan Hall, Carthage; #% Jerry Hamilton, Houston; % Sheila Hurtte, Daingerfield; # Laney Johnson, Longview; #% Patty Jones, Tyler; % Ken Livingston, College Station; David Massey Sr., Hallsville; Bob Mayfield, Tyler; % John Scull, Tenaha; #+% Jimmie Sheffield, Little Rock, Ark.; # Tim Watson, Longview; #% Don Woolley, Mesquite

Term to expire in 2006: #+% Margaret Unkel, Dayton

Hardin-Simmons University

Term to expire in 2008: #% Kay Henard, Amarillo; % Bonnie Baldridge, Jayton; Ron Blevins, Garland; #% Lila Lee Senter, Abilene; % Hilton Hemphill, Dallas; % John Hyde, Midland; % Neal Lowry, Abilene; % Allan Meador, Abilene; % Norma Schaffer, Abilene; #% Rob Wiley, Abilene; #% Tina Hunter, Abilene

Houston Baptist University

Term to expire in 2008: + Garry Blackmon Sr., Houston; +% Gem Childress, Sugar Land; +% Ray Cox Jr., Houston; +% Karl Kennard, Spring; % Grady Randle, Houston; Ed Seay, Magnolia

Howard Payne University

Term to expire in 2008: Larry Bertrand, Houston; #% Rudy Camacho, Fort Worth; % David Currie, San Angelo; % Iva Hamilton, Brownwood; #% Lynn Nabers, Austin; #% Roy Poage, Coleman; Pepper Puryear, Mount Vernon; Clinton Stewart, Brownwood; % Leonard Underwood, Brownwood

Term to expire in 2006: # Brad Helbert, Abilene; #+% Arnold Oliver, Wichita Falls

San Marcos Baptist Academy

Term to expire in 2008: #% Jimmy Creel, Port Neches; # David Edwards, Georgetown; % Ed Fauver Jr., San Marcos; % Stanley Finch, San Marcos; #% Ross King, San Marcos; #% Mack Phipps, Belton; % Jimmie Scott, San Marcos

Term to expire in 2007: #% Carl Hefton, Richardson

University of Mary Hardin-Baylor

Term to expire in 2008: +% Bob Black, Houston; Andy Davis, Belton; #% Rodney Deyoe, Salado; % Joe Durrett, Houston; #% Martha Galligan, McAllen; #% Perry Fulcher, Dickinson; % Leska Hendricks, San Antonio; #% Carl Hudson, Rockdale; # Vernon King Jr., Woodway; #% Eduardo Lara, Temple; % Ronald Lemon, Houston; + Pam Manly, Austin; % Janie Minten, Falfurrias; % Don Ringler, Temple; % Gordon Wiggers, Belton

Valley Baptist Missions/Education Center

Term to expire in 2008: # Daniel Rangel, Mission; #% Claudio Cruz, Austin; Victoria Price, Beaumont; #% Rosa Zapata, Harlingen; #% Sam Allen, Grand Prairie

Term to expire in 2007: #% Jimmie Hough, Harlingen

Wayland Baptist University

Term to expire in 2008: % Tom Brian, Lubbock; Stacy Conner, Muleshoe; % Max Gabriel, Plainview; Travis Hart, Plainview; % Donald Jackson, Amarillo; % Terry Rhoads, Midland; #% Sally Walker, Arlington; % Peggy Wall, Plainview: #% Jim Hollon, Lubbock

Baptist Health Foundation of San Antonio

Term to expire in 2008: % Mary Ann Brogan, San Antonio; Ronnie Carter, San Antonio; Roland Lopez, San Antonio

Term to expire in 2006: @% Ann Morrison, San Antonio; @% John Owens, Lubbock; @% Emily Simons, San Antonio

Baylor Healthcare Systems

Term to expire in 2008: %Albert Black, Dallas; Brian Harbour, Richardson; +% Ed Kinkeade, Grapevine; +% David Walls, Rockwall

Hendrick Medical Center

Term to expire in 2008: % Leigh Black, Abilene; Calvin Gray, Stamford; Ward Hayes, Sweetwater; % Patsy Kelley, Abilene; % David Morris, Abilene; % Lanny Vinson, Abilene

Hillcrest Medical Center

Term to expire in 2008: % Billy Davis Jr., Waco; % Marc Fowler, Waco; Loretta Oliver, Waco; #% David Alford, Waco

Memorial Hermann Baptist Hospital

Term to expire in 2008: #% Jimmie Carpenter, Beaumont; % Nell Morris, Beaumont; #% Ann Scoggin, Beaumont

Term to expire in 2007: #% Loretta Hughes, Orange

Valley Baptist Health System

Term to expire in 2008: % Jack Abbott, Harlingen; % Chris Allen, Harlingen; #% Bob Boggus, McAllen; #+% Gary Schwarz, McAllen

Term to expire in 2007: @% Vernon Stenseng, Harlingen

Baptist Community Services

Term to expire in 2008: % Bob Callan, Amarillo; % Bob Gerald, Amarillo; % Craig Sanders, Amarillo

Term to expire in 2007: #+% Sam Bass, Amarillo

Baptist Memorials Ministries

Term to expire in 2008: % Mike Boyd, San Angelo; # Jim Butler, Odessa; #% Santos Elizondo, San Angelo; % Gail Flood, San Angelo; #% Ronnie Goodwin, San Angelo; #% Jamie Highsmith, San Angelo; # Larry Howard, Burnet; % Marvin Moore, Sweetwater; % Steven Saldivar, Lamesa

Term to expire in 2006: #% Linda Love, Sonora

Baptist Child & Family Services

Term to expire in 2008: David Dykes, Tyler; % Les O’Farrell, Kingwood; % Kristi Tschoepe, San Antonio

Buckner Baptist Benevolences

Term to expire in 2008: #+% Amed Bendfeldt, Guatemala; #+% Rebecca Brokenbek, Richardson; Carol Brian, Amarillo; +% Lee Bush, Athens; +% Ed Francis, Dallas; #% Cassandra Harris, Missouri City; #+% Nell Morris, Beaumont; % Nancy Neal, Lubbock; +% Bill Pratt, Fort Worth

South Texas Children’s Home

Term to expire in 2008: % Brad Akin, Stockdale; Dorso Maciel, Laredo; E/1% Jenie McCraw, Mathis; #% Myra Starkey, Victoria; Richard Rogers, Huntsville; Harold Sellers, Rosenberg; David Silva, Beeville; #% John Weber Jr., San Antonio

Term to expire in 2006: #@% Gene Kuykendall, Boerne

Texas Baptist Children’s Home & Family Services

Term to expire in 2008: % Charles Boyd, Round Rock; % Billie Sue Cariker, Round Rock; % Dan Gattis, Georgetown; #% Hal Harris, Austin; #% David Lykes, Georgetown; Lisa Massar, Tyler; % Norma Teetes, Bryan; % John Winder, College Station

Baptist Church Loan Corporation

Term to expire in 2008: #% Charlie Black, Abilene; #% Milton McGee Jr., Henderson; #% Daniel Ochoa III, Boerne; Bill Shockley, San Antonio

Baptist Foundation of Texas

Term to expire in 2008: #% Mary Burleson, Dallas; #% Ansel Condray, Dallas; #% Maston Courtney, Amarillo; #+% Robert Fowler, Houston

Term to expire in 2006: @% John Owens, Lubbock

Baptist Standard

Term to expire in 2008: % Jon Mark Beilue, Amarillo; #% Ron Ellison, Beaumont; % Dan Malone, El Paso; #% Charles Risinger, Gilmer; Charles Walton, Conroe

WorldconneX

Term to expire in 2008: % Irma Alvarado, Donna; # Tom Billings, Kingwood; # Josh Guajardo, Katy; # Kyle Henderson, Athens; % Patrick Shing, El Paso; # Matt Sprink, Waco, % Mike Stroope, Dublin; + Cindy Wiles, Arlington; Dennis W. Young, Missouri City

Term to expire in 2007: #+ Julio Guarneri, Fort Worth

Posted: 10/28/05

Baptist Briefs

Former UMHB campus minister named CBF regional coordinator. L.W. "Dub" Pool, who served 11 years as Baptist Student Ministries director at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, has been named coordinator for the Mid-Atlantic Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Pool has been minister of education at Heritage Baptist Church in Annapolis, Md. When not traveling to churches within the region, Pool will work from Washington, D.C., in office space provided by the District of Columbia Baptist Convention. Pool and his wife, Donna, have two daughters, Becky and Jackie.

Kentucky Baptists, Georgetown College propose new relationship. Officials of Georgetown College and the Kentucky Baptist Convention are proposing a new working relationship that would allow the college to have a self-perpetuating board of trustees while maintaining historic ties between the two organizations. The proposal would eliminate direct convention funding of the college but insulate the trustee board from a fundamentalist takeover. Under the new plan, the college's trustee board will become self-perpetuating, with Kentucky Baptist Convention funding phased out over a four-year period. Rather than all trustees being Baptist, up to one-fourth could be from other denominations. The new Georgetown plan is proposed by a 14-member joint workgroup formed in August to discuss the working relationship between the two entities. It still must be approved by the college's board of trustees and by messengers to the Kentucky Baptist Convention annual meeting Nov. 15-16 in Frankfort, Ky.

Posted: 10/28/05

Brooks retires after 27 years with BGCT

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

DALLAS–E.B. Brooks, who led the Baptist General Convention of Texas' church missions and evangelism efforts, has retired after 27 years of ministry with the state convention.

Brooks, a Tyler native, joined the BGCT staff in 1979 as a consultant in Christian social missions and interfaith witness. Later, he became director of the convention's church-starting effort and eventually was named coordinator of BGCT missions and evangelism ministries.

Under his direction, BGCT staff members worked with Texas congregations in church-starting efforts above and beyond other Baptist church-starting ventures, BGCT Exe-cutive Director Charles Wade said.

Since 1988, when he assumed BGCT church-starting leadership, the convention helped start nearly 3,400 congregations.

“E.B. Brooks' retirement from the BGCT puts an exclamation mark on a life of mission achievement,” Wade said. “E.B. led Texas Baptists in one of the most successful church-planting efforts in the history of any denomination. He will continue to be an effective missions advocate and strategist, and there will be many opportunities for continued partnership and involvement.”

Brooks' insight added to the life of each person he met, Wade observed.

“I have been encouraged and challenged by the breadth of his vision and the depth of his passion for fulfilling the Great Commission,” he said.

Ron Gunter, BGCT chief operating officer/associate executive director, echoed Wade's sentiments. Brooks diversified the convention's church-starting efforts to help reach an increasingly diverse state, he noted.

“E.B. has been a faithful servant for some 27 years with the convention,” Gunter said. “He has been an inspiration to everyone in his desire to plant churches across this state. E.B. has always been a visionary.”

Two years ago, Brooks was instrumental in launching City Core Initiative, a BGCT-supported effort to transform city centers with the gospel.

As his last official duty as part of the BGCT executive board staff, Brooks led the convention's re-cent disaster res-ponse efforts in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Brooks said he enjoyed putting together a team of experts who helped Texas Bap-tists accomplish their mission of serving God.

“The BGCT is 5,700 churches working together with the world on their heart and willing to invest themselves in following the commands of Christ in that world,” he said.

“It's church members committing themselves and their church to cooperation with other churches and other Christians in helping the hurting, strengthening churches, evangelizing the lost.”