Posted: 12/03/04

Poll shows Americans divided over
question of evolution vs. creation

By Kevin Eckstrom

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)–A Gallup Poll suggests Americans are divided over how the world was created–either through evolution or at the hand of God–but either way, they appear skeptical that it happened exactly as described in the book of Genesis.

The poll found Charles Darwin's theory of evolution remains controversial among Americans. About one-third say it is supported by evidence, one-third see it as bunk and one-third don't know enough to judge.

A plurality of Americans–45 percent–say man was created by God in his present form, while 38 percent say man developed over time as God guided the process. Just 13 percent said God had no role in the process.

Yet a smaller percentage, 34 percent, said the Bible is the actual word of God and should be read literally.

Pollsters said that discrepancy suggests Americans believe man was created as-is, but not because the Bible says so.

Breaking down the numbers, Gallup officials said about one-quarter of Americans are “biblical literalists” who believe man was created 10,000 years ago in his present form. They tend to be women, conservatives, Republicans and attend a Protestant church at least once a week.

A slightly smaller number–one in five Americans–believe man was created in his present form 10,000 years ago, but not because they read the Bible literally. Just 9 percent of the country read the Bible literally but are open to the theory of evolution.

The largest group–46 percent–do not read the Bible literally and believe humans may have evolved over time. This group tends to be male, urban, more educated, Catholic and seldom or never attend church.

“It is not surprising to find that the biblical literalists who believe that God created humans 10,000 years ago tend to be more religious and Protestant,” said Frank Newport, Gallup's editor-in-chief.

The survey of 1,016 adults has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Posted: 12/03/04

Handmade lap quilts a labor of undying love for Garland man

By George Henson

Staff Writer

GARLAND–As a living memorial to his late wife, Jeanie, Tom Kelly continues a nursing home ministry she envisioned to warm body and soul.

Kelly didn't accompany his wife of 62 years as she made visits to nursing homes, but he remembers that when she returned, she always was concerned that so many residents seemed cold as they sat in their wheelchairs, even during the summer.

Kelly and his wife always had been handy with a sewing machine, and they decided to make something to keep the residents warm. They began accumulating material, but then she grew ill.

All Kelly's time and energy were dedicated for awhile to taking care of his wife, but in September 2003, she succumbed to lung disease.

Since then, he has been working eight to 10 hours most days crafting lap quilts and quilted shoulder wraps for nursing home residents and shut-ins.

Kelly, 90, has made about 150 lap quilts and quillows–a quilt that folds into a pocket to form a pillow if needed. When the quilt is unfolded, the pocket can be used to warm cold feet.

After two cornea transplants and a new eyeglass prescription, he even threads his own needles.

Kelly allows friends in the adult choirs at First Baptist Church in Garland to deliver his creations as a part of their nursing home ministry.

“I get the blessing of making them, but I let them have the blessing of giving them away,” he said. “I want as many people as posible to take them. That's how they get their blessing.”

His daughter, Pat Walker, said the ministry is a testament of the love she saw between her parents her entire life.

“You could always see how devoted they were to one another, and it's like they are still doing this together in my mind,” she said.

She often accompanies her father as he makes his trips to buy fabric and other supplies, where many of the store clerks have come to recognize them.

“They know what he does with the material, and many times they have some they think he would like set aside,” she said.

One of the clerks especially was helpful, and Kelly made her a quillow in appreciation.

“When she took it, she had tears in her eyes,” Walker said.

While most of his creations have gone to five area nursing homes and assisted living centers, others have made their way to Tulsa, Texarkana and Australia.

Walker said the ministry keeps her father vibrant.

“At 90 years of age, he has a purpose in life; he doesn't just sit around and watch TV. He's doing things to help other people,” she said.

Kelly is more interested in encouraging others than in having accolades heaped on himself.

“If hearing this can encourage someone else to do something and to realize that they're not finished, then that will be good,” he said.

Posted: 12/03/04

Teachers from the Delta Kappa Gamma Society read to twin brothers during the Bountiful Book Party held on the Texas Baptist Children's Home campus. Members of the society brought three books each to share with the home's single parent ministry. Susan Lee (right), supervisor for Texas Baptist Children's Home's Family Care program, talks to one toddler about the books provided by the Delta Kappa Gamma Society of teachers during the Bountiful Book Party.

Volunteers share love of reading with kids at children's home

By Miranda Bradley

Texas Baptist Children's Home

Fifty teachers recently opened a new classroom in Round Rock on the Texas Baptist Children's Home campus. But instead of blackboards and erasers, the two cottages, which normally house up to 10 Family Care residents, were filled with books and children. And the one lesson these volunteers wanted to teach was a love for reading.

Members of the Delta Kappa Gamma Society brought three books each to share with the children of Texas Baptist Children's Home's Family Care Program during its annual Bountiful Book Party.

While Texas Baptist Children's Home began in 1950, Family Care was started in the 1970s as an answer to the growing number of single mothers with children.

Deborah Taylor, principal of Wells Branch Elementary School, reads to a child in Texas Baptist Children's Home's Family Care program during the Delta Kappa Gamma Society's annual Bountiful Book Party. Members of the society brought three books each to share with the home's single parent ministry.

Six of the children's home's 13 cottages serve these families, which often are struggling with how to thrive in the world around them. Some mothers come from abusive home environments, while others are suffering from financial strain. But no matter their circumstance or background, each is grappling with the same issue–how to be a better parent.

Delta Kappa Gamma volunteers showed mothers how to do that by learning how to read to their kids. Aside from promoting a love of reading, it also helps forge a strong relationship between parent and child, members said.

“We just show them how to ask questions about the book and help the children understand it a little better,” said Laura Bridge, president of the society. “The mothers always get more out of it than even the children.”

Delta Kappa Gamma is made up of both retired and active teachers in the area as far away as Leander and Georgetown. The group helps raise money for scholarships and chooses various projects throughout the year to give back to the local community.

“This is our favorite project out of all the ones we do,” Bridge said. “Everyone looks so forward to it every year.”

Despite all the things Delta Kappa Gamma is, there is one thing it isn't.

“We aren't a sorority,” explained Betty Parnell, a retired Houston-area teacher. “It's an international society made up of key women educators. And we love to do this type of work.”

Reading provides a dual purpose for the moms, said Susan Lee, Family Care Program administrator.

“It's a really good excuse to hold your baby in your lap,” she said. “It is an opportunity for bonding and education at the same time.”

The society has been offering this bonding experience to TBCH residents for more than six years and plans to do it well into the future.

“We are teachers, so this fits perfectly with what we are about,” Bridge said. “We are able to promote a love of books to kids who might not have as many opportunities as other children. There's just a great deal of personal satisfaction in that.”

Posted: 12/03/04

Pro-life Democrat, pro-choice Republican likely to lead Senate

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)–Senate Democrats, whose party officially supports abortion rights, have elected an abortion opponent as their leader.

Meanwhile, Senate Republicans, whose party officially opposes abortion, appear ready to name a rare pro-choice senator as chair of one of the Senate's most powerful committees.

Senate Democrats elected Nevada Sen. Harry Reid as minority leader by acclamation. Reid, a Mormon, is a longtime opponent of abortion rights who voted in favor of a 2003 law that bans so-called "partial-birth" abortions.

On the Republican side, Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter appears to have quelled an uproar from social conservatives against his elevation to the chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Specter is a moderate who supports abortion rights and generally has supported church-state separation.

Dozens of Religious Right groups and other conservative organizations asked Specter's colleagues to bar him from the chairmanship after comments he made to reporters shortly after President Bush was re-elected Nov. 3.

Specter implied that Bush should not bother sending far-right nominees for Supreme Court vacancies to the Senate for confirmation, because they likely would be filibustered by Democrats.

Nominees to the federal bench must first be confirmed by the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the chairman has wide latitude over which nominees receive a hearing.

But after meetings with Senate GOP leaders and Republican Judiciary Committee members, several expressed support for Specter.

“Sen. Specter handled himself very well” in the meeting, said outgoing committee chairman Orrin Hatch of Utah, according to the Washington Post. “I'm for him, as I should be.”

But not all conservatives followed Hatch's lead.

In an e-mail newsletter, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council asked supporters not to let up pressure on other senators, since a majority of the entire Senate Republican Conference must confirm Specter's nomination when the group meets Jan. 5 to organize for the new session of Congress.

“Each Republican senator must be challenged to stand up for the values of the voters that helped them gain solid control of the Senate, rather than capitulate to the political protocol that advances privilege above principle,” Perkins wrote.

Posted: 12/03/04

Baptist state conventions urge ban on same-sex marriage

By Greg Warner

Associated Baptist Press

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (ABP)– As “values voters” in 11 states sent a political message rejecting same-sex marriage, Baptist conventions in at least seven states offered a resounding “amen” by adopting resolutions against the practice.

Most of the statements voiced support for constitutional amendments on the state and federal level to define marriage as only the union of a man and a woman.

Supporters say the constitutional amendments are necessary to stop the trend of legalizing gay marriage–which began last fall in Massachusetts and has surfaced in a handful of cities.

Opponents say the amendments are unnecessary because of existing federal and state laws, such as the Defense of Marriage Act, that prohibit gay marriage.

But supporters counter that “activist” judges could overturn those laws as unconstitutional, making constitutional amendments the only sure defense against gay marriage.

At annual conventions, most held in mid-November, Baptist messengers in Alabama, North Carolina, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and California all spoke out against gay marriage.

Typical of the state convention actions was the resolution passed in Alabama, which affirmed that “biblical and legal marriage is between one man and one woman” and is “the only marriage ordained of God.” The resolution calls for the U.S. Congress and the Alabama legislature to pass constitutional amendments limiting marriage to a man and a woman.

In North Carolina, messengers were presented a proposed statement from their resolutions committee that included the same definition of marriage but did not call for constitutional amendments. Before it was adopted, the resolution easily was amended from the floor to include the need for the constitutional amendments, noting successful legal challenges could force North Carolina and other states to “accept same-sex marriage as the law of the land without any vote of our elected legislators in the U.S. Congress.”

In Arkansas, where legislators already have adopted a constitutional amendment defining marriage, Baptist messengers expressed gratitude for the Arkansas Marriage Amendment and called for a similar amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Messengers to the Florida Baptist Convention went a step further, pledging to work with other like-minded denominations to add gay-marriage bans to the state and federal constitutions. The statement calls for legislation defining marriage “as the union between a man and a woman” and “the God-ordained building block of the family and bedrock of civil society.” Like many other states, Florida already has enacted the Defense of Marriage Act that limits marriage to heterosexual couples.

In Louisiana and Mississippi, Baptist messengers adopted resolutions calling for passage of the Federal Marriage Amendment, but in Louisiana another resolution urged Baptists to continue to address the issue of homosexuality from a biblical standpoint. The statement laments that homosexuality is becoming more culturally acceptable, while remaining an “abomination unto God” and “unrighteous.” The resolution calls on pastors to continue “stating very plainly what the Bible teaches about homosexuality.”

In California, the resolutions committee presented only one resolution, a catch-all statement dealing with the right to life, family values, purity in marriage between a man and a woman, and raising children.

This year, as usual, Baptist conventions adopted resolutions addressing a broad range of moral issues, as well as support for hurricane victims and troops in Iraq. The statements carry no power of enforcement, even among the conventions' churches, and are supposed to reflect only the opinions of the messengers present–who are predominantly ministers. But resolutions often serve as an indicator of congregational sentiment and thus influence convention policy.

While same-sex marriage clearly was the hottest topic in 2004, an expected debate over the alleged moral failure of public education fizzled.

Several state conventions were expected to act on a resolution denouncing the secular condition of public or “government” schools and urging parents to “remove their children from “godless” and “anti-Christian government schools and see to it they receive a thoroughly Christian education.”

A similar resolution introduced at the Southern Baptist Convention last June was rejected by the SBC resolutions committee, which said the resolution would “usurp” the responsibility of parents to decide how to educate their children.

According to Exodus Mandate, a group advocating a Christian departure from public education, the resolution was to be introduced at 10 state Baptist conventions this fall.

However, none of those conventions approved the resolution as proposed. Some passed watered-down versions. But most declined to abandon public education. In fact, more resolutions affirmed public schools than denounced them.

In the Alabama Baptist State Convention, a resolution affirmed Baptists' support of education, including public schools, and affirmed actions by local churches, associations and individual Christians to partner with schools.

In South Carolina, messengers voted to “celebrate the diversity” of choices Baptist families are making in regard to their children's education. The resolution called on parents to make “the responsible, intelligent and prayerful choice” of being actively involved “in the academic and spiritual development of children.”

At the Florida Baptist Convention, messengers passed a brief motion asking convention administrators “to find ways to strengthen and support Christian schools and home schooling” among the convention's churches.

Because of that action, convention leaders decided it was not necessary to consider the longer resolution condemning public schools and calling all Christians to abandon public education.

Meanwhile, even the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia, an alternative pro-SBC convention in that state, took no action against public schools. An attempt to add an anti-schools amendment to a resolution on “the secularization of American society” failed to pass.

At the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, another conservative alternative group, messengers resolved to “instruct parents to ensure the godly education of children whether in public schools, private schools, home schools, or through the church's educational program.”

The Missouri Baptist Convention passed a resolution encouraging Baptists to consider the dangers of secularization of public schools.

In several other state conventions, such as Tennessee, the anti-schools resolution was submitted but rejected by the resolutions committees. In some states, such as Illinois, the resolution was not even introduced.

T.C. Pinckney of Virginia, a conservative Southern Baptist who led the unsuccessful effort to pass the anti-schools resolution at the SBC in June, said he was not disappointed in the lack of action in the state conventions.

Pinckney said he did not expect many conventions to pass “strong, unambiguous” statements for Christian education this year.

“My judgment is that such a major change in the way we think about education and the assumptions under which we proceed regarding educating our children will take a long time–years–to complete,” he said.

“To the extent that the state resolutions cause people to think about the issue, we have made progress.”

Posted: 12/03/04

Court declines review of same-sex marriage

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)–The Supreme Court has denied a request to review a Massachusetts court's decision that legalized gay marriage in that state.

Returning to the bench after their Thanksgiving break, the justices declined without comment a request from a group of socially conservative Massachusetts legislators to review a decision by the state's Supreme Judicial Court that legalized same-sex marriage in the commonwealth.

The group, represented by the Florida-based Liberty Counsel, had argued the decision denied Massachusetts voters the right to govern themselves through their legislature, thus violating the federal Constitution's guarantee of a representative form of government for each state.

In a brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court, Liberty Counsel attorney Matthew Staver said the justices should hear the case because voters in Massachusetts had a constitutional right “to live in a republican form of government free from tyranny, whether that comes at the barrel of a gun or by the decree of a court.”

But in June, a three-judge panel of the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held unanimously that the legislators who filed the suit did not have standing to sue because they did not prove they had suffered any actual injury.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's decision did not violate the federal Constitution, the appeals court said, because Massachusetts voters may overrule that decision in 2006, by approving a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage but allowing “civil unions” between gay partners.

The argument by the Liberty Council overreached, the appeals court said in its unsigned June ruling, because the Massachusetts court “has not abolished the legislature. The amendment process enshrined in the Massachusetts Constitution is purposely designed to be slow; that choice is itself a result of the state's republican form of government.”

The controversy erupted in November 2003 when the Massachusetts court ruled the state's constitution requires it to offer marriage licenses on an equal basis to both homosexuals and heterosexuals. The decision set off a backlash across the country, with nearly a dozen states adopting constitutional amendments to ban same-sex marriage. It also gave steam to an effort to amend the federal Constitution to ban gay marriage.

Conservatives said the Supreme Court's decision not to hear the Massachusetts case is further proof that a federal constitutional amendment is needed.

“It is increasingly clear that the ultimate solution to the problem of judicial tyranny will not come from other judges but from the people themselves,” said Peter Sprigg, policy director for the Family Research Council, in a statement. “That is why the electorates of 13 states have amended their state constitutions in recent months to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.”

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, asked about the court's decision during a press briefing, said it deals with federal-versus-state issues and does not mean the court would decline to entertain a future challenge to the federal law banning same-sex marriage.

“The president believes that (marriage) is an enduring institution in our society,” he said. “That's why he has fought to move forward on a constitutional process that would allow the states and the people in those states to be involved in this decision.”

Posted: 12/03/04

TBM responds to flooding in Coastal Plains

WHARTON–Flooding interrupted the Thanksgiving holiday for residents southwest of Houston, but Texas Baptist Men volunteers came to the rescue by providing meals and clean-up help.

Four TBM disaster relief units have responded to flooding in the Coastal Plains. In less than a week, volunteers served more than 1,000 meals, and completed about 20 clean-up jobs, as well as providing showers and laundry service.

Bill Pyle, a member of First Baptist Church in Karnes City and leader of the Gambrell Baptist Association clean-out/shower unit, said the water had receded after several days, and volunteers finally were able to get into all previously flooded areas.

In El Campo, the rainwater simply piled up in low areas then went down, Pyle said. In Wharton, the Colorado River left its banks, carrying mud and silt into homes.

Tim Willis, a member of First Baptist Church in Plains and an area manager for TBM disaster relief, said crews are able to clean about 10 houses per day, depending on size of the home and extent of the damage. There still are 44 houses in Wharton and 22 in El Campo that need to be cleaned.

More help is needed, and Willis said TBM will be calling out additional trained volunteers. Twenty-five were on the scene Dec. 1.

As the volunteers worked, they found their prayers “get answered up here pretty quickly,” Pyle said.

God has them there for a purpose and takes care of the different needs that arise, he said. “It's plumb amazing.”

Other TBM units dispatched to the Coastal Plains are the South Texas feeding rig, San Antonio cleanout and San Antonio command/communication/security.

Donations for the relief effort may be sent to Texas Baptist Men, 333 N. Washington, Dallas 75246 and designated for the Coastal Plains Flood.

Posted: 12/03/04

Denton Baptists use holidays to share
the gospel with international students

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

DENTON–Thanksgiving and Christmas are about more than turkey and dressing for some members of First Baptist Church in Denton.

They use the holidays as an opportunity to share American customs and the Christian message with international students at the University of North Texas through food, fellowship and prayer.

Young people crowd into a church-owned house for the chance to practice their English and learn more about how Americans celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas, said Codi Knowles, International Friendship and Sunday school coordinator.

The celebration includes a prayer over the meal and several First Baptist Church members thanking God for working in their lives in various ways. Then Christians get to know the students and provide more information about each holiday.

Lacee Link looks at the sheet music as Tzu-Hsi Lin plays the piano during First Baptist Church in Denton's Thanksgiving meal for international students.

The church works with International Friendship to partner American students and families with international students in hopes of sharing the Christian faith, said Linda Knowles, Codi's mother and director of International Friendship.

“We can talk about all the Thanksgiving dinners we want …, but its all about them coming to know the Lord,” Linda Knowles said.

Jim Herbison, another member of First Baptist Church, said serving these students through Bible studies, events and fellowship is like ministering on a foreign field.

Young people come from many countries, including Brazil, Japan, China and Korea.

Groups of as many as 100 students come five times a year to the University of North Texas and stay as long as two years, Herbison said. That gives First Baptist Church members an opportunity to impact the rest of the world.

Everyone who serves in the ministry is a volunteer who gives many of their own resources to see students become Christians. Each spoke of feeling God calling them to minister to international students.

“Everything that is done here, everything you see here, is done from right here–a place we call our heart,” Linda Knowles said.

Posted: 12/03/04

Texas Tidbits

Wayland dedicates 11 scholarships. Wayland Baptist University celebrated homecoming 2004 by dedicating a record 11 endowed scholarships. They are the Salla Stephens Bradshaw and John Ray Stephens Endowed Scholarship, the Earl and Ollie Greene Endowed Music Scholarship, the Claude Hutcherson Family Endowed Scholarship, the Vernon and Mary Wilson Jackson Endowed Scholarship, the Charles and Elizabeth Jinks Endowed Scholarship, the Jodie and Bessie Jopling Endowed Scholarship, the Lucile and Earl W. Miller Endowed Music Scholarship, the Lucian and Audrey Morehead Endowed Scholarship, the Ailese Parten/Charlene Clay Root Endowed Scholarship, the W. Neil Record Endowed Scholarship and the Guy Woods Endowed Music Scholarship.

Scholarships endowed at HSU. Music, science and math students at Hardin-Simmons University will benefit from two recently endowed scholarships established at the Abilene university. Henry and Koma Fields of Claude established the Robert and Barbara Dennis Endowed Music Scholarship. Scholarship recipients must be music majors who are full-time students and must maintain a 2.5 overall grade point average and a 3.0 grade point average in music. The Joe and Lynn Sharp Sciences and Mathematics Endowed Scholarship has been established to assist full-time Texas undergraduate students enrolled in the Holland School of Sciences and Mathematics at HSU. The scholarship may be awarded to one or more students with a 3.0 grade point average. Recipients must be active in a local Baptist congregation and be in good disciplinary standing.

Baylor faculty member named ETS officer. Francis Beckwith, associate professor of church-state studies and associate director of the J.M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies at Baylor University, was elected vice president of the Evangelical Theological Society at its recent meeting in San Antonio. In November 2005, he will become president-elect of ETS and serve as program chair at the organization's 2006 annual meeting in Washington, D.C. A graduate of Fordham University and the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, Beckwith is the author or editor of more than a dozen books.

Posted: 12/03/04

TOGETHER:
Epicenter: Ground zero for revival

At the end of every year while I was a pastor, I gave thanks for the people who were saved and baptized that year in the church. I also prayed, “Lord, help us reach even more people for Christ next year.” Years ago, someone said to me, “God is easily pleased but hard to satisfy.” That's the way I felt about our evangelism efforts–pleased but not satisfied! Every pastor understands the feeling.

Where can you get help so you and your church can be more effective in reaching people for Christ?

You have asked the Baptist General Convention of Texas for help that will relate to your church.

Let me recommend Epicenter. For a geologist, epicenter is the place in an earthquake from which the power emanates and shakes the earth. For Texas Baptists, Epicenter is the gathering from which, we are praying, God's spiritual power will spread throughout Texas and touch the world. When the first disciples gathered to pray, Luke notes, “the place where they prayed was shaken.” I am asking God to make that happen with us.

Wouldn't you like to be there when God chooses to move and changes us, preparing us to be messengers of reconciliation and instruments of transformation? Throughout our world and across our state, there are those who have never heard of “the” Christmas gift. Their only hope is found in the One our church members have come to know.

Epicenter will happen Jan. 28-29, 2005, in Irving. Formerly known as the Texas Evangelism and Missions Conference, Epicenter is the place where we are asking God to spark a renewal of passion for the lost that live around us and around the world. I like what the leaders are saying about Epicenter–a forum on global Christianity that will include intimate worship experiences, challenging messages, times of interactive dialogue with cutting-edge global leaders and life-changing prayer.

Who will be there? Our pastors from across Texas will be there–some younger, some older, some from every part of Texas, some from every ethnic group, some from large and some from smaller churches.

Who else? Dallas Willard, whose call to authentic discipleship, his Trilogy on Discipleship, is marking this generation of Christians, will be there. So will Darrell Guder, professor of missional theology at Princeton University. Guder is known for his seminal work on the missional church and his prophetic call to Christians to examine and respond to the negative impact nominal Christianity is having on our churches and culture. Through Carol Davis, we will confront realities of 21st century missions in a global era characterized by instant communication and accessible transportation. We can know everything right now, and we can go anywhere in less than a day!

Jeff Harris from San Antonio is one of our younger Texas Baptist pastors, and he will help us relate to what a local church can do in missions and the passion that God gives to a church willing to do anything and go anywhere.

We will go home from Epicenter with a renewed and lively commitment to equipping every church member to be on mission in their own primary mission field–the workplace, neighborhood, school or social network where they have ongoing contact with the greatest number of lost persons.

This time together could change your vision for evangelism and missions. That could change your church. And that could change the world!

We are loved.

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

Posted: 12/03/04

From Red River to Rio Grande, Paris
couple blazes ministry trail for others

By George Henson

Staff Writer

PARIS–Gerald and Ora Lee Tomes have blazed a trail from the Red River to the Rio Grande that many others are eager to follow.

The Tomeses have been working to help the people along the Rio Grande 14 years as Mission Service Corps volunteers. In recent years, their love for the people there has become contagious among other church members in Red River Valley Baptist Association.

Tomes is a retired medical technologist and has worked to help build and furnish a hospital in Saltillo. His specialty is upgrading medical labs until they can pass all certification tests.

Mrs. Tomes is a licensed professional counselor who teaches Christian counseling methods to Mexican pastors and their wives.

A primary focus of their ministry throughout the years has been medical mission trips to set up clinics along the Texas/Mexico border.

An offshoot of that ministry is Christmas in Mexico. The first year of the Tomeses' ministry, a medical clinic was planned, and the couple thought it would be fun to have a bag of small trinkets and candy to give the children at Christmas time. They put together 50 small bags.

Over the years, that ministry has grown to more than 3,000 bags for children–far beyond what the Tomeses can handle alone. Many of their friends at First Baptist Church in Paris, where they are members, help prepare the bags. Groups and individuals from other churches also help stuff the bags. Other churches involved include Immanuel, Providence and Mount Olive churches in Paris, and Maxey Baptist Church in Sum-ner.

Included in each bag are toothpaste, a toothbrush, soap, small toys, pencils, crayons, pages from coloring books and small stuffed animals.

Churches throughout the Red River Valley Baptist Association collect items to go into the bags.

Once the bags are filled, the Tomeses take the bags to Mexico for distribution in feeding centers, medical clinics, orphanages and other places indigent children gather. The distribution also is a big job, but they have help with that, as well. Students from the Baptist Student Ministry of Paris Junior College drive more than eight hours as soon as they finish their exams to meet the Tomeses in Mexico.

Joey Dean, one of the students who made the drive last year and will return to help again this year, said he especially likes passing out the bags at the orphanages.

“It's kind of cool to be able to go to another country and do something nice for somebody else,” he said.

Baptist Student Ministry Director Jonathan Perry said the experience is a good one for the students.

"We try to do a multi-pronged approach to ministry–discipleship, local missions and stuff bigger than us," Perry said. "We're trying to teach the value and need for missions and how there is a place for everyone.”

In addition to distributing the bags, the students also have learned several praise songs in Spanish in preparation for their trip, as well as developing an interpretative dance piece and several dramatic skits.

Perry said it is more than the young children who make an impact on the college students.

“A lot of the kids in Mexico that we will meet are around our age but have very different beginnings. But we all have need of God's grace, and that gives us our common ground,” he said.

Red River Valley Association Director of Missions Warren Hart said the Tomeses have made others in the association aware of the opportunities for ministry in Mexico.

“It's the closest location for foreign missions work and the easiest place for them to not just give to missions, but do foreign missions,” Hart said.

Most of the churches that help with the Christmas in Mexico project also have their own individual ministries throughout the year.

The common denominator in most of those are that the Tomeses are there to pave the way using the contacts they have made during more than a decade of service in the area, said Tim Reger, pastor of Mount Olive Baptist Church.

Reger has been part of several medical missions trips each year since 1996. Growing up in Southern California gave him a knowledge of the Spanish language, but his ministry stems from a deeper calling.

“I have great love for the Latin American people and desire to build relationships with them,” he said. “I also have a great desire to help medical doctors and others to see what physical needs can be met so that we might reach the world with the gospel.

“Also, I have now built some relationships with doctors and pastors in the Saltillo area over the years, and it's always nice to go back and see these friends and support them in their ministry.”

Reger said several church members also now have made mission treks to Mexico with him and the Tomeses, and many more church members have supported their efforts through prayer and financial gifts.

Recently, his church sent funds to finish the roof on a new feeding center.

“It was thrilling to see them see a need and do what it took to take care of it,” he said.

That desire to meet needs also is apparent in the Tomeses' own church, First Baptist. The young women's ministry group there has bought numerous items for several orphanages in the Saltillo area.

“We've really enjoyed seeing the fruit of ministry,” said Debbi Cutrell, one of the leaders of the ministry group. The young women hold an auction each year to earn money to support the ministry.

“When we started this 13 years ago, it was mainly craft items. Now, we have everything from gift certificates to babysitting to home-cooked meals. We try to communicate that everybody has something they can contribute,” she said.

Some people still contribute craft items such as quilts and woodworking items.

The Girls in Action at First Baptist in Paris put together bags of cookie mixes and make Christmas ornaments.

“It's fun to see the things come in each year and see how eager they are to be involved,” Cutrell said.

The auction raises more than $3,000 each year.

The money has been used to buy industrial-sized cooking stoves, as well as beans, rice and shoes for the orphanages.

The Tomeses don't want to retire, but he admits, “God has blessed us, but it's gotten to the point with our health that we're beginning to look for someone to keep it going after we're gone.”

And with all the people and churches now involved through their influence, Baptists in the Paris area say that seems assured.

Posted: 12/03/04

Ugandan faith-based microcredit
organization focuses on investing in people

By Dale Hanson Bourke

Religion News Service

NTUNGAMO, Uganda (RNS)– Generous Katagira, 26, says she should be thinking about getting married. Most Ugandan women her age have already settled down and started a family.

But Katagira is not like most Ugandan women. A university graduate, she manages the office of a Christian microcredit organization, overseeing a portfolio of more than 1,000 loans, most for $100 or less, for some of her country's poorest people.

In a country known as the home of dictator Idi Amin and the birthplace of AIDS, Katagira exemplifies the faith and determined optimism that has brought Uganda back from the brink and made it a model of how the battle against poverty and sexually transmitted diseases can be won. Like many of her fellow Ugandans, Katagira is not as interested in charity as she is in investing–in people.

“Ugandans have been through a great deal, but we are strong,” she says. “I tell the women, especially, that they are stronger than they know and the future can be whatever they make it.”

This is the country where the rate of AIDS infections has dropped most dramatically. But it still is high, and the rural poor now are the most likely to be infected. In microcredit groups like the ones Katagira oversees, AIDS education is required.

The AIDS crisis is everywhere in Uganda. But it's most clearly seen in the faces of the orphaned children who roam the streets of every city and village, often carrying younger siblings and begging for food to make it through another day. Almost every family in Uganda has taken in additional children, severely straining their resources and creating the need for additional income.

The tragic situation is just one example of how poverty and AIDS are connected.

UGAFODE, Katagira's organization, is one of several nationally controlled, faith-based microcredit groups in the country that are attempting to address the poverty and AIDS crises in tandem. Part of the international network of Opportunity International–which believes faith and small loans can change lives and even countries–UGAFODE has the discipline of a formal financial institution but a compassion that drives it to work only with the poorest of the poor.

“The banks wouldn't let most of our clients come on the front porch,” says Katagira, who spends her days managing a portfolio of loans made to people with little or no collateral.

It's a situation most bank officers would find ludicrous. But to Katagira and her colleagues, the results are nothing short of miraculous.

“The first time one of our clients goes to a bank to open a savings account is always a time of celebration,” she says.

In the small village of Ruhaama, a 10-minute drive from her office, a group of 17 entrepreneurs is having its weekly “trust bank” meeting. The trust bank concept and microfinance in general are simple, but the results can be profound.

A group of individuals band together to seek small loans and support one another in their work and repayment. It's effective when the group commits together to cross-collateralize the loans. Should one woman default, the others pay her portion.

Defaulting rarely happens. Instead, the individuals seem to form a community of support, encouragement and innovation. They buy materials from one another, share market stands and trade labor for food or products. In their weekly meetings, they share their experiences, pay back loans and seek larger ones.

This group has named itself “Spirit is Willing.” Like most, it's made up largely of female entrepreneurs. Twelve women and five men have loans to fuel their craft, agriculture and sewing businesses.

“We have found that if we give a woman 100 shillings and a man 300 shillings, the woman will do more with her portion in a shorter amount of time than the man,” says Katagira with a broad smile. “Also,” she notes ruefully, “women are more faithful in repayment than men.”

The leader of this group is a woman in traditional dress who stands and speaks to a group of American visitors.

She tells of the loans received and repaid in recent months and their plans for the future. She talks about the faith that helps bind the group together and expresses gratitude about the training they have received, not only in business but also in health and in AIDS prevention. She then points to the 28 children assembled and sitting quietly in their school uniforms.

“These are all orphans,” she explains. “Because of the loans we have received and what we have earned from our businesses, the members of our group are able to care for all these orphans, pay for their uniforms and hire a teacher for their schooling.”

In this southwestern Ugandan village near the border with Rwanda, the children supported by this group are only a small portion of the orphans roaming the streets.

But here, there is hope. If businesses continue to take off, the trust group plans to adopt more of these children. Members speak of this with matter-of-fact commitment.

A little girl rises to sing a song. The interpreter cannot keep up with the lyrics, but she whispers broken phrases: “An orphan's life is very hard. … We lose the people we love and we have no one to care for us. … We work hard, but we never have enough to eat. … We are very glad when someone takes us in.”

Katagira, who has been examining loan books and taking notes during the meeting, stops writing to wipe tears from her eyes.

“It is not about money,” she whispers. “It is about transformation.”

At the next group meeting, the women begin to sing and dance to welcome the visitors. Generous Katagira lives up to her name in every way, embracing her clients and joining the dance with abandon. “Generous has many, many friends,” says one of the clients.

At times, Katagira seems almost in awe of her clients as she visits the goat farm of one woman, noting the incredible progress, then examines the baskets of another woman, admiring the quality. “I call this my 'blessing' group,” she says. “They inspire me so much whenever I visit them.”

Those who receive loans from UGAFODE seem to appreciate the encouragement and training as much as the funds themselves. They know this is not a handout. It's up to each of them to take the money and make a difference.

As she pauses at a client's small shop, Katagira points out another group of dirty children in the streets, some carrying babies. “We have much more work to do,” she says. “Maybe I'll think about getting married year after next.”