Posted: 4/15/05

EDITORIAL:
What can we learn from ticket scalpers?

Here's news from the well-now-I've-seen-everything department: Scalpers are collecting up to $190 for tickets to a religious service.

Popular pastor/TV preacher/author Joel Osteen is partway through his 15-city “worship tour” across America. The tour is an outgrowth of his successful TV show (according to Nielson ratings, the No. 1 “inspirational program” in the nation), which is broadcast from his charismatic Lakewood Church in Houston (according to Forbes.com, the fastest-growing congregation in America). The tour has been propelled by Osteen's enormously popular book, Your Best Life Now (according to the New York Times, a bestseller).

Osteen is so popular in Chicago that promoters extended his stay to two nights. He'll lead worship services in the Allstate Arena in suburban Rosemont, Ill., May 5-6. But even two nights in a major arena can't meet demand, so scalped tickets are fetching almost 20 times their $10 face value. (Folks who take pride in Texas' religiosity might be disturbed to know scalpers only got $100 for Osteen tickets in Dallas. Is Midwestern religious fervor twice as strong as Texas spiritual passion?)

Scalping for preaching raises questions.

What's Osteen doing–charging 10 bucks for people to come hear the gospel?

We're used to free grace and free preaching. So, on the surface at least, pay-per-pew religion sounds smarmy.

Osteen's people say it's about crowd control and convenience. Don Iloff, a spokesperson for the preacher, told the Chicago Sun-Times Osteen started charging admission at the request of arena managers, who worried about the crush of crowds. And Osteen's website, www.joelosteen.com, explains tickets save time. Since ticket holders have guaranteed seats, they don't have to stand in line all day, unlike worshippers who saw Osteen in Atlanta and Anaheim, before the ticket policy was implemented.

What will God do to people who charge $190 for tickets to a worship service?

We don't know.

Osteen and his staff have condemned the scalping. In fact, the ministry doesn't profit from ticket sales, Iloff said: “It's not a moneymaker for us. It costs $750,000 to put on the event. … Even at $10 apiece, it doesn't begin to cover it.”

What's Osteen got? How can he charge for tickets and still pack out huge arenas when so many churches, whose worship services are free, sit almost empty?

That's not an easy answer.

His critics claim he offers religion-lite: Upbeat health-and-wealth sermons that promote self-esteem and promise easy answers to hard problems. They say he preaches “watered-down Christianity” and “cotton-candy theology.”

Osteen counters that he doesn't preach health-and-wealth. “I've never preached one sermon on money, on just finances. I want to stay away from it,” he said on the Today show. He also contends his preaching has substance: “I can't say that there's not meat when you're talking about letting go of the past and forgiving people and not being selfish. … I just have a message of hope and victory.”

What's this mean for us?

On one level, not much. People in Chicago and Dallas and San Antonio and elsewhere will pay to see a preacher. In Houston every weekend, big crowds will pack Lakewood Church. Maybe we know some of these people; maybe we don't.

Many Baptists rush to find fault with Osteen's ministry. Some of the criticism is valid. We're leery of charismatic religion; we've seen abuses. We point to gospel themes of sin and justice; faith isn't all sweetness and light. And we note the shallowness of big-event religion; the local church is where people are discipled, ministry happens and community takes place.

Still, we shouldn't dismiss this story. People are paying scalper prices to attend a charismatic worship service where the preacher talks about hope and victory. That tells us untold numbers of people are lonely and hurting. They're longing to connect with a faith that binds their spiritual and emotional wounds. And it reminds us, as uncomfortable as we Baptists tend to be with it, that the Holy Spirit is powerful and at work among people who seek God.

Very likely, none of us will be a Joel Osteen, preaching to packed auditoriums of scalped seats. But we can be people of hope and victory. We can share the love of God, the fellowship of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit with hurting people all around us. We can practice “friendship evangelism” one-on-one. No scalping.

Posted: 4/15/05

Church aims to bring hope to city's west side

By Craig Bird

Baptist Child & Family Services

Jeremy Everett's office is across the street from this mosaic mural constructed for Pope John Paul's 1987 visit to San Antonio.

SAN ANTONIO–The neighborhood has never seen a church like Iglesia de Esperanza, but it sure will seem familiar. At least that's the plan for a new congregation in the heart of San Antonio's west side that is a parallel–but integral–part of a Baptist-sponsored ministry to immigrants.

That work, in turn, is the focal point of a community development project in one of the country's poorest ZIP codes spearheaded by Baptist Child & Family Services in partnership with the Baptist General Convention of Texas, San Antonio Baptist Association, Trinity Baptist Church and the Cooperative Baptist Fel-lowship.

Iglesia de Esperanza, which means “Church of Hope”–will “have Bap-tist doctrine at its core, but we will practice a contemplative worship style and will integrate creative arts into that style,” explained Jeremy Everett, who heads up the effort.

Both of those aspects will resonate in the Hispanic neighborhood where murals adorn almost every available wall space, and the cadence of Catholic liturgy is part of the cultural DNA.

“I have been amazed at the people God has brought together with a heart for sharing his love with the west side,” Everett said. “I was not even sure the others were interested in starting a church, but they were. And it turned out that all of us turned out to be artsy and with a preference for worship that includes silence and community prayer and structured Scripture readings. It is the way we worship, and the fact that it fits into the community says a lot more about what God is doing than anything else.”

When Everett began the community development work on the west side last summer, he was given free rein to find out how the combined resources of the various Baptist partner groups could best be invested.

The greatest need that surfaced was to work with the stream of immigrants that pours into San Antonio. The program now is moving toward opening a hospitality house.

But from the first, Everett felt a pull to include a church in the mix. Part of that might reflect his own background as a third-generation Baptist minister, but it more closely reflected his understanding of the church's relationship with the poor.

“Doing church in the heart of the community makes a statement that we believe the church should shoulder the responsibility instead of depending on the government to take up all the slack,” he explained. “I believe one reason God instituted government was to care for the poor, and, in our society, there are things that the government will need to do. But the church was created to do the will of God on earth, and Jesus talked more about how to treat the poor and the powerless and our neighbors than just about anything else.”

The hospitality house will be part of church's outreach–but only a part. Using Luke 10:25-28 as its organizing principle, the new church aims to challenge its members to “love the Lord” with all their heart, soul, strength and mind–and their neighbors as themselves.

Everett will serve as one co-pastor, responsible for what church leaders call the “Outward Journey.” Key responsibilities include education and advocacy, community development–which will include the immigrant work–and lay mobilization.

The other co-pastor will provide direction for the the “Inward Journey” that also will include education and advocacy, along with spiritual disciplines and pastoral counseling.

The worship space will feature community-produced murals along the yellow and purple walls, and a communion table will be in a central, dominate space, “to give visual emphasis to our commitment to being a Christ-centered community,” Everett explained.

The goal is to have the second co-pastor and the director of the hospitality house in place by August.

The core group began forming last November when Everett and his wife, Amy, invited friends and acquaintances to small-group meetings at their home.

“We did Advent together and talked and prayed about what God wanted us to do on the west side,” he said.

Later, many of the group made a trip to Houston to see how an immigrant hospitality house there works. Afterward, Everett raised the possibility of formally forming a church–not really expecting a positive response.

“I really thought we might decide to just keep meeting on Sunday nights for a small group and keep going to our respective churches because it was comfortable,” Everett acknowledged. The group has attracted people who are members of Church of Christ, Episcopal and Catholic churches as well as Baptists. “But the response was overwhelming that we go for it. We will continue to meet on Sunday evenngs for our main service, and many of us will continue to relate to our 'home' churches. But I think we all feel that our primary church will be Iglesia de Esperanza.”

One proof of that is that the Everetts and another couple in the core group, Mark and Rachel Menjivar, will move into the neighborhood as permanent residents, and others already live there.

“You can do a lot of good things during working hours, but we want to be part of the community 24/7,” Everett said. “The people won't know if we are real and if they can trust us until they see us every day, living where they live and becoming part of what they do.

“The people here love their community, and there is a lot to love. There are always concerts and fiestas and just visiting back and forth. Basic community development says you need to be alongside the people of that community. “We just ask that everyone who hears about Iglesia de Esperanza pray for us and with us,” Everett added. “Prayer is at the center of what we are doing, and we know that is the only way God will help us identify and support the staff we need to add the programs we want to implement to show the people of the west side how much God loves them.”

Posted: 4/15/05

FAITH AND THE CITY:
Relationship-building crucial to urban evangelism

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

Christians committed to sharing their faith with city-dwellers must learn to embrace paradoxes, urban ministers agree.

Crowded people crave relationships but build barriers, and hurried people with no time want other people to make long-term investments in their lives.

“We need multiple points of contact to establish trusting relationships,” said Tommy Goode, City Core Initiative strategist with the Baptist General Convention of Texas. “We need a missionary strategy for the city where we go to the people rather than a gathering strategy where we expect people to come to us in our churches.”

Those multiple points range from benevolence ministries and job-training programs for people at the lowest end of the socio-economic spectrum to coffee house ministries and art exhibits for urbane sophisticates in high-rise, high-dollar lofts. But the common denominator is relationships.

"There's no substitute for building relationships, and you have to work harder to find those venues in the city where you can form the relationships," said Camille Simmons, coordinator of ministry missions for San Antonio Baptist Association. She described many urban people as "disconnected and isolated."

Mistrust and fear present major barriers Christians must overcome before they can share the gospel with people in cities, said E. B. Brooks, coordinator of the BGCT's church missions and evangelism section.

“You have to touch people, and you have to touch them more than once to build trust,” Brooks said.

Building relationships and establishing trust requires long-term commitment, said Chris Simmons, who has been pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church near Dallas' Fair Park area since 1988.

“I was here five to seven years before I felt I was making an impact,” he acknowledged.

“You have to build bridges through relationships. Cold-call evangelism often doesn't work. … You generally cannot reach people through one-time big events and evangelistic meetings.”

Because city-dwellers are surrounded by people who demand time from their busy schedules, they often close themselves off, Simmons said. But while they have plenty of unsatisfying superficial contact with people, they hunger for deep, meaningful relationships.

“There are people, people everywhere in the urban context, but there's a lot of loneliness,” he said. When it comes to urban evangelism, “It's all based on relationships. If it's not relational, they will shut you out.”

Christians cannot effectively develop strategies for reaching cities solely by digesting demographic data and crunching numbers, said Dian Kidd, associate director of Union Baptist Association.

“We don't need to develop a strategy. We need to develop the attitude of being a missionary,” she said.

“Walk through the community. Spend time, and see the people. Get out there and find out who the people are.”

On one level, urban evangelism is a much simpler approach than the pre-packaged programs and expensive events many Baptists have come to associate with evangelism, she explained. But on another level, it's much more demanding, because it requires a fundamental change in attitude and a life-commitment.

“It's not big events. It's not memorizing certain evangelistic presentations. It's not presenting some complex, logical apologetic for Christianity,” she said. “It's just being the presence of Christ and entering into life alongside them.”

For different categories of urban-dwellers, the “incarnational witness” Kidd described demands different approaches.

The multi-ethnic nature of metropolitan areas demands culturally appropriate expressions of ministry and mission, she noted. And the sheer density of the population–where one ethnic group may bump up against another group within a block–makes church-starting and evangelism in that context even more challenging.

Among the urban poor, community ministries designed to meet needs continue to provide an effective avenue for establishing relationships, Simmons said.

“Meeting people at their point of need is key in an urban setting,” she said.

Churches respond most effectively when they work in partnership with other like-minded Christians and when they collaborate with other groups who may not share their faith commitment but who have the same goals for responding to human need, she added.

“Our churches must be willing to get out of where it's comfortable and get out into the middle of our communities to let their light shine,” she said.

In some ways, reaching affluent city-dwellers who isolate themselves in gated communities or behind the security locks of upscale lofts can be even more challenging, some urban evangelism strategists noted.

“We're not going to get through the gates. We're not going to knock on their doors. We're not going to hand them a tract,” Kidd acknowledged. But Christian co-workers and neighbors have opportunities to build relationships that can lead to a gospel witness in time.

“It doesn't happen on Sunday morning,” she said. “It happens throughout the week, where people live and where people work.”

Posted: 4/15/05

Frog Theatre gets jump on
ministry to college students

By George Henson

Staff Writer

FORT WORTH–The Frog Theatre may be an unconventional name for a church outreach ministry, but that may be the most conventional part of Second Chances' efforts to reach college students in Fort Worth.

Popcorn, soft drinks, candy bars and chips all are on display at a concessions counter, and a sandwich shop is ready to fill orders.

Visitors can sit in theater-style seats complete with cup holders or at restaurant-style circular tables while they watch movies or television programs on a 23-foot-by-15-foot screen.

The Frog Theatre includes four conversation areas, a coffee shop, five Internet-equipped computers and board games. The entire building is equipped to support wireless Internet computers.

It may not seem much like a church, but that's exactly the idea.

The Frog Theatre sits directly across the street from the Texas Christian University campus in Fort Worth, so students associate the name of the ministry with the university's mascot, the Horned Frogs.

“We call it the Frog Theatre, and to us it means 'Fully Rely on God.' For the TCU fans, it probably means something else, so I guess it has a little of both meanings,” Pastor Eric Myers said.

The students who cross the street sometimes come in search of a sandwich, a movie, to use a computer or just to hang out. But unlike a Baptist Student Ministry approach, students are not predominantly Baptist or even Christian. Buddhists, Muslims and atheists also come in for a break from their school day–something that also would not happen if the building looked like a more conventional church.

“If they look at the walls and see a church, they may not come in. Most won't come in,” Myers said. The ministry is built on a three-pronged ap-proach, he said.

“We build relationships with the people who come here, looking for an opportunity to share the gospel with them. When they accept that gospel, then we disciple,” Myers said.

For six days a week, the site is the Frog Theatre, but Sundays are set aside for it to be the place of worship for Second Chances church, which, by the way, meets at the unconventional time of 2 p.m., more or less.

“It's kind of laid back, so it's not like, 'It's 2 o'clock. Quick, somebody start the music.' Some weeks, 2 o'clock is when we're walking in,” Myers explained.

Those meetings are generally small gatherings of about 30 people, “but they are 30 hardcore Christians. We don't make it easy. If you don't want to evangelize, if you don't want to be discipled, if you don't want to be held accountable, Second Chances is not for you,” he said.

Myers is comfortable with the small number. “We have a cool enough venue that we could pack this place out, but that would be consumer Christianity, and that's not what we're about,” he said.

Many more people stream through the multifaceted ministry the other six days of the week, however.

A meeting area has been used by the staffs of local churches looking for place to get away, faculty and student groups from the adjacent university, and the Young Life group of a Fort Worth high school.

Movies are shown each afternoon, Monday through Saturday. Bible studies are held Monday and Tuesday evenings, with Tuesdays directed more toward students investigating the Christian faith.

Wednesday nights, the emphasis is on assisting local churches in outreach efforts. Youth ministers make reservations for their groups to come, and the Frog Theatre staff enlists a Christian band and a speaker. The charge is $4 per student. That covers the concert, the speaker, popcorn and a soft drink.

“This gives them a means to invite friends who would not normally come to church with them,” Myers explained. Youth ministers can make reservations for their group at www.frogtheatre.org.

A comedy improvisational team from the university draws hundreds to the theater on Thursday nights.

Friday and Saturday nights are Christian concert nights, the theatre is filled.

“We're trying to reach a postmodern generation and trying also to bridge a gap for Christian kids who don't want to go to a traditional church,” Myers explained.

The conversation areas with couches are well-populated thro-ughout the week.

“Community is the big thing with us. It has a home feel. Whether you know somebody or not, you can just sit down and feel accepted. We probably couldn't do this in a traditional building, because they would have a presupposition that we were going to try to force something on them,” he said.

“Talk about a neat way to do evangelism–it's a lot better than knocking on somebody's door and invading their space.”

Students who make the transition from the Frog Theatre to Second Chances realize the importance of growing in their faith, he said.

“The lights, the smoke, the giant screen–that's not what keeps them here. They are just as excited to go over to our house. They know this building is not the church. Everything doesn't happen here. This is a training ground–when they go to the Starbucks in the mall, they are much more comfortable sharing their faith, because they have already done that at the coffee shop here,” he said.

“If the kids we bring up in the faith see this as the church, we fail. This is the training ground. I have nothing against stained glass, and our faith is very vintage, but what we are doing here is training them for real-life experiences.”

“Fully relying on God” is more than just the anagram for name of the ministry; it's what brought Myers to Fort Worth. An Illinois native converted in 1997 at age 24 at a Promise Keepers rally, he knew no one when he and his wife came to Texas.

“We knew God had given us a heart to work with young adults, but we didn't know what form it was supposed to take,” he recalled. “As we prayed for direction, God kept bringing Fort Worth to mind–to both our minds.”

“We had no family, no job, no ties–just God leading us,” he recalled. Second Chances started in the Myers' home in Hurst.

After awhile, Myers began leading worship at Temple Baptist Church in Fort Worth, where he met Gary Lawrence, the other key leader in the Frog Theatre ministry.

“It's a vision God gave me more than five years ago,” Lawrence said. In early 1999, Lawrence was unemployed and “at a very low point in my life–financially and just about every other way.”

He said it also was a time when he became very close in his relationship to God. One morning at about 4 a.m., Lawrence was in his driveway, once again seeking God's direction. He said he was telling God how lost he felt since marketing and public relations were all he knew to do.

“God told me, 'Change the word 'marketing' to 'witnessing,' and your product is Jesus Christ, the best there is since it has no equal,'” Lawrence recalled. Also during that prayer, he said, God gave him a vision of a movie theater.

Lawrence, a member of Temple Baptist Church for 20 years, shared his vision with Myers, and they began to pray for God's leading in the next step.

The “aha” moment came when Lawrence, now a roofing contractor, passed by the theater across from the TCU campus and saw a sign that said it would soon be vacant. It wasn't long before he signed the papers and renovations began.

Both Lawrence and Myers recalled how Derek, a 23-year-old homeless man they found at a shelter and asked to help with the renovations, came to accept Christ.

“Derek got saved, and he did a 180 in his life. He's not here right now; he's gone back north where's he's from. Derek had some things in his past that he wanted to take care of, and he's gone back there to fix some of those things,” Myers explained.

“If only to see Derek's life change, it's all been worth it,” Lawrence added.

Tarrant Baptist Association is a staunch supporter. “It's really an exciting thing,” Jay Harris, associational church development director, said. “I love to take people over there and to see their initial hesitation. But after looking around and meeting the guys and hearing about the ministry that goes on there, they leave pumped and say, 'What can I do to help?'”

Myers and Lawrence dream of reproducing this idea in college communities across the country. They say abandoned or little-used theaters are located close to many university campuses, and they are looking to make them sources of life–eternal life.

Lawrence recalled a Wednesday night youth rally recently when many teenagers accepted Christ as Savior.

“Tears came to my eyes, and I thought, 'This is what it's all about–this right here.'”

Posted: 4/15/05

2005 pivotal in efforts to cut global poverty

By Kevin Eckstrom

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)–One-third of the way into the 15-year U.N. program aimed at cutting global poverty by 50 percent, church leaders and activists say progress so far has been abysmal, and 2005 is a make-or-break year for the program.

The eight-prong Millennium Develop-ment Goals will fail unless governments commit the resources to achieve them, the Anglican archbishop of South Africa said recently.

“Globalization has accorded this world so much prosperity and progress, it is not only sinful but also morally wrong that there are people who go hungry every day,” said Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane.

Supporters say unless efforts are refocused at three key meetings this year, the world will fail to keep promises made in 2000 to combat poverty, hunger, lack of education, child and maternal mortality rates and HIV/AIDS.

Sparked by the Jubilee campaign in 2000 that helped erase crushing debt loads owed by poor Third World countries, religious groups from across the spectrum have shown unprecedented unity in fighting global poverty.

The One Campaign, for example, brought together a dozen Christian and secular relief groups to keep focus on the millennium goals. Last year, Ndungane helped inaugurate the Micah Challenge, a coalition of 260 nonprofit aid groups with the same goal.

Activists worry, however, that the world's attention span is fading.

Three meetings this year–the annual summit of G-8 nations in Scotland; a U.N. summit on the millennium goals next fall; and a December World Trade Organization meeting in Hong Kong–may determine the future of the initiative.

Last year, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the effort needs a “quantum leap” in order to meet its goals. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World, said it's time for the United States and others to “get serious about getting the job done.”

A 2004 U.N. progress report found “no change” in tackling poverty and hunger in sub-Saharan Africa and “lagging progress” in South Asia. However, there was some success in northern Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America and central Asia.

Tom Hart, director of government relations for DATA, the development advocacy agency founded by Bono, of the musical group U2, and part of the One Campaign, said the world has made measured progress on debt relief and efforts to combat the AIDS pandemic, but more needs to be done.

“The progress is good, and in a sense we can see a roadmap for how Africa can meet its goals, but we need to kick it up a gear,” he said.

Activists are looking to Washington to take the lead and are watching two key programs as a barometer for America's own commitments:

Millennium Challenge Accounts–President Bush's plan to commit $5 billion of U.S. aid by 2006 for developing countries that meet rigorous criteria, has been underfunded. So far, the program has received about $2.5 billion, and the White House has asked for $3 billion next year and hopes to reach $5 billion by 2007.

Global AIDS Relief–Bush surprised Congress in 2003 with a request for $15 billion over 10 years to fight HIV and AIDS around the world. So far, the program has gotten a little more than $5 billion from Congress, and Bush has asked for $3.2 billion in 2006.

What concerns activists is what happens after Bush spends $15 billion on AIDS or reaches the $5 billion goal for development next year.

Frank Griswold, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, who accompanied Ndungane to Washington, said God and the world will judge America on how it treats the poor.

“As a nation that freely uses religious language in its political rhetoric, we better take that language seriously and ask ourselves what it means to be a country that lives … for the sake of the world, not just our own self-interest,” he said.

Posted: 4/15/05

College classes explore the
gritty gospel according to Bono

By Charles Honey

Religion News Service

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (RNS)–Dwarfed by a giant bank of TV monitors, the rock star Bono gyrates across the arena stage–a dancing shaman channeling the ecstasy of thousands of U2 fans.

“In waves of regret, in waves of joy, I reached for the one I tried to destroy,” he sings passionately. “You said you'd wait 'til the end of the world.”

Hands reach out to him as he walks among the faithful. Video clips show tidal waves crashing, lightning flashing and a woman wailing.

The soundtrack to apocalypse? No, it's a splice of a TV special about a U2 tour of the early 1990s.

It's also a sign of increased interest in the spiritual significance of this immensely popular Irish rock group.

The images are taken in by a class of Calvin College students, who are probing what Bono and his band have to say as Christians to the world of pop culture.

Plenty, Sharon Bemis says.

“You hear U2 everywhere,” said Bemis, one of 14 students gathered in a Calvin video theater on a recent morning. “They have so much more influence as Christians than most other people who claim to be Christian.”

Tim Gruppen calls them “brutally honest.”

“They say a lot of things many Christians would be ashamed to 'fess up to, some of the struggles they have,” Gruppen argues.

But why a class on U2, one of the world's most adored rock bands, at a conservative Christian college?

“Religion and rock 'n' roll can meld together,” insists Katie Arbogast. “U2 does the best job of it.”

Many scholars and clergy agree. They say U2 is an important spiritual influence on a youth culture more enamored of popular media than of the church.

“What they have to offer is a vision,” said Mark Mulder, who taught the U2 course during Calvin's three-week interim semester. “They're saying there's something wrong with the world. But at the same time, they offer a hope. The gospel message is embedded within.”

Mulder, who teaches sociology, sees the band bringing a Christian worldview to a “very elaborate cultural critique.” In that critique, they share common ground with other rock bands such as Radiohead and movies such as The Matrix trilogy, he said.

“If you listen hard enough, there are a lot of things going on in pop culture which really question the ordering of the world today and offer a vision of what things could and should be like,” said Mulder.

Beth Maynard also sees a spiritual surge in pop culture, from the rock groups Switchfoot and Evanescence to the TV show Joan of Arcadia.

“We're in a phase as a society right now where a great deal of theological reflection is happening in pop culture,” said Maynard, an Episcopal priest from Fairhaven, Mass. “U2 was in the vanguard of that.”

Maynard co-edited Get Up Off Your Knees (Cowley Publications, 2003), a collection of sermons based on U2 lyrics and biblical texts.

Maynard sees the group fertilizing the ground of pop culture for sowing the gospel, helping people take “small steps in the direction of God.”

“They seem to be seeking to just give an open invitation for people to move into the realm of asking questions about spiritual life, about God, about Christ. It's raising the questions but not overtly or forcefully prescribing the answers.”

The main man asking questions is Bono, the charismatic lead singer, lyricist and frontman of U2.

In recent years, Bono has become an ardent social activist, traversing the globe to combat the African AIDS epidemic and relieve Third World debt, and lobbying leaders from President Bush to Pope John Paul II.

Through his activism and his “music with a conscience,” Bono points listeners toward issues and introspection much as folk artists of the 1960s did, said Philip Goff, director of the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture at Indiana University.

But Goff said Bono is hardly a squeaky-clean Christian, citing as evidence his use of “the F-word” at a 2003 Golden Globe Awards ceremony.

“On the one hand, while a lot of Christian young people would look at him as a great exemplar, some of them would turn him off immediately because he cursed,” Goff said. “He doesn't fit the usual idea of some evangelicals of what a Christian should be doing.”

But he also speaks a language understood by many young Christians, Goff adds.

“They do want to look at Christianity in different ways,” he said. “There's no doubt about it, his approach is more global, and this is a more global society.”

As a fan since college, Mulder felt U2's approach to spiritual longing and social justice merited a mini-course at Calvin.

Besides video clips and CDs, he's using the text Walk On: The Spiritual Journey of U2 by Steve Stockman (Relevant Books, 2001). Mulder touches on the band members' personal faith.

They once were affiliated with a charismatic Protestant movement called Shalom, and Bono and bandmates the Edge and Larry Mullen Jr. have publicly professed to be Christians.

But the focus is on the group's recordings and performances. Mulder sees a strong thread of “Christian critique” throughout U2's three-decade career.

Some of the group's lyrics are explicitly scriptural, others more subtle.

“You can just tell by their art that they're very fluent in the Christian tradition,” said Maynard, the Episcopal priest.

“They understand the metaphors, the thought patterns of Christianity.”

That comes through clearly for Katie Arbogast. The Calvin student described a U2 concert as “a spiritual experience.”

“It's not down-your-throat Christian values,” she said. “You have to search for it and crawl for it.”

Posted: 4/15/05

Habitat founder tells students about 'real riches'

By Marv Knox

Editor

ABILENE–Money doesn't produce riches, Habitat for Humanity founder Millard Fuller insisted.

Fuller examined his own transition from “material riches to real riches” during the T.B. Maston Christian Ethics Lectures at Hardin-Simmons University's Logsdon School of Theology.

Fuller and his wife, Linda, founded Habitat for Humanity in 1976, seeking to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness across the world. The organization has built more than 175,000 homes, providing housing for more than 750,000 people.

Fuller illustrated the difference between financial wealth and “real riches” by telling about two recipients of Habitat homes.

Years ago, Annie Wofford and her four sons lived in the dirt underneath another family's home. Then they moved into a house with no insulation, furniture or toilet. But not long after Habitat learned about her plight, Habitat volunteers helped her build a new home for the family.

“My boys are no longer ashamed for others to know where we live,” she said at the time.

This spring, Wofford saw Fuller at a Holy Week worship service and gave him a big hug.

“It was like looking into the face of an angel,” he said. “I'm no longer a rich man in a material sense. But I'm rich; Annie Wofford loves me.”

Fuller also told about a 10-year-old boy named Hamburger who hung out on the lot when Habitat workers started a project in Orlando, Fla.

Fuller asked Hamburger to look at the vacant lot and tell the workers what he saw. “He looked across that lot, full of weeds and trash, and described his home,” Fuller said. “That boy had vision. He could see something that didn't exist yet.”

Later, after the Orlando project was completed, Fuller received a photograph in the mail. It was Hamburger, standing in front of his new home, grinning.

“I felt very rich,” Fuller said. “We're rich when we're doing God's purposes.”

But early in life, his goals were personal and, by his own description, selfish.

Fuller grew up in Alabama, in the Congregational Christian Church. “I made a decision to follow Christ and was baptized,” he recalled. “From what I understood it meant to be a Christian, I followed Christ.

“If you were a Christian, you went to church on Sunday and Wednesday night. You could smoke, but you weren't supposed to drink so much you got drunk. It didn't have anything to do with poverty, … race relations or war and peace.”

As a child, he decided he wanted to be rich and successful. During his first year of law school in the 1960s, he and a friend formed a marketing company. They sold everything from holly wreaths to telephone directories to tractor seats. Soon, they were making $50,000 per year–as students. Fuller was a millionaire by the time he was 29.

“We had everything money will get you. But as the old saying goes, success has its price,” he reported. “In my determination to get rich, everything else got neglected.

“We never totally abandoned the church. We stayed engaged in the church, but only in a peripheral way. The Bible says to seek 'the kingdom' first, but we put everything else first.”

Fuller recognized his misery when his wife told him she didn't love him anymore. While she sought counseling with a pastor friend, he analyzed his life and priorities.

“I loved Linda, but I took her for granted,” he admitted.

Fortunately, they reconciled. But in the process, they realized their material riches had ruined their lives. So, they decided to divest themselves of all their money. Their families thought they were crazy. The pastor counseled them to think it over. But they persisted.

Soon, they felt God leading them to Koinonia Farm near Americus, Ga. The farm had been started as an experiment in racial reconciliation by Clarence Jordan, a Baptist New Testament scholar and civil rights leader.

“God surely led us to Clarence,” Fuller noted. “He was so close to Jesus. He literally introduced Linda and me to a Jesus we did not know. …

“Clarence Jordan understood the Christian life has a relevance for us right now. The gospel has relevance from heaven to earth, not the other way around, because we live here on earth. We don't have to worry about heaven, because Jesus has taken care of that. But there are a lot of problems here on earth that we're supposed to take care of.”

For the Fullers, that meant joining Jordan in the effort to eliminate poverty, racism and discrimination. Eventually, it meant founding and operating Habitat for Humanity.

In 29 years, Habitat has organized hundreds of thousands of volunteers, most of them Christians from church-based groups, to help poor families build decent, safe, low-cost homes across the nation and around the world.

Logsdon School of Theology sponsors the Maston Lectures every spring to explore the application of Christian faith to life and to honor T.B. Maston, a Baptist pioneer in Christian ethics.

Posted: 4/15/05

Texas hunger offering goal set for 2006

By Ferrell Foster

Texas Baptist Communications

FLOWER MOUND–The Baptist General Convention of Texas' Christian Life Commission has set an $800,000 goal for the 2006 Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger.

The commission voted to adopt the goal, which is $50,000 more than the 2005 goal. The money will go toward 101 ministries scattered around the globe.

Of the total, $200,000 is earmarked for efforts in 18 regional Baptist associations in Texas. Another $120,000 will go elsewhere in the United States. The remaining $480,000 will meet needs outside the United States.

The goal reflects “strong giving in the previous fiscal year and caution regarding tsunami-related declining giving in the present fiscal year,” said Joe Haag, the commission's director of program planning.

Whenever an international ministry need like the tsunami disaster generates such a large outflow of relief gifts, it tends to have a negative impact on other less-publicized relief efforts.

“Overall, we are optimistic, but we still have to be realistic about the inevitable effects of donor fatigue on Texas Baptists,” Haag said.

The 101 funded ministries were selected from a list of applicants. Typically, 30 percent to 40 percent of requests cannot be funded due to inadequate funds, Haag told commissioners. None of the ministries selected are funded at 100 percent of the request.

In Texas, the following associations will receive money for specific hunger projects: Amarillo, Austin, Brown, Tryon-Evergreen, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Harvest, Del Rio-Uvalde, El Paso, Tarrant, Gulf Coast, Union, Midland, Palo Pinto, Odessa, Rio Grande Valley, San Antonio and Parker.

Beyond Texas, the state receiving the most support will be Wyoming, with $25,000. “There is a huge need in Wyoming,” Haag said.

Texas Baptist dollars will be flowing into other states as well–California, New York, New Mexico, Illinois, Iowa, Alaska, Georgia and the Mississippi River delta.

Overseas, the largest recipient nation will be South Africa, which is set to receive $70,000. It is followed by Indonesia, which will receive $41,400.

Posted: 4/15/05

CBF, Buckner volunteers
show love to Rio Grande Valley

By Scott Collins

Buckner Communications

MISSION–Shovel in hand, Rick McClatchy stood knee-deep and shoulder-to-shoulder with two volunteers in a ditch that soon would become the final resting place for a sewer line.

Above the ditch diggers, a crew of workers swarmed in the newly installed rafters of the home, measuring, sawing and hammering. From top to bottom, the job was a complete transformation of a cramped dwelling called home by a family living in the South Texas colonia of Progreso, just two miles from the Mexico border.

In all, 115 volunteers from 12 churches parti-cipated in a spring break edition of KidsHeart Texas, a partnership between Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and Buckner Children and Family Services. This year marked the addition of the spring break portion of KidsHeart, which has been a summer missions program the past two years.

Volunteers hosted Vacation Bible Schools, sports camps, medical screenings, arts and crafts, and sewing classes; distributed shoes to more than 3,000 people; and worked on construction projects in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.

“We learned a lot about the essentials of life, about joy in the midst of poverty, about caring for one's neighbors and about ourselves,” said James Fuller, pastor of Calder Baptist Church in Beaumont. “We labored in one of the 20 poorest counties in our country, but its residents taught us much about enthusiasm for life, making do with what you have, what is really essential, working together and how to place hope prominently in everyday living.”

CBF Texas Coordinator McClatchy and his crew learned the meaning of flexibility when the project they were working on went from installing a new roof to a complete reconstruction of a home. When the crew began taking off the house's old roof, McClatchy said, the rotted rafters crumbled, leaving the home exposed.

“We couldn't just say to the family, 'We're sorry,' and leave,” he said. “So this turned into a much bigger project than we anticipated.”

Margo Harrison and 23 fellow members from First Baptist Church of Eagle Lake have made three trips to the Valley. She said the volunteers are motivated by the needs of residents in places like Progreso.

“Their needs are so great, and it doesn't take a lot to fulfill their needs. Their needs are so basic, and we just feel like that's part of what we're to do. We're to be servants to other people,” Harrison said.

On two previous missions trips, the Eagle Lake group worked on houses of families, she said. Each time, members of those families became Christians, but there was no place for them to go to church.

“We began to pray that somehow a church would be started and that we could have a part in that, and then we found last summer that a church had been started here in Progreso. And so we decided that our church could partner with them on a long-term basis that would establish a place of worship for families through all these mission efforts,” Harrison said.

This spring, Eagle Lake members worked on the church's building, painting the interior and building a new restroom. The Progreso church, which has more than 75 attending since it started just a few months ago, did not have any restroom facilities, Harrison said. That kept some people from attending, she added.

To overcome the problem, Eagle Lake members prefabricated an outhouse before leaving home, loaded it on a trailer and hauled it to the Valley, where they put it together and hooked up sewer lines.

Her trips to the Valley are “a very moving experience for me personally,” Harrison said. The people are so gracious and so glad you're here that they bless us so much more than we could ever bless them.”

Calder Pastor Fuller said the KidsHeart effort left him wondering who had made the “greater contribution to whom. We had as many as 80 children for Bible school each day with no complaints, no whining and no discipline problems. Older children watched younger ones; mothers and fathers volunteered while their children learned about God's love and no one expressed resentment about their condition nor envy about ours.”

Churches participating in the KidsHeart spring break effort were Concord Baptist, Bangs; The Church at Canyon Creek, Austin; Calder Baptist, Beaumont; Parkdale Baptist, Corpus Christi; North Houston Christian Fellowship, Houston; Hope Community, Belton; Elkins Lake Baptist, Huntsville; Eastern Hills Baptist, Garland; First Baptist, Eagle Lake; Iglesia Gethsemane, Eagle Lake; New Wine, Harlingen; and Woodlands, Austin.

The summer KidsHeart mission project is scheduled for July 18-22.

For more information, contact McClatchy at (210) 488-8169 or Cbftex@aol.com.

Posted: 4/15/05

TEXAS BAPTIST FORUM:
Thankful to be former

I am not a bit surprised that Judge George Greer felt compelled to remove his membership from Calvary Baptist Church in Clearwater, Fla., in light of the Terri Schiavo case.

This decision brings forth the true nature of selective fellowship of Southern Baptists. If you disagree with their dogmatic doctrine, you are ostracized. My own personal experiences in the Baptist fellowship resulted in the same for me.

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

"I think a walk in faith constantly confronts doubt, as faith becomes more mature. … My faith is strong. The Bible talks about you've got to constantly stay in touch with the word of God in order to help you on the walk. But the Lord works in mysterious ways, and during all our life's journeys we're enabled to see the Lord at work if our eyes are open and our hearts are open." President George W. Bush Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Waco from Rome (RNS) "If you want a mood-elevator, you go talk to a 20-year-old who had just lost both limbs." Wynonna Judd Country singer, who visited with injured war veterans (U.S. News & World Report) "Tragically, millions of Americans today work full time and still fall below the poverty level. The moral values that shape our lives tell us this is wrong. We believe our rich nation should agree that everyone who works full time responsibly will be able to earn enough to rise above the poverty level and enjoy health insurance." 76 prominent evangelical leaders In a letter to President Bush (RNS)

To the Baptists out there who all are ill-informed of the law: Judge Greer's job as an appellate judge is to review the case to determine if the lower courts followed the law. He did just that. To say he did not completely review the case is ludicrous.

I am sure he read as much as the president and his Congress did in their self-serving will to introduce legislation. I am thankful I am no longer a Baptist.

Charlene Warfield

Houston

Alienating decisions

The media reported Judge George Greer had been “kicked out” of Calvary Baptist Church in Clearwater, Fla., over his handling of the Terri Schiavo case.

The phrase “kicked out” will resonate in the minds of Americans and will cause them to believe that Southern Baptists, especially those at Calvary Baptist in Clearwater, are uncaring and concerned only about their outward appearance instead of supporting their own.

Never once did Calvary Baptist's pastor publicly express his church's resolve to support and more importantly pray for Greer's difficult situation. The only news the public received was the church's decision to ask Greer to leave the congregation.

Unfortunately, this is another decision that has no biblical support and is built on an individual's emotion. The pattern among some Baptists is that they want to make everything appear like it is rosy on the outside while the inside is crooked and corrupt.

These decisions continue to shed a negative light on Southern Baptists and further alienate those who need to hear the message of Jesus Christ.

James Quesenberry

Fort Worth

Ironic assertion

I hope readers recognize the irony in William McNicoll's “modest proposal” that government help for the poor is “neither charitable nor compassionate” (March 21).

Surely this is irony on his part, especially in light of Jesus' teaching that we do for him inasmuch as we have fed the hungry, embraced the stranger, clothed the naked and visited those who are ill or imprisoned.

To me, it would be astonishing to believe that a Christian would not understand Jesus' purpose for us all. To refuse to use governmental services in addition to other means to do good for the poor and the weak surely would be a totally un-Christian, immoral and inhumane stand.

Let us have the will to do good in every way available to us.

Arney Strickland

Beaumont

Bad reputation

By referring to the Eighth Com-mandment, “Thou shalt not steal,” one letter writer (March 21) gave the reason Christians are most severely criticized by non-Christians for not supporting government programs that benefit the poor–as if the government is stealing our money through taxes for programs designed to benefit the poor.

With their focus on lower taxes, Christians are depicted as not wanting to spend tax money on programs to benefit the poor because it hurts our wallets. When Christians do not support programs to benefit the poor–in the name of lower taxes or because this should be the work of the church–it gives Christians a bad reputation.

Government programs to help the poor do not prevent a church or individual from doing whatever they desire to benefit the poor. As Christians, we are to help those in need. Remember, Jesus did not say, “… as long as you fed and clothed me through a church program and not through a government program” (Matthew 25:40). Jesus also did not oppose taxes (Matthew 17:25-27, 22:21).

Thank God, I live in a country that allows its citizens to get a deduction from our income taxes for the donations we make to our churches and faith-based nonprofit organizations. Christians are called to support government programs that benefit the poor and called in Romans 13 to support our government. When we don't in the name of Christian thinking, we give Christian thinking a bad reputation.

John Landers

Friendswood

Posted: 4/15/05

On the Move

Josh Adair to First Church in Tom Bean as youth and education minister.

Matt Baird to First Church in Hart as pastor from Cotton Flat Church in Midland.

Jim Benson to Edmund Boulevard Church in San Angelo as pastor.

Keith Blanton to Cedar Shores Church in Morgan as pastor.

Tommy Brisco to Southland Church in San Angelo as interim pastor.

Jim Bush to First Church in Carlsbad as pastor.

Scott Chadwick to First Church in Hutchins as pastor, where he had been interim.

Robert Conn to First Church in Sanger as youth minister.

Patrick Correll to First Church in Morgan as pastor.

Gerry Davis to First Church in Seadrift as pastor.

Blanton Feaster to North Park Church in Sherman as worship and education minister.

Chuck Gartman to First Church in Lubbock as director of student ministries. He is completing his duties as a professor at Howard Payne University.

Chris Green has resigned as youth minister at New Hope Church in Aubrey.

Shane Green has resigned as youth minister at Cooper Creek Church in Denton.

David Hawkins to Reavilon Church in Greenville as pastor.

Mark Hudgins has resigned as pastor of First Church in Hebron.

Grady Newsom to Belmont Church in Denison as pastor.

Zach Nicholson to Cedar Lane Church in Cedar Lane as pastor.

Doyle Purifoy to Shiloh Church in Mexia as pastor, where he was interim.

Brock Ratcliff to First Church in Riesel as interim pastor, not pastor as previously reported.

Don Ridgeway to Free Bridge Church in Point as pastor.

Randy Rogers to Shadow Hills Church in Lubbock as pastor from Lebanon Church in Cleburne.

Jim Simmons to First Church in Evant as associate pastor for worship.

Joe Tiner to Oak Crest Church in Midlothian as interim music minister.

Pat Traxler to Brush Country Cowboy Church in George West as pastor.

Mickey Wagoner has resigned as pastor of First Church in Bells.

Richard Waters to First Church in Ranger as pastor. He was director of missions for Cisco Association.

Posted: 4/15/05

Trade-offs of ideal, reality factor into selection of pope

By John L. Allen Jr.

Religion News Service

VATICAN CITY–Picking a pope is a bit like hunting for one's dream house. Buyers start with an ideal: say five bedrooms, three bathrooms, track lighting, hardwood floors, a fireplace, a spacious yard and a great view of the mountains. Then the hard work of looking at what's actually on the market begins, and people have to decide what they can live without in order to make a deal.

Similarly, in electing a pope, members of the College of Cardinals–the Catholic Church's most senior leaders–start with an ideal vision of the kind of man needed to lead the church. Usually that vision is constructed on the basis of six criteria.

Age: Because popes serve until they die, cardinals regulate the length of pontificate by the age of the man they elect. John Paul II's long reign, more than 26 years, augurs for an older man who won't serve as long. This is complicated, however, by the desire among some that the next pope project an energetic image after John Paul's very public decline. Many cardinals say they'd like someone age 65 to 75.

Life experience: There is a strong bias toward someone from a diocese rather than the Roman Curia, the Vatican's civil service. Given the high degree of centralization under John Paul II, and the resentment that has produced in some quarters, the inclination to elect an “outsider” likely is to be especially strong.

Nationality: Some people think the Italians are scheming to recapture their long hold on the papacy. In fact, there are only 20 Italians out of 117 cardinals presently under age 80 and hence eligible to vote. The United States has the second-largest national contingent, with 11. While some cardinals might prefer an Italian, others want a pope from the Third World.

That's where Christianity is growing. Just as John Paul II was able to help heal the East/West split that dominated the planet when he was elected in 1978, a pope from the Third World could help address today's North/South divide.

Issues: Candidates must have a compelling vision of the issues facing the Catholic Church, yet be open enough to appeal across “party lines.” Many cardinals believe those issues include how power is distributed inside the church; ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue, especially the relationship with Islam; biotechnology and sexual ethics; globalization and economic justice; and the role of laity, especially women.

Charisma: A pope must speak several languages, have a grasp of cultural and political trends, be tough enough to lead while still radiating compassion and come across well on television. At the same time, some cardinals believe John Paul II has been a tad too charismatic and say the next pope should not eclipse lower levels of authority.

Holiness: Being pope is not like being president or prime minister; competence is not enough. A pope must set a moral standard and must inspire people to seek a deeper relationship with God.

The problem is that no one person could possibly measure up to all these standards. The College of Cardinals contains a number of men who offer perhaps 85 percent of what electors want.

As in home-buying, the question becomes which particular constellation of features the cardinals will decide is “close enough.”