Posted: 1/21/05

Teens hunger for truth, youth evangelist insists

By Leann Callaway

Special to the Baptist Standard

MIDLAND–As youth evangelist Brad Fogarty speaks to students around the country, he draws his messages from lessons he learned while teaching and coaching in public schools. That's where he witnessed firsthand the need to share Christian truth with students.

“Personally, I am very concerned … because teenagers have been lied to for so long,” he said.

“Many teenagers think that sexual things are going to fulfill and that alcohol is going to solve their problems. In reality, all their addictions and sins have done nothing but make their lives worse. Teenagers are desperate to know the truth.”

Fogarty is student pastor at Stonegate Fellowship Church, a Baptist congregation in Midland, and also is the executive director of Armored Outreach.

Since co-founding Armored Outreach in 1999, Fogarty has traveled extensively across the country, speaking at youth camps, retreats, Disciple Now weekends, True Love Waits and See You at the Pole rallies, and other events such as Super Summer and the “Rock the Desert” Christian music festival in West Texas.

“When I became an itinerant minister, I was really impacted by what I saw,” he said.

“I realized that most of the traveling speakers and worship leaders were pretty lonely. They were constantly on the road, which meant rarely attending their home church. I didn't want that to happen to me. I wanted to be surrounded by a group of people to provide accountability, and whether we're at home or traveling, I wanted a close-knit family of ministers who would support each other.

“That's when God really began working in my life, and the vision for Armored Outreach was birthed. It was designed to be a haven for traveling ministers and a place for young ministers to be mentored, trained and assisted in their ministry.”

Recently, Armored Outreach created the “Truth Is” conference. The purpose of this two-day gathering is to provide teenagers with spiritual tools to keep their faith close while living in a secular world.

“We've been very intentional in having this conference outside of the Bible-belt and in the northeastern part of the U.S.,” he explained. “We basically say, 'Let us tell you what the truth is.' It's been really neat, because people are responding with, 'How come no one's ever told us this before?' Numerous people have accepted Christ as their Savior at this event.”

Through the conference, students also have realized their walk with Christ can be strengthened through meditation and memorization of Scripture, and they have made commitments to applying it to their daily life, he said.

“What a lot of Christians take for granted is that they've become really good at devotion, but they have forgotten about dwelling,” Fogarty said.

“A lot of people have their quiet time

so they can check it off, but they aren't

really spending time with Christ. That's a real passion of ours–to make sure that we're

really spending time with Christ and not just writing something in a journal and calling

it a devotion. We're taking that same charge to the people we speak to.”

Fogarty's favorite aspect of ministry happens when students give their lives to Christ and realize what the truth is.

“If I was working for a sales company or building houses, I would be able to see the fruit of my labor almost immediately,” he said. “You cut a deal, shake a hand and

get a check. You hammer a nail, lay a brick, and you've got a house.

“One of the beautiful things about what we do is we may never see it come to flourish. We're planting seeds that may flourish after our lifetime.

“I really can't describe the magnitude

of it, and I may never know the impact that Christ has had through my life.

“We get e-mails and letters so often that say, 'My life was changed at that event' … or, 'Let me tell you what God did at this event.' Just the thought of the eternal impact is so rewarding. I consider myself a door-to-door Jesus salesman.”

Posted: 1/21/05

Attorney general cancels contract with Las Vegas firm

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

AUSTIN–Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has cancelled a contract with a Las Vegas law firm that drafted gambling legislation for the state.

The attorney general's action came less than a month after Russell Verney, director of Judicial Watch, filed a suit naming Abbott, Lottery Commission Executive Director Reagan Greer and Comptroller Carol Keeton Strayhorn.

Verney alleged the Lottery Commission and the attorney general's office initially agreed to pay $100,000 to Lionel, Sawyer & Collins to–among other things–write legislation legalizing video gambling in Texas. Later oral contracts increased the amount to more than $360,000.

The Baptist General Convention of Texas' Christian Life Commission first brought to light last year the involvement of the law firm, which has ties to slot machine companies and other gambling interests.

Verney called the contract “an illegal attempt to lobby the legislative branch, made by executive branch agencies.”

Angela Hale, a spokesperson for the attorney general, called Verney's claims “misguided, riddled with factual and legal errors and insupportable in both fact and law.”

According to widely published reports, the attorney general's office already has paid more than $176,000 to the Las Vegas law firm.

“Contrary to (Verney's) claim, no Lottery Commission dollars have been spent, period,” Hale said. “Second, contrary to his claims, no money has been spent for lobbying.”

She insisted the contract stipulated the services the law firm was to provide–legal analysis and research, negotiating and preparing contracts with Indian tribes and litigation support services.

“Legislators may study and seek changes to current law, and in doing so, have a right to legal advice on how to achieve policy or legal changes to the law,” she asserted.

But Verney said no lottery dollars were spent on the contract only because the attorney general cancelled the contract at the last minute after the suit was filed.

As far as the matter of lobbying is concerned, Verney said, “They need to read the bills the law firm sent to them.”

Billing records stipulate services rendered included drafting a constitutional amendment and legislation, meeting with legislators and testifying before legislative committees.

“That is lobbying, plain and simple,” he said.

The attorney general's office was seeking to have the lawsuit dismissed at a court hearing Jan. 20.

While Verney called the nullified contract “a victory for Judicial Watch, a victory for taxpayers and a victory for Texas school children,” he called the effort to dismiss his suit “a shameful and transparent attempt” to deny his right to discovery in court.

Posted: 1/21/05

Children's issues, gambling top list of legislative priorities

By Ferrell Foster

Texas Baptist Communications

DALLAS–Texas Baptists' Christian Life Commis-sion is for children and against gambling.

The Baptist General Convention of Texas' public policy agency approved a broad list of priorities Jan. 14 that it will support during the 79th session of the Texas Legislature, which began earlier this month. Its positions on children and gambling issues are part of that mix.

Children's issues are expected to be important in the current legislative session, especially in regard to how the state protects children in dangerous or destructive situations.

The commission supports reform and reorganization of the state's child protective and family services. Such reform should include “effective partnerships that impact faith-related child and family services,” the priority statement said.

Four BGCT-affiliated agencies provide those services–Baptist Child & Family Services, Buckner Baptist Benevolences, South Texas Children's Home and Texas Baptist Children's Home & Family Services.

In regard to gambling, the Christian Life Commission opposes efforts to expand gambling, including video lottery terminals or casinos. Last session, the Legislature rejected such proposals as a way of reforming the state's school finance system, but the broader school finance issue still lingers.

The commission approved 37 specific priorities. The items are grouped in nine categories.

Some of those priorities are:

Alcohol and addiction

Increase alcohol excise taxes to deter youth purchases.

Enforce limitations on alcohol advertising.

Increase treatment of addiction among the incarcerated.

Campaign finance and open government

Reduce undue influence, abuse and the appearance of corruption under the present system of unlimited campaign contributions.

Strengthen the Texas Ethics Commission and empower it to investigate election and ethics violations.

Record significant votes in the legislature.

Children and family

Promote an eligibility system that supports access to state services while recognizing the limits of community or faith-related services.

Clarify the nature and definitions of marriage and family. In previous action, the commission has affirmed marriage as the union between a man and a woman.

Criminal justice

Add "life without parole" as an option for Texas juries handling capital cases.

Create options that will keep the mentally ill who commit minor crimes from being charged with a crime and entering the criminal justice system.

Education

Oppose funding private and parochial schools through vouchers or other means of providing public support for private sectarian use.

Support expansion of adult literacy and learning through workforce development.

Environment

Reduce power plant and mercury emissions to federally mandated levels.

Ensure that cities, counties and groundwater conservation districts have the authority necessary to protect water quality, aquifer recharge and spring flows and to minimize aquifer depletion.

Gambling

Promote strong regulatory functions, transparency and accountability of state agencies related to gambling enterprises.

Health and long-term care

Access to medical insurance for children by increased state funding for federal government-supported programs.

Providing secure and affordable services for elderly and disabled citizens.

Immigration and border Issues

End trafficking of undocumented persons.

Provide a meaningful plan for guest workers, agriculture workers and employed immigrants now in the United States.

Posted: 1/21/05

Poor Texans bear greater burden, lottery study shows

By Ferrell Foster

Texas Baptist Communications

AUSTIN–A study commissioned by the Texas Lottery Commission supports what gambling opponents have been saying a long time–low-income Texans spend a larger portion of their income on the lottery than higher-income residents.

The study shows the lottery is regressive, said Suzii Paynter, director of citizenship and public policy for the Baptist General Convention of Texas' Christian Life Commission.

That means those on the lower end of the economic spectrum carry a larger portion of the burden for financing government than do those on the higher end, something Christian ethics leaders have decried for decades.

The report released this month by the Earl Survey Research Laboratory of Texas Tech University said, “Per month spending (on the lottery) is consistent across income categories, meaning that while the amount spent per month in dollars remains relatively constant, residents in lower income categories spend a larger proportion of their income on lottery games.”

About 47 percent of adult Texans played the lottery in the past year, and each player spent an average of $76 per month, the study says.

The income group that spends the most on the lottery includes those whose average income is $40,000 to $49,000. They average spending $112 per month.

The group spending the least includes those making $76,000 to $100,000. They average almost $29 per month.

Texan who make more than $100,000 a year spend $71 a month on the lottery.

They spend less, however, than the poorest Texans–income of less than $20,000–who average spending $76.

“The sad thing is our state has substituted a false hope for an exciting future,” Paynter said. “Poor people are playing the lottery because they think it's going to change their future.”

Education level also is related how much a person spends on the lottery, the report says. “Those with less than a high school diploma report spending notably more per month than those with more education.”

And then there is a racial component. African Americans are less likely to play the lottery than are Anglos, Hispanics or other groups.

However, the study showed, “black respondents that do play Texas Lottery games report spending the most per month of any group.”

Age has little to do with the rate of participation, but “younger players (those 35 and under) report spending more per month” than older Texans.

Likewise, gender matters little in the rate of parti- cipation, but men spend more than women.

Looking at trends, the report notes that lottery participation peaked in 1994, with 71 percent of surveyed residents reporting having played.

“A gradual decline began the following year, leading to the 2004 figure of 47 percent. … This represents the lowest level of participation since the introduction of the Texas Lottery.”

Posted: 1/21/05

TEXAS BAPTIST FORUM:

Religious right (on)

The United States has been unofficially known as a “Christian nation” since it was settled, fought for and founded in vast majority by Religious Right Protestant Christians who fled European persecution. Two hundred twenty-five years later, Satan now persecutes their believing descendants.

The socialist, anti-God Liberal Left rose half a century ago. Even some believers support the Left's political agenda of abortion, immorality and godlessness, evidence of its Satanic origin and power.

Our overwhelmingly Christian founders didn't exclude other faiths or no faith, but they established the right to publicly express majority belief in God and allowed no restriction of public prayer or expression of faith. They created majority rule through elected representatives, not minority rule through illegal abuse of court power.

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

“I don't see … at least from my perspective, how you can be president without a relationship with the Lord.” George W. Bush (The Washington Times, RNS) "What I object to in Hollywood is not necessarily vulgarity. It's vulgarity with no purpose. It's vulgarity with no message. It's vulgarity for the sake of exploiting vulgarity. … Jesus was really against all kinds of exploitation." Patricia Heaton Actress who plays Debra Barone in Everybody Loves Raymond (AFA Journal) "If God can adopt us into his family and call us his own, it is our hope that others consider following his example by adopting a 'fatherless' child into their families." Steven Curtis Chapman Recording artist, who has adopted three children from China (BP) “Money is never enough compensation for investing time in something you hate. … Having a job that only provides safety and security is not enough. … Jobs will come and go–but a vocation or 'calling' will provide a continuing direction.” Dan Miller Author of 48 Days to the Work You Love (BP)

Christians are forcing belief on no one. We're fighting to regain our rights abolished by an activist court whose agenda ignored precedent and found-ers' intent and decimated respect for human life and common sense.

Our founders acknowledged God's existence. Be ready to join Babylon, Rome and the U.S.S.R. if the Left is able to eliminate that recognition.

Jim Bryant

Clifton

An open door

Christ talks about tragedy such as the tsunami in several places. He refers to the birth pain of the end of time, and earthquakes are one of the signs. He tells of the tower that falls and bad things happen to the just and unjust.

However, there are times when God's people turn their back to God. …

But people who say their nation is “Christian” are set to be judged by God.

I truly believe 9/11 was a wakeup call to Christians that we have became too complacent with pleasing the world and not God. We backed off sending people to evangelize the world, failed to send gifts to help those who want to go, because we are too concerned about ourselves and our church programs.

The tsunami was not an act of God; it just happened. The tragedy does open the door to Christians to get together and send aid of all sorts and missionaries by the 747-loads.

Dennis W. Russell

El Paso

Call to love

When our country was founded, there were no ugly or pretty people, just people with beautiful souls, seeking a homeland where they could worship God without persecution.

For years, we grew closer to the Lord. Then we acted as Eve did when she was tempted by the devil. The devil told Eve, “You shall not surely die,” although God had said she would.

We started to believe that same lie, that God was mistaken in how he told us to live our lives, so that we would know peace, happiness and prosperity. …

God has told us to love one another, even love our enemies, and to return good for evil. We still think we know better.

When will we learn and return back to the peace and prosperity we once knew?

Daniel Younger

Itasca

Moving on

I like the new look of the Baptist Standard.

I like even better the stated plan to “move beyond the controversies and conflicts of the past.” …

We are all still Baptists. “Moving on” is good news.

Oralee Farell

Commerce

Posted: 1/21/05

On the Move

Charles Altimore to First Church in Oglesby as minister of music.

Matt Baker has resigned as pastor of Northlake Church in Dallas.

David Bonnet to First Church in Evant as pastor.

Jackie Brem to Oak Street Church in Colorado City as pastor from First Church in Rochester.

Todd and Jenny Bunch to First Church in Kopperl as music and youth ministers.

Robert Cepeda to First Church in Los Fresnos as pastor from Primera Iglesia in San Benito, where he was interim.

Gary Chapman to Vernon Church in Vernon as pastor.

John Davison has resigned as minister to students at First Church in Crowell.

Ed Geron to Concho Valley Association as director of missions, where he had been interim.

Eddy Hallock to Tallowood Church in Houston as minister of missions/evangelism.

Mikel Hatfield to First Church in Lewisville as associate student minister.

Darrell Horn to Coastal Plains Area as executive director/director of missions.

Billy Joe Lambert has resigned as pastor of Cedar Springs Church in Rosebud.

Billy Lucas has completed an interim pastorate at Shavano Church in San Antonio and is available for supply and interims at (210) 494-9018.

Tony Moye to First Church in Calvert as pastor.

Pete Martin to Mount Pleasant Church in Kosse as pastor.

Bob McCartney to First Church in Sulphur Springs as pastor.

Heather Parrish to First Church in Lometa as youth minister.

Matt Prescott has resigned as minister of youth at Colonial Hill Church in Snyder.

Jack Rodgers to Hickory Tree Church in Balch Springs as pastor, where he had been interim.

Roger Smith to Calvary Hills Church in San Antonio as director of student ministries.

Gara Stark has resigned as associate pastor/minister of music and administration at South Garland Church in Garland.

Melodee Stillwell has resigned as associate student minister at First Church in Lewisville.

Chan Thompson to College Avenue Church in McGregor as youth minister, where he had been interim.

Gary Welch to Northside Church in Corsicana as interim youth minister.

Posted: 1/21/05

Southern Baptists leaders reject ecumenical invitation

By Kevin Eckstrom

Religion New Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)–The Southern Baptist Convention has told organizers of Christian Churches Together in the USA it has no interest in joining the fledgling ecumenical organization.

The new organization, set to launch next fall, aims to bring Catholics, mainline Protestants, Orthodox Christians, black churches, evangelicals and Pentecostals together for the first time.

“For the most part, we don't do ecumenism, because you usually have to give up some doctrinal beliefs or ignore or emphasize others to work with folks that really aren't on the same path, share the same doctrines, the same beliefs–particularly about salvation,” said Martin King, a spokesman for the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board.

Other evangelical groups, such as the Salvation Army, the Evangelical Covenant Church and World Vision, have endorsed CCT.

“We just don't see that it would help us in our efforts to help our Southern Baptist churches share our understanding of how to be saved, so we have no plans to participate,” King said.

Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, general secretary of the Reformed Church in America and chair of the CCT steering committee, said he was disappointed–but not surprised–by the Southern Baptist rejection.

“It is pretty clear that this just wasn't a reasonable expectation of where they are right now,” Granberg-Michaelson said. “We never had a high anticipation that the Southern Baptists would be a part. We'd wanted to have as strong a participation as we could from across the board in terms of representing different constituencies.”

Posted: 1/21/05

'Birds & bees' talk should be ongoing conversation

By Michele Melendez

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)–Bob Pastorio remembers feeling woozy when his children sprang out-of-nowhere questions related to sex. Even so, he said, he always answered honestly.

“We never used euphemisms, and we never used baby talk,” said Pastorio, 63, a Swoope, Va., father of four. “They notice stuff; they synthesize understanding from that.”

It isn't easy to talk about the birds and the bees–never mind the sexual images that permeate U.S. culture or sex education in schools.

“Parents sometimes avoid talking about sex and related issues with their children because they are not sure what to say and don't want to make a mistake in what they say or how they say it,” said Paul Kettlewell, a pediatric psychologist at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pa. “Talking about sex with kids makes most parents anxious.”

A recently released government report says roughly a third of 20,000 15- to 19-year-olds in 2002 never had talked to a parent about how to say no to sex, about sexually transmitted diseases, methods of birth control and where to get them, or how to use a condom.

A survey by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy suggests parents may underestimate their clout. Among 1,000 people 20 and older and 1,000 ages 12 to 19, only 28 percent of the older group said parents were most influential in their children's decisions about sex, while 37 percent of the youth listed parents No. 1.

Parenting experts recommend starting age-appropriate conversations years before puberty. They say to scrap the idea of one big “sex talk.”

Thomas Haller, a therapist in Bay City, Mich., and co-author of The 10 Commitments: Parenting With Purpose, said if parents don't have continual, informative talks before the pre-teen years, it's too late. The child has picked up clues elsewhere–friends, the Internet, television.

Pastorio remembers his own father giving him the dreaded talk during his freshman year of high school, long after he had learned the biology of sex through scientific articles and had ogled bare-breasted tribal women in National Geographic magazine.

“We kind of got through it, and never again, until the day I got married, did he make another sexual reference,” Pastorio remembered with a laugh.

He wanted to be more open with his own children, three of whom are grown. He shares custody of his youngest, Carla, 13.

Carla said she would feel more comfortable asking her mother, stepmother or friends questions about sex but knows her father is a willing resource.

When she was 11, Pastorio and his wife gave her a book for adolescent girls, written in the breezy style of a teen magazine. It covered the hormonal mysteries of pimples, breasts and desire and included sections on condoms, pregnancy and homosexuality.

“I was kind of freaked out,” Carla recalled. “I didn't tell them, but I think they could tell by the look on my face. It was a little too much information.”

Books are a good idea, experts say. But if parents suspect receiving such a book will make their child squirm, it can simply be made available on a bookshelf.

Children “may be too nervous or embarrassed to talk with their parents, but they need the correct information,” said Lissa Coffey, a Westlake Village, Calif., sociologist. “You don't need to give them the book; just have it out where they can have access to it.”

Much depends on the child's personality.

“If a child asks questions or is overheard making comments about sex, you can first gently ask what they've heard and what they think is the truth,” said Virginia Shiller, New Haven, Conn.-based author of Rewards for Kids! Ready-to-Use Charts & Activities for Positive Parenting.

It can be helpful for parents to discuss between themselves how they want to handle the inevitable.

John Hascall and his wife, of Ames, Iowa, were prepared when their son, at about age 5, blurted that perennial favorite: “Where do babies come from?”

“We just gave a simple answer like, 'Babies come from the mommy's body,' and at that age, that was a good enough answer,” said Hascall, 42, whose son now is 11. “As he's gotten older, he's asked more and more sophisticated questions, and we've always answered with what we thought was an honest answer of the same sophistication.”

Russell Arben Fox, 36, of Jonesboro, Ark., and his wife are figuring out how and when to talk about sex with their 8-year-old daughter, the oldest of three. The subject arose last year after the couple, lifelong Mormons, decided an updated movie version of the coming-of-age story Peter Pan was too advanced for her.

“Since we take our religion pretty seriously … obviously our values have been part of what we've taught our girls thus far, and it'll be an essential part of the sex talk, whenever we have it,” Fox said. “For Mormons, sexual activity within marriage is one of the purposes of creation.”

Balancing sex and spirituality can be an added challenge for families to whom faith is important, said Jimmy Hester, coordinator of True Love Waits, an international abstinence campaign spearheaded by LifeWay Christian Resources and the Southern Baptist Convention.

But, Hester said, those conversations need to happen–even through the elementary school years–to give children a foundation they can build upon in their teen years and through adulthood. And parents must show they believe what they say by respecting their spouse and their own bodies, Hester added.

“What we really fall back on are the values that we picked up from our parents,” he said, “not the values we picked up from our peers.”

Posted: 1/21/05

Switchfoot's success signals new trend in Christian music

By Erin Curry

Baptist Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–The popularity of Christian rock groups such as Switchfoot, MercyMe and Casting Crowns has signaled a growing trend for the gospel music industry, which reported a sales total of 43.4 million units in 2004.

"Gospel music will always be unique for its wide-ranging music styles and diverse audiences, and black gospel and praise and worship continue to be powerful categories of Christian music, but there has definitely been a measurable shift towards rock, alternative, hip-hop, urban and other styles of music particularly popular with younger customers," said John Styll, president of the Gospel Music Association.

"This is a great sign that a new generation of music fans has discovered these and other artists and hopefully indicates a continued bright outlook for gospel music."

Switchfoot joined Columbia Records, a mainstream company that helped push their single "Meant to Live," to No. 5 on Billboard's Adult Top 40 and caused a surge in both their Christian and mainstream retail sales, GMA representatives said.

"Switchfoot is reflective of our newer generation of Christian artists–artists whose lives are greatly influenced by their Christian faith, who write and record music that is informed by those beliefs, but don't use Christian rhetoric that might otherwise limit their audience," Stylls observed.

"From the start of their music careers, Switchfoot has been making their groundbreaking style of music, which speaks eternal truths in a way that relates to their generation and have patiently persisted until finally the world has taken notice.”

Posted: 1/21/05

Texas Tidbits

African-American Leadership Conference planned. The development of lay leaders in churches is the focus of an African-American Leadership Conference March 11-12 in Waco. George McCalep Jr., pastor of Greenforest Community Baptist Church in Decatur, Ga., will be the keynote speaker at the conference, sponsored by the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Participants will spend most of the conference time in groups for 11 specific types of ministry–church administration for general church leadership; Christian education; Sunday school and small-group directors; and women, deacon, music, adult, youth, children, preschool and technology ministries. Cost is $45, which includes lunch. Registration is required, and the conference will be limited to 500 participants. For more information, contact Andre Punch in the BGCT Bible Study/Disciple-ship Center at (214) 828-5281 or andre.punch@bgct.org.

Four Texans named "Baptists of the Year." The Baptist Center for Ethics' website, ethicsdaily.com, named four Texans among its Baptists of the year for 2004–Charlie Johnson, pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in San Antonio, which is converting a 55,000-square-foot grocery store building into a smoke- and alcohol-free entertainment center for young people; Albert Reyes, president of the Baptist University of the Americas in San Antonio and president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas; Suzii Paynter, public policy director of the BGCT's Christian Life Commission in Austin; and Mary Blye Howe, a member of Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas, honored for her writing on interfaith relations.

HBU names first female trustee chair. Diane Williams has been appointed chair of the Houston Baptist University board of trustees. Williams, a member of Second Baptist Church in Houston, is the first woman to hold the position. She is a 1993 HBU graduate and has served on the board seven years.

Howard Payne trustees reaffirm guaranteed tuition. Trustees of Howard Payne University in Brownwood reaffirmed a guaranteed tuition plan for new students enrolling in classes in the fall semester. President Lanny Hall said block tuition for the next fiscal year will be $6,000, up 9.1 percent over the $5,500 in the 2004-2005 school year. The block tuition rate, however, will not increase as long as a student is enrolled full-time–12 hours or more–and is making satisfactory progress toward a degree for consecutive fall and spring semesters.

Posted: 1/21/05

TOGETHER:
'A place where people are being saved'

The dear elderly lady in Frederick Speakman's The Salty Tang asked the question that should be the measure for every church.

She was a tourist in an English cathedral, where the guide had pointed out the artistic beauty, the architectural accomplishments and the burial sites of important benefactors. Finally, she interrupted, “Young man, young man, when was the last time someone was saved in here?”

Texas Baptists have beautiful church buildings, youth and children's ministries of the highest order, giving patterns that others envy, growing numbers of church starts, disaster response teams that lead the way, and dedicated pastors, staff members and laity. But for us, too, the question that cuts through all the noise of our activity must be, “Has anybody been saved here lately?”

Executive Director BGCT Executive Board

I believe results will show that we baptized almost 50,000 people in our 5,700 congregations last year. We had a part in many others coming to Christ through mission trips and community ministries in Texas and around the world.

I thank God for everyone who has been saved this past year through the churches and ministries related to the Baptist General Convention of Texas. But I want–and I know you do too–for us to do more and be more useful to God in touching the people who live around us with the incredible good news of how much God truly loves them.

I want every Texas Baptist church to be a place where people are being saved. How can that be?

Pastor and people have to pray for people to be saved. Like your blessings, they need to be named one by one!

The church must invite often, welcome gladly and faithfully care for those God brings to your attention.

The gospel of salvation must be taught in Sunday school, preached from the pulpit and shared in the daily witness of the pastor and members.

Ministries that express the heart of God for people need to be started and people nurtured to faith.

The time of baptism needs to be an occasion for churchwide celebration.

Where can your church learn more about this and other matters that will help you reach people effectively? There is still room for you at Epicenter Jan. 27-29. It will be held at the Sheraton Grand Hotel in Irving; phone (800) 345-5251. For more information, call the BGCT Church Missions and Evangelism Section, (888) 747-7700, or visit the Epicenter website, www.bgct.org/epicenter.

This is an evangelism and missions conversation that will give you practical, powerful ways to mobilize your church, maximize your calling in reaching those without Christ and then helping them to become true disciples of our Lord Jesus. The time you invest in these three days will touch your heart, engage your mind, and encourage and stimulate you in giving your best as you work with the Holy Spirit in drawing your church deeper into evangelism and missions.

Check out the program. Take advantage of everything offered. Bring someone with you.

I'll see you there!

We are loved.

Posted: 1/21/05

Physician Andrew Bentley (left) from Breckenridge Village in Tyler–with the help of a volunteer with Texas Baptist Men–removes a stick imbedded in a Sri Lankan man's foot. (Photo by Richard Brake)	Sri Lankan children–even in a Muslim camp–eagerly greeted the Texas team.
Relief workers from Texas approach a man on a bicycle who was despondent after the loss of his family in the tsunami.

Broken lives touch hearts of relief team

By Craig Bird

Baptist Child & Family Services

SAN ANTONIO–The physical devastation was staggering. Fishing boats hurled over a peninsula and across a quarter-mile-wide lagoon before being dumped on the mainland. Piles of rubble where houses and office buildings once stood. Water wells contaminated with saltwater. Coastline beaches vanished. Bridges shattered.

But it was the damaged humanity that grabbed the hearts and minds of the men on the Baptist Child & Family Services Sri Lanka relief team.

“How do you pick up the pieces when everything you have is gone and many of the people you loved best are dead?” asked Baptist Child & Family Services President Kevin Dinnin. “There are faces and voices none of us will ever forget. There were examples of Sri Lankans living their faith that will inspire us as long as we live.”

A middle-aged man sat on his bicycle, deep into an unsuccessful effort to blot out the pain of losing his entire family through drinking. He initially refused offers of help from the Texas team and the Sri Lankan Christians they were assisting.

“Why should I be helped, why should I live when everyone else died,” he argued.

But eventually he accepted some basic medical care. More importantly, he began to talk through his survivor guilt and began to believe that these Christians, both the foreigners and his Sri Lankan neighbors who practiced this strange religion about Jesus thought he was well worth saving.

Another man, the only survivor in his family, walked trance-like to the relief camp set up at Heavenly Mission Harvest Church. He'd been there before, but only as the leader of a Hindu mob vandalizing the building and beating the pastor. Now that same pastor, Vijyaraj, gently cleaned his wounds where Andrew Bentley, a physician, could tend to him, and grieved with him with gentleness and compassion

Anoprathepan, who worked with the Texans as a translator, buried his sister and niece in a small Christian graveyard then began to help others. He walked the visitors on a tour, noting: “I put the bodies of 13 children in that grave. … A family of five is buried there.”

Another pastor, living in a tiny three-room house already crowded with his own family, took in nine orphaned children in the first week after the tsunami struck, “simply because they had no place else to go,” Dinnin reported. But even though refugee camps were no more than a scattering of tents, government officials took the children away when they learned of it, unwilling to risk them to the permanent care of a Christian.

The Sri Lankan Christians practiced what the Bible teaches about worshipping God at all times.

“I was awed by how they kept shouting out praises and how they sang with such confidence and joy,” said Richard Brake, a psychologist with Baptist Child & Family Services. “It was a real emotion, even though everyone there knew people who had died.”

Most of the 25 families in the church had lost all or part of their homes too–but none had died because the tsunami did not reach the church building Dec. 26. They were shouting praises and singing songs that day too.

At one camp, hundreds of children crowded around the Texans and listened to the translated questions in genuine friendliness–until Dinnin, as he always did, asked if he could pray for them.

No one had warned them it was a Muslim camp.

“They backed way up when they realized I was a Christian,” Dinnin said. “But I went over to the leaders and told them I had not meant to be confrontational and was simply praying to my God like I always do.”

“We went there to help hurting people, and it didn't matter if they were Christian or Buddhist or if they had a red dot on their forehead (Hindu) or had on a prayer hat (Muslim).

“But the Sri Lankan Christians, who live with the persecution and ridicule, felt the same way. They were helping everyone in Jesus' name.

“I can't help but believe that our presence not only encouraged those national believers but also helped people see that Christianity is not the enemy, that Christians do love and care for others without trying to dominate them.”

The physical damage will be repaired much quicker than the human emotional wounds will mend, he noted.

That's why the child care agency has committed to a long-term presence in Sri Lanka to help national Christians help their neighbors.