Posted: 4/11/08

Children’s home offers belated Christmas
celebration for single mother and daughter

By Jessica Schmale

Children At Heart Ministries

ROUND ROCK—Robyn James and her daughter, Bailee, missed celebrating last Christmas. But Texas Baptist Children’s Home recently gave them reason to be festive.

Bailee, who turned 4 in December, and her mother were living in an old Buick after they lost their apartment last October. The little girl was hospitalized several times for pneumonia, and that made it difficult for her mother to work as often as needed.

Robyn James and her daughter, Bailee, missed celebrating last Christmas. But Texas Baptist Children’s Home recently gave them reason to be festive.

While all of these things were hard on James—a single mother and recovering drug addict—the hardest was when Bailee started asking about Christmas.

“The year before, I had gone overboard with Christmas. Having moved to a new apartment, I was excited about showering Bailee with gifts. This Christmas, I didn’t know what I was going to do,” James said.

Bailee was worried that Santa wouldn’t know where to bring her gifts. Her mother told her, “He’ll come if he can.” But Christmas came, and Santa did not. Bailee told her mother it was because they didn’t have a Christmas tree.

“It was the worst I’ve ever felt as a mom,” James said. “Bailee hated living in that car, and I couldn’t even give her Christmas.” 

When a friend told her about Texas Baptist Children’s Home’s Family Care program, James hesitated, her pride getting in the way. It took a policeman finding the mother and child living out of the car in a church parking lot to push James to pursue Family Care. In mid-February, the James family moved into the Family Care Program on the Texas Baptist Children’s Home campus in Round Rock.

Bailee was ecstatic. Her mother remembers her “running all over the house telling everyone she saw that she finally had a bed.”

Not long after they moved in, James told someone how disappointed she was when they weren’t able to celebrate either Bailee’s birthday or Christmas—stories she hadn’t planned to share.

“I don’t even know why I told anyone about that,” she recalled later. “I never told anyone before how hard that time was for us, and I certainly didn’t plan on telling anyone in our cottage.”

After hearing the story, Family Care Case Manager Jaymie Clark couldn’t sleep that night, because God had laid the James family so heavily on her heart. She was burdened to do something for them to make up for the missed Christmas.

The next morning, it was all Clark could do not to shout her plan out to anyone who would listen. Within days, she had purchased gifts and pulled Christmas decorations out of the attic. “It took some help from other TBCH staff, but we pulled it off,” she said.

On Tuesday of her second week at Family Care, James brought Bailee home after a long day of job searching. She was tired and discouraged.

The moment that she and Bailee set foot in their bedroom in the cottage, they were surprised by out-of-season Christmas lights, Santa decorations and a Christmas tree overflowing with gifts.

“Bailee’s eyes were like sand dollars,” James recalled.

The note left by Santa on the door sealed the deal. Bailee was convinced that Santa really had waited to bring her gifts because he couldn’t find her until she had a home.

“The gifts were perfect—clothes for both of us that fit great and toys for Bailee to play with. We couldn’t have dreamed up anything better,” James said.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 4/11/08

Texas Baptist Forum

Creationism

We were stunned to see a prominent photo of our president, Ken Ham, standing next to the dinosaur exhibit inside our new Creation Museum accompanying your story on religious fundamentalists and their alleged anti-modernism (March 31).

• Jump to online-only letters below

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

“As easy as it is for those of us who are white to look back and say, ‘That’s a terrible statement,’ I grew up in a very segregated South, and I think you have to cut some slack. And I’m going to be probably the only conservative in America who’s going to say something like this, but I’m just telling you, we’ve got to cut some slack to people who grew up being called names, being told: ‘You have to sit in the balcony when you go to the movie. You have to go to the back door to go into the restaurant. And you can’t sit out there with everyone else. There’s a separate waiting room in the doctor’s office. Here’s where you sit on the bus.’ And you know what? Sometimes people do have a chip on their shoulder and resentment. And you have to just say: ‘I probably would too. I probably would too. In fact, I may have had … more of a chip on my shoulder had it been me.’” Mike Huckabee Former presidential candidate, governor and Baptist pastor, on the preaching of Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama’s former pastor (MSNBC)

Neither Ham nor the museum was actually mentioned in the article, which suggests that one of your editors made an ill-informed decision in the photo selection. It shows an ignorance of our ministry and its methods.

First, Answers in Genesis does believe in scientific inquiry. That is why we employ staff with doctorate degrees in astronomy, geology, medicine and biology. Also, contrary to what was implied, our identity is not defined by what we oppose; it’s defined by our adherence to proclaiming the positive message that the Bible is true.

In addition, we are not afraid of opposing points of view. Our new museum presents the arguments for evolution, and then rebuts them. Further, we have never been involved in any political causes. We don’t even push for creation to be taught in public schools.

Finally, our museum features state-of-the-art exhibits, yet by implication we are caricatured as “anti-modern.” Perhaps you can see why we rubbed our eyes when we saw ourselves being depicted as Exhibit A of backward thinking.

And since when is believing in the Bible a bad thing in Baptist circles?

Mark Looy, CCO

Answers in Genesis/Creation Museum

Petersburg, Ky.

I wanted to comment that comparing peaceful, thoughtful Christian groups such as Answers in Genesis with insanely violent cults such as al-Quaeda is borderline criminal. There is no comparison. I am glad the AiG photo has been removed from your website, since it is not applicable.

One of the issues in the world—and AiG points this out—is that in certain areas mortal mankind cannot know or prove what is truth.  This is the case even for concepts that so-called “progressive” humanist fundamentalists believe, such as the dogmas of evolution and that the universe is billions of years old. These are hypotheses that have not been and cannot be proven. 

Since no one, not even “science,” can prove everything, everyone has some belief system based on faith—faith in God, faith that there is no God, etc. 

To each person, his belief system is absolute truth. Thus, everyone potentially is a fundamentalist, because everyone has a belief system. The real problem is when violent, unlawful actions are taken.

However, ultimately, there is one and only one Truth. All the other belief systems are not true. That’s not fundamentalism. It is fact.

Bill Boger

Scottsdale, Ariz.

The article on fundamentalists had some vital and accurate information, but why the picture of Ken Ham and the Creation Museum?

Personally, I know nothing of this museum, and there was no mention of this issue in the article at all. It seems to insinuate and imply that anyone who believes in and promotes Creationism or Intelligent Design has to be considered a fundamentalist. Many who do not consider themselves part of the fundamentalist camp or agree with their tactics believe strongly in Creationism.

This is highly inappropriate and misleading journalism.

Larry Venable

Garland

I am so saddened whenever I see Christians deny the magnificence of God and going to all lengths to explain “creation.”

“Evolution!” Just go outside and yell, “Evolution!”

See, Christians can say the word. The sky didn’t fall; Christ didn’t return. 

God made dinosaurs. He made the cosmos. And he didn’t do it in 24/7. It evolved. We evolved. God is not lying to us in the marvels in our earth, or when we turn our eyes to the heavens. He did not set up some great scheme just to confuse us. He allows us a glimpse of his magnificent creation when we scour the earth, read the bones and see the footprints of dinosaurs at Glen Rose.

What other generation could appreciate what we see? Other peoples down through the ages had no idea what these things meant. God has privileged us with this awesome discovery. Isaac Newton would be honored to have this knowledge—and we discard it.

We send our kids to private schools where “evolution” is a dirty word. Christians are afraid this will negate the Bible. How ridiculous. God doesn’t need our belief in a seven-day creation. 

If we want to leave our Christian beliefs to our children, we must give them a bigger God. A God big enough to have created untold galaxies, to have been here before the dinosaurs, and old enough for their eternity.

Shirley Taylor

Willis

Wright’s sermons

I have not always been proud of every member of my race, which is white. But I have always been proud to be an American.

I am 83 years old. In elementary school, I learned about Nathan Hale, Benedict Arnold, Patrick Henry, John Paul Jones, Betsy Ross, George Washington and many more Americans, both good and bad. When I was a junior in high school, Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese. My fellow students and I could hardly wait to finish school and give this nation from three years up to our entire lives in brutal and terrifying places far away from home.

When I heard Jeremiah Wright “damning” the United States, I didn’t think of his color; I thought of his allegiance. Your phlethora of articles seemed intended to lecture your readers on clinging to racial prejudice, but not one word was said about Pastor Wright’s treasonous diatribe against our country (March 31).

So the things he said from the pulpit are OK because they belong to the black prophetic heritage? What book of the Bible is that phrase in?

I don’t see skin color when I look at a person, but I know treason when I hear it.

William B. Crittenden

Houston

I certainly would not have used the fiery rhetoric Jeremiah Wright used in criticizing America from his pulpit. But I have to admit I agree with some of the criticisms he expressed.  

For starters, God must be very displeased with how America treated Native-American Indians and enslaved Africans via an evil institution called slavery. And during my lifetime, it was America’s toleration of segregation, Jim Crow, the precedent-setting dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and currently the unwise invasion and occupation of Iraq. 

If the Old Testament prophets were alive today and living in America, I believe they would be persons of hope who would deliver some harsh criticisms of our country. As individuals and as a nation, in a cause-and-effect way, we pay for our sins and the sins of our ancestors.  

Prophets who speak truth to power are unpopular and often say things we don’t want to hear. Martin Luther King Jr. was a modern-day prophet who told it like it was in a spirit of love, knowing all along that what he said and did would probably cost him his life. 

Despite our many glib “God Bless America” pleas, America’s past and current national sins keep her from earning a God’s most-favored-nation status. 

Paul L. Whiteley Sr.

Louisville, Ky.

Fundamentalism

Rob Sellers’ flexible definition of fundamentalism as being “a defense of the faith … against whatever is perceived to be a threat or a challenge, or whatever is judged to be heretical or liberal” is sorely lacking (March 31).

The book of Acts chronicles the apostolic preaching of the truth that confronted accepted patterns of worship, both Jewish and pagan. Once established, however, the Apostle Paul repeatedly tells Timothy and Titus to defend the faith, stand firm and resist false doctrine.

Fundamentalism’s flaw is not its defense of truth, but the lack of love by which it accomplishes its means. We are to “boldly persuade people concerning the kingdom of God” (Acts 19:8), but do so “serving the Lord with humility and tears,” not arrogant militancy (Acts 20:19). To “not shrink back from declaring the whole purpose of God” (Acts 20:27), but to “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15). To be “ambassadors for Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:20), but to “keep (our) behavior excellent among the Gentiles” (1 Peter 2:12).

We are to be Christ’s loving truth tellers. To avoid our duty to challenge falsehood, whether “heretical or liberal” is to bring guilt upon ourselves (see Acts 20:26, Ezekiel 3:17-19). I am against fundamentalism because of their arrogant and spiteful attitudes as the owners of truth, when in fact, if they are Christ’s, truth owns them!

Ben Macklin

Vernon

What do you think? Send letters to Editor Marv Knox by mail: P.O. Box 660267, Dallas 75266-0267; or by e-mail: marvknox@baptiststandard.com.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 4/11/08

Dan Yeary, pastor of North Phoenix Baptist Church, speaks to graduates of the Canadian Southern Baptist Seminary in this BP file photo. (Brenda Peacock/BP Photo)

Pastor describes McCain’s
devout—but low-key—faith

By Greg Warner

Associated Baptist Press

PHOENIX (ABP)—John McCain has a deep and personal Christian commitment despite his reluctance to speak publicly about it, according to the man McCain calls his pastor.

Dan Yeary, pastor of North Phoenix Baptist Church, described the Arizona senator and his wife, Cindy, as “very unobtrusive” people who don’t seek special attention when they are able to come to worship. “They come in the side door. They’re very pleasant. They talk to people. They’re very approachable.”

But the man McCain calls “my family’s pastor” said his relationship with his most famous parishioner has not been a particularly close one. Yeary said he’s done the normal things a pastor would do but “no more than I would do for any church member” in the 7,000-strong congregation.

McCain, a lifelong Episcopalian, has been attending the Southern Baptist-affiliated church in Phoenix at least 17 years. But the presumptive GOP presidential nominee has neither officially joined the congregation nor been baptized. He has continued to list his faith as “Episcopal” in official congressional biographies.

Arizone Sen. John McCain

But, the pastor said, lack of membership hasn’t kept McCain from becoming deeply involved in the church. “I have a good relationship with John,” Yeary said, recounting their first in-depth conversation. “I respect him as a friend. He is a very courageous man. And he has a delightful sense of humor.”

McCain is a religious enigma to many reporters and observers because he does not fit squarely into the religio-political mold many other Christian conservatives have in recent years. For instance, he has voted consistently in opposition to abortion rights during his Senate career—but also supported government funding for embryonic stem-cell research, which many conservative evangelicals consider tantamount to abortion.

McCain also opposed an attempt to amend the Constitution to ban same-sex marriage, citing states’ rights. He voiced support for a similar measure on the statewide level in Arizona. During a speech in his 2000 presidential campaign, he famously labeled Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson “agents of intolerance.”

Many prominent evangelicals have been mute on McCain, but radio personality James Dobson said flatly in February he would not vote for the candidate or either of his potential Democratic rivals, Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. Dobson has moderated his tone more recently but was quoted in an April 2 Wall Street Journal story saying McCain had insufficiently wooed social conservatives.

On the other side of the coin, many moderate Republicans and independents remain skeptical of McCain because he has courted two far-right evangelical leaders. The candidate endured some criticism in February after San Antonio pastor and Christian Zionist leader John Hagee endorsed him. Catholic and Jewish leaders denounced Hagee for statements he has made in the past that could be interpreted as anti-Catholic and anti-Semitic.

Hagee claimed the critics had misunderstood and de-contextualized his comments. Nonetheless, McCain’s campaign issued a statement in which he distanced himself from the preacher’s more controversial remarks without rejecting or repudiating the endorsement.

The senator has received less media scrutiny for a separate endorsement of his candidacy by Ohio pastor Rod Parsley. Parsley, who leads a charismatic multi-media empire, has been criticized for statements insisting Islam must be “destroyed” and for denigrating gays, the separation of church and state, and secularists.

But looking for clues to McCain’s faith from his association with such religious endorsers would be misleading, according to Yeary.

“I think John reaches out to everybody,” Yeary said. “He’s not afraid to spend time with people who have radically different views. I think that’s smart. That’s intelligent.”

Yeary, who said he also is a Republican, stopped short of endorsing McCain himself. Asked if he would throw his support behind the candidate, he responded with Solomonic nimbleness. “It is a privilege and an honor to be this close to a man I’ve learned to love, who has the potential to be a great president for our country,” he said. “I certainly am in favor of God’s endorsement on his life.”

Asked if Christians should be pleased if McCain is the next president, Yeary said: “I will be pleased. I trust him. He will seek wise counsel, spiritual counsel. This man is devoted to his country—there’s no maybe about it.”

But don’t expect McCain to talk easily about his faith—perhaps a reflection of his Episcopal upbringing rather than his recent church affiliation.

“His personal history means he’s not going to use ‘the language of Zion’” to talk about his faith, Yeary said, referring to the biblical terminology typical of evangelicals.

Cindy McCain, meanwhile, is a Baptist—baptized at the Phoenix church in 1991, two years before Yeary became pastor. The couple has attended faithfully since, the pastor said, as have their children— although they have not been baptized.

Yeary said McCain and then-pastor Richard Jackson had a conversation about membership and baptism when Cindy McCain joined the church. Likewise, Yeary said he continues to talk with the senator about his membership. Yeary did not reveal the details, but said the dialogue is ongoing.

“You have to be baptized by immersion to be a member” of North Phoenix, Yeary said. “John and I have dialogued about that. … John is an Episcopalian, and he and his family attend North Phoenix Baptist Church when he is in town.”

In an interview last year with InsideCatholic.com, an on-line Catholic forum, McCain said he attends North Phoenix Baptist because he likes Yeary's “message of reconciliation and redemption, which I’m a great believer in.” He added: “… I’m grateful for the spiritual advice and counsel that I continue to get from Pastor Dan Yeary.”

Yeary said he got to know the senator soon after becoming pastor at North Phoenix, which during the 1980s was one of the Southern Baptist Convention’s most prominent congregations. In the early 1990s, Yeary interviewed McCain on videotape about his experience as a prisoner of war in Vietnam for more than five years.

“He just came up and sat in my office for a good two hours and talked about how prayer and his faith sustained him in that setting,” Yeary recalled. “It was a wonderful day. From that moment on, John and I forged a friendship. It is not the kind where we talk every week or even every month. … (But) I would tell anyone who asks me it has been a privilege to serve as their pastor.”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 4/11/08

Texas missions offering goal
set at more than $5.2 million

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

The Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas board approved a $5,220,075 goal for the 2008 Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions—a slight increase over last year’s $5.2 million goal and more than $800,000 beyond the total received in 2007.

The increased goal reflects the great needs that can be met through ministries supported by the offering, as well as faith that God will touch the hearts of Texas Baptists to give in response to those needs, said Texas WMU President Nelda Taylor.

“Stay at the same goal, and we stagnate. Decrease the goal, and we become defeated,” she said. “We desire to meet the goal this year, and we are going to do everything possible to make this happen.”

“Just the thought of giving a bottle of water with the name ‘Jesus’ on it to a thirsty person who has no way to secure one on his own opens the doors of opportunity to share about Jesus.This is taking the gospel to the streets where disasters and hopelessness abide.” –WMU President Nelda Taylor

Allocations for the 2008 offering include about 50 new missions projects or ministry programs—the largest new item being $447,000 for mobile equipment to provide bottled water that Texas Baptist Men can distribute to disaster victims. A label on each bottle will include a brief Christian message.

“Just the thought of giving a bottle of water with the name ‘Jesus’ on it to a thirsty person who has no way to secure one on his own opens the doors of opportunity to share about Jesus,” Taylor said. “This is taking the gospel to the streets where disasters and hopelessness abide.”

While the offering includes multiple new ministries, it reduces funding for some areas such as church starting, Border/Mexico missions and community ministries. Some items—ministries to at-risk children and youth, literacy missions and Special Friends Reteat—have been dropped altogether.

Texas WMU received 161 funding applications for this year’s offering, compared to 134 last year, and accepted 105 of the applications, said Christine Hockin-Boyd, missions and ministry consultant with Texas WMU.

The 2008 offering includes:

• $596,300 for associational missions, including new line items for camp scholarships, a youth camp in the Rio Grande Valley and equipment to assist with fruit production at the Valley Baptist Retreat in Mission. Proceeds from the sale of fruit benefit missions projects in the Rio Grande Valley.

• $28,000 for the Immigration Service and Aid Center (ISAAC), a ministry of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Christian Life Commission and Buckner Children & Family Services that helps churches legally minister to immigrants and guide them through the citizenship process.

• $38,000 for collegiate ministries, including $15,000 for Go Now student missions summer and semester projects and a new $5,000 allocation to fund two interns with Baptist Student Ministries in El Paso.

• $52,500 for African-American congregational relations, including a new $30,000 line item for a multi-ethnic tutorial ministry, as well as $7,500 for a children’s camp and $15,000 for a youth camp.

• $53,000 for bivocational and small-church congregational relations, including funds to provide regional events for pastors and their families.

• $46,000 for Hispanic congregational relations, including $10,000 for a new regional missions summit and $10,000 for a pastors-and-wives retreat.

• $93,250 for intercultural congregational relations, including $20,000 for a two-year pilot residency program to equip ministers in a cross-cultural setting.

• $46,000 for congregational relations with western-heritage churches, including funds for evangelism at major stock shows and rodeos, cowboy church-planting schools and $15,000 to start Spanish-language “vaquero” churches.

• $800,000 for church-starting, a $300,000 reduction from the 2007 allocation.

• $20,000 for a new pastor-and-spouse orientation retreat.

• $429,975 for institutional ministries, including $94,000 for the Mary Hill Davis Ethnic/Minority Scholarship Program; $75,000 to fund three student-led missions teams from Baptist University of the Americas to assist graduates and their churches in Hispanic outreach; and $60,000 to provide direct missions opportunities for Truett Theological Seminary, Logsdon Theological Seminary and Baptist University of the Americas ministerial students.

• $1,067,000 for the missions, evangelism and ministry area of the BGCT, including $150,000 for LifeCall Missions and $120,000 to produce Bible study curriculum in seven languages. One new item is $15,000 to hold four regional soccer tournaments as evangelistic His-panic outreach events.

• $554,800 for Texas Baptist Men, including $447,000 for the mobile equipment to provide bottled water that TBM volunteers can distribute at disaster sites.

• $1,395,250 for Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas, including $100,000 for Christian Women’s and Men’s Job Corps, $40,000 for a partnership with Montana Southern Baptist Women and the operating budget for Texas WMU.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 4/11/08

On the Move

• Omar Aguilar to Primera Iglesia in San Marcos as pastor.

• Bill Austin to Park Lake Drive Church in Waco as pastor.

• Kevin Boyd has resigned as pastor of Lifepoint Church in Red Oak.

• Blake Brewer to First Church in Paducah as youth minister.

• Curtis Crofton to Central Church in Carthage as interim pastor.

• Will Easler to First Church in Joshua as minister of children and preschoolers.

• Bill Fowler to Calvary Church in Brownwood as interim pastor.

• Joe Franklin to First Church in Brownwood as minister of education and administration from Northside Church in Victoria.

• Randy Gilchrist to San Jacinto Association as executive director. He had been a church-starting strategist with the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

• Steven Griffin to Cornerstone Church in Mineral Wells as interim pastor.

• Paul Guthrie to First Church in El Campo as pastor of student ministries from First Church in Canton, where he was interim youth pastor.

• Bryan Hutchinson has resigned as pastor at First Church in Argyle.

• Bryan James to First Church in Duncanville as associate minister of music.

• Tamera Kimmell has resigned as minister of children at First Church in Godley.

• Jeff Lancaster to Calvary Church in Denison as interim pastor.

• Patrick LeBlanc to First Church in Duncanville as associate pastor.

• Ken Lovelace has resigned as pastor of Grace Fellowship in Rockwall. He can be contacted for revivals, interims and supply preaching at www.kenlovelaceministries.com.

• David Mills to Crestmont Church in Burleson as interim pastor.

• Guadalupe Montoto to Primera Iglesia in New Braunfels as pastor.

• Jim Mosley has resigned as pastor of Builders Church in Abilene.

• Cory Mullins to Rockett Church in Rockett as pastor.

• Craig Odem to Tolar Church in Tolar as pastor, where he was minister of youth.

• Randall Perry has resigned as pastor of First Church in Paris.

• David Plunk has resigned as director of the Family Life Center at First Church in Paris.

• Vern Richert to Crestmont Church in Burleson as minister of praise and worship.

• Ross Robinson has resigned as associate pastor at Prestonwood Church in Plano.

• Glen Schmucker has resigned as pastor of Cliff Temple Church in Dallas.

• Ron Sear to First Church in Joshua as minister of education.

• Pedro Serrano to First Church in Duncanville as associate pastor.

• Chad Smith to First Church in Gunter as associate pastor of worship and creative arts.

• Tommy Smith has resigned as associate youth minister at First Church in Denton.

• Jeff Stehle to Baptist Temple Church in Big Spring as pastor from Calvary Church in Brenham, where he was youth minister.

• Danny Stinson to Downtown First Church in Texarkana as minister of youth and outreach.

• Phil Williams has resigned as minister of music at First Church in Tom Bean.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 4/11/08

Buckner Peru and Buckner International staff pose with the first foster children to be placed into homes in Peru.

Foster families eager to share lives with children

By Jenny Pope

Buckner International

Percy Huaroc and his wife, Nancy, don’t have any children of their own. They’ve spent most of their married lives focused on their careers.

But when they heard about Peru’s pilot foster care program, they jumped at the chance to impact a child’s life and show God’s love to others.

The Huaroc family is one of the first foster families in Buckner's program in Peru. (Buckner Photo)

See Related Articles: • Buckner programs make history in Peru • Foster families eager to share lives with children

“Our decision to foster was a process, but it was a process that began in our Lord’s heart,” Huaroc said. “From time to time, the Bible verse came to our mind: ‘Whoever receives one child like this in my name receives me. And whoever receives me does not receive me, but him who sent me.’ This verse is why we decided to receive two children into our family.”

The Huarocs are making history in Peru as one of the first seven families chosen to participate in the pilot foster care program, established by Buckner and government officials. They have an opportunity to shape and influence future generations of childcare services in their country.

Because foster care is not widely known or practiced in Peru, the families participating in the pilot program often have to explain to others what it means to take in a child who has been abandoned or abused.

“When people find out about what it is, they are eager to share their lives and their homes with kids,” Huaroc said. “Most of the time, they want more information and wish to have someone walk with them through the process.

“Buckner Peru has been great from the start, because they provided foster families with all the facilities to help us through this process.”

Huaroc was raised by his grandparents from age 5, when his mother remarried, moved away and left him in their care. Had foster care existed, he might have been a child to benefit.

“This program is a great opportunity to learn about the different realities in our country,” he said, “and to develop ourselves spiritually, giving and receiving love. All of us have to think that if we have the opportunity to overcome adversity and help others, these kids can achieve unimaginable goals.”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 4/11/08

For pope & president, a chasm over Iraq

By Tom Feeney

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)— On social issues like abortion, gay marriage and stem cell research, the conservative Pope Benedict XVI and the conservative President Bush find much common ground.

But when Benedict makes his first visit to the United States, his meeting with Bush is likely to underscore an issue where a deep divide remains between the Vatican and the White House—the war in Iraq.

Pope Benedict XVI	George Bush

From the start of the five-year-old war, the pontiff and his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, have spoken out against it. “Nothing positive comes from Iraq,” Benedict said during his Easter message last year.

Bush will greet Benedict when his plane lands April 15. The pair will meet the next day to kick off the pope’s six-day U.S. visit that includes two stadium Masses and a speech at the United Nations. Observers expect the Iraq war will come up during the White House visit.

“If it doesn’t, I’d be disappointed in the pope,” said Richard P. McBrien, a professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame. “If it does, however, I would expect Benedict XVI to be a bit softer in his approach than John Paul II. But the effect will be the same; namely, the war will continue through the remainder of the president’s second term.”

Meetings between popes and sitting U.S. presidents have become fairly common over the past four decades. During that same period, popes also have become more likely to speak out against war, experts say.

Shortly after the end of World War I, during a tour of Europe,Woodrow Wilson became the first U.S. president to meet with a pope while in office when he had an audience with Pope Benedict XV.

The next papal audience for a sitting U.S. president wouldn’t come for another 40 years, when Dwight Eisenhower met in Rome with Pope John XXIII.

Since then, every U.S. president has met with the pope. Ronald Reagan met seven times and Bill Clinton four with Pope John Paul II. The upcoming papal meeting will be the fifth for Bush.

“What is most important here is how Catholic teaching on war has been changing in the post-World War II era, especially since John XXIII’s 1963 encyclical, ‘Pacem in Terris,’” said Una Cadegan, a professor of history and director of the American studies program at the University of Dayton.

“The unique destructiveness of modern warfare makes it almost indefensible even within the tradition of Christian just war theory, and popes have been speaking out increasingly strongly about nonviolent means of resolving conflict, the importance of diplomacy and the need to seek justice as a way of cultivating lasting peace.”

Benedict’s public statements against the war date to the time before he became pope.

When he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, head of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he dismissed the idea that a preventive strike against Iraq could be considered a just war.

“The concept of a ‘preventive war’ does not appear in the Catechism of the Catholic Church,” he said in interviews in the months leading up to the war.

This will be the second meeting between Benedict and Bush.

The Iraq war was a topic of conversation at the first, which took place last summer at the Vatican. The pope told Bush he was concerned about the “worrying situation in Iraq.” “We didn’t talk about ‘just war,’” Bush told reporters after meeting with Benedict. “He did express deep concerns about the Christians inside Iraq, that he was concerned that the society that was evolving would not tolerate the Christian religion.”

Chester L. Gillis, a professor of Catholic studies at Georgetown University, said he doesn’t expect the upcoming meeting between Bush and Benedict to be terribly contentious.

“I think in general they agree on more things than they disagree on,” he said. “I think the pope is probably pleased with a lot of the positions the president has taken on moral issues.”

He said he expects the pope to discuss Iraq and possibly even to caution Bush against American aggression against Iran.

“The reality is we have a lame-duck president,” Gillis said. “Benedict’s bringing up his opposition to the war in Iraq does not mean there’s going to be a change in American policy.”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 4/11/08

Texas Tidbits

Foundation seeks mini-grant requests. Baptist Health Foundation of San Antonio is accepting mini-grant applications from nonprofit organizations in South Central Texas—including churches and church-based ministries—helping meet community health needs. The application deadline is noon on June 2. This year, the maximum grant is $7,500 for programs that serve residents in the foundation’s eight-county geographic area—Atascosa, Bandera, Bexar, Comal, Guadalupe, Kendall, Medina and Wilson counties. For more information, visit www.bhfsa.org or call Eusebio Diaz at (210) 735-9009.

Valley Baptist earns national recognition. The emergency department at Valley Baptist Medical Center-Brownsville and outpatient radiology team at Valley Baptist-Harlingen each received a five-star customer-service award from Professional Research Consultants. The award is given annually by the national healthcare research firm to facilities that score in the top 10 percent nationally, based on patient ratings. The Brownsville inpatient nursing unit and Harlingen emergency department each earned a four-star award for overall quality of care.

Family establishes two endowments at HSU. The Skiles family recently established two endowment funds at Hardin-Simmons University—the Elwin K. Skiles Faculty Development Fund and the Win Skiles Memorial Speakers Endowment. Earnings from the faculty development fund—named for the 11th president of Hardin-Simmons University—will help enable faculty to participate in extended study, sabbaticals, research grants, lectureships and professional conferences. Earnings from the speakers endowment—named in memory of the HSU president’s son, an attorney and executive vice president at Texas Instruments—will be used to retain selected speakers in varied disciplines who will bring instructional, informational or inspiring messages to the campus.

Wayland trustees approve budget, tuition increase. Wayland Baptist University’s board of trustees approved a $49.7 million budget for 2008-2009 and a tuition increase. Undergraduate tuition will increase from $355 to $380 per semester hour in Plainview, from $170 to $185 at Wayland’s external campuses and from $250 to $265 for its virtual campuses and interactive televideo classes. Concurrent students—those attending while still in high school—will pay $15 more for a total of $115 per course in Plainview and $185 per course for external campuses.

Hendrick a ‘great workplace,’ Gallup says. Hendrick Health System in Abilene has been recognized with a Gallup Great Workplace award for the second year in a row. Hendrick was among 20 organizations worldwide receiving the designation. To receive the award, Hendrick participated in Gallup’s survey of employees around the world, which evaluates 12 criteria of engaged workforces using a 12-question survey. The Gallup Great Workplace Award is based on survey results and a best practices portfolio summarizing the steps the organization has taken to increase workforce engagement.

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 4/11/08

Ripe fields produce harvest in Venezuela

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

SAN ANGELO—Maria Luna has a Bible. She reads it and believes every word of it. And after her recent mission trip to Caracas, Venezuela, she cherishes it.

Luna, who works for the child development center at First Baptist Church in San Angelo, saw people throughout the region crave Bibles.

When she freely distributed some of the 40,000 Bibles—donated by the Richard Jackson Center for Evangelism in Brownwood—she was touched by people’s reactions. They thanked her repeatedly and asked her for more to share with their friends.

Children pray during a baseball clinic in Venezuela, a sports evangelism event held in conjunction with an evangelistic crusade.

“They held it so dearly,” she said. “They would hold it to their hearts.”

The excitement and spiritual desire is characteristic of the entire country, said Steve Seaberry, director of Texas Partnerships for the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

Thirteen Baptists from across Texas served in Venezuela on a recent mission trip thanks to help from the BGCT. Seaberry said an evangelistic emphasis is a “great way to kick off” a partnership with the Venezuelan Baptist convention.

Baptists recently ended an evangelistic crusade throughout the region surrounding the country’s capital, Caracas. With the help of Christians from across the United States, Venezuelan Baptists saw thousands of people come to faith in Christ.

As the Venezuelans are conducting follow-up and discipleship before another evangelistic emphasis, they’re seeing more people come to faith, said Kerry Peacock of San Angelo, who leads Venezuela Vision, an organization that seeks to evangelize Venezuela.

First Baptist Church in San Angelo contributed more than $40,000 through Venezuela Vision to help with the first evangelistic crusade in Caracas.

Mission work there is like harvesting fruit in an orchard where the produce is so ripe it falls into the workers’ hands, Peacock said.

Venezuelans are seeking answers to life’s essential questions, he said.

They are seeking Christ. They ask people to pray for them. They ask for Bibles. They want to know about God, Peacock said.

“God is doing such a work down there that you almost have to go down there to see it,” he said.

For more information about the second evangelistic effort in Caracas, contact Seaberry at (888) 244-9400. He plans to put together three teams of Texans to serve in Venezuela.

 

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Storylist for week of 4/14/08

TAKE ME TO: Top Story |  Texas |  Opinion |  Baptists |  Faith & Culture |  Book Reviews |  Classifieds  |  Departments  |  Bible Study






• Good leaders in business and church possess some of the same qualities

• Churches taking care of business


• Texas missions offering goal set at more than $5.2 million

• Foster families eager to share lives with children

• Ripe fields produce harvest in Venezuela

• Veteran pastor sees last five years in for-profit hospital as expansion of ministry

• Children's home offers belated Christmas celebration for single mother and daughter

• Rising food, transportation costs raise need for gifts to hunger offering

• On the Move

• Around the State

• Texas Tidbits


Churches Taking Care of Business
• Churches taking care of business

• Good leaders in business and church possess some of the same qualities


• Baptist Briefs


• Pastor describes McCain's devout—but low-key—faith

• For pope & president, a chasm over Iraq

• Some Jews ‘uneasy' with high-profile Christian allies

• Feds say minister diverted flood aid

• MLK's generation of pastors makes way for new vision, new generation

• Faith Digest


• Book Reviews

• Delayed life choices demand new strategies, scholar insists


• Classified Ads

• Texas Baptist Forum

• Cartoon

• On the Move

• Around the State


• EDITORIAL: Ring the bell to end feeding frenzy

• DOWN HOME: Is it a bathroom or spiritual metaphor?

• IN FOCUS: Focus on & share the hope of Christ

• RIGHT or WRONG? Buying lottery tickets

• Texas Baptist Forum



• BaptistWay Bible Series for April 13: Disturbing the bliss of deception

• Bible Studies for Life Series for April 13: Exploring Devotion – the Hard Work of Covenant

• Explore the Bible Series for April 13: When Tempted to Sin

• Bible Studies for Life Series for April 20: Perseverance means going the distance

• Explore the Bible Series for April 20: When all hope seems lost



Previously Posted:
• Huckabee visits Ouachita, gives campaign-trail insight

• Texas Baptists minister in wake of raid on polygamist compound

• BGCT budget shortfall anticipated; cuts implemented

• Missouri layman proposes Peace Committee for state convention

• Texas raid prompts First Baptist ministry

• Children go on mission with Mom

• Hardin-Simmons honors outstanding young alumni

• Missouri Baptist Convention faces $10 million countersuit

• Vision—not just geography—unite associations of churches

• Chef found recipe for happiness at Dallas church

• Two Texas teens on 2008 national Acteens panel

• Lubbock teen, 69-year-old woman connected through service

• Chaplain uses cookies to bring ‘home sweet home' to troops in Iraq

• Religious violence not exclusive to Abrahamic faiths

• Buckner programs make history in Peru

• Tarleton students see encounter with accident-victim as no accident

• DBU president's leukemia in remission


• See articles from the previous 3/31/08 issue here.

Posted: 4/10/08

Huckabee visits Ouachita,
gives campaign-trail insight

By Trennis Henderson

Ouachita Baptist University

ARKADELPHIA, Ark. (ABP)—Describing some aspects of his recent presidential campaign as “just incredible fun,” former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee recently paid a brief visit to his alma mater, Ouachita Baptist University.

Huckabee, who served 10 years as Arkansas’ governor, put together a run for the Republican presidential nomination that consistently surprised critics, who early on dismissed him as an also-ran.

Former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, a 1975 graduate of Ouachita Baptist University, visits with Ouachita students during a question-and-answer session as part of his visit to campus last week. (Jared Tohlen/OBU)

Huckabee had what he described as a “Final Four” finish in this year’s presidential race. Earning victories in eight primaries and caucuses, Huckabee withdrew from the race in early March after Arizona Sen. John McCain gained enough delegates to lock up the Republican nomination.

A 1975 graduate of Ouachita, Arkansas Baptists’ flagship institution, Huckabee also has served as a pastor, president of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention and chairman of the National Governors’ Association.

Acknowledging that “the whole experience was, in many ways, surreal,” Huckabee said the pace of a national presidential bid is “so fast that you don’t have time to stop and absorb it or even take it in.”

“At many times, I had to stop and remind myself that I was actually running for president of the United States,” he added. “The schedule was grueling and brutal. … It was early morning to late night and constantly being pushed and pulled—almost treated like a property as opposed to a person.”

Despite the hectic schedule under the glare of the national media spotlight, Huckabee emphasized that “there were a lot of special times” on the campaign trail, including guest appearances on Saturday Night Live and the Late Show with David Letterman.

“Doing Saturday Night Live was a real kick,” he noted. “Another fun time was the (Jay) Leno show. … I got to see there were some great people you get a chance to know in a casual way. All that was a lot of fun, and it kind of made up for the days that were anything but fun.”

Reflecting on the political impact of his presidential run, Huckabee said one aspect is that his campaign delivered a clear reminder that “ordinary people really can affect the process.”

“For virtually a dime to the dollar of the other candidates, we took this campaign to the ‘Final Four,’ and most folks didn’t think that could happen. I think it’s a transformational kind of experience in politics,” Huckabee declared. “It was very important as a hallmark of the campaign—and hopefully future campaigns—that people will pay attention to the candidates and their message and not just their bank accounts.”

Concerning his decision to seek the presidency, Huckabee said, “I deeply felt there was a need for someone, frankly, to be president who understood the real world where most Americans live. I think there is a disconnect with most people who have been in Washington for a good while.”

As an example, he cited a Republican debate on the economy in which other candidates “were all singing the Republican song of a great economy.” By contrast, he said he emphasized that “for people in the real world, the economy is not doing that well.”

Taking a page from his campaign playbook, Huckabee listed a litany of economic concerns in the speech, such as rising fuel prices, education costs and “health care costs rising at twice the rate (at) which pay was rising. That meant people were working harder this year than they were last year and not getting ahead; in fact, slipping behind.”

A key reason for many voters’ concern over the economy is that “when the economy is prosperous, it has a trickle-down effect, but when the economy begins to go into a recession, it’s a trickle-up effect,” he explained. “It hits the people at the bottom first and the hardest because they have the least margin with which to deal.”

Given his newfound influence in conservative Republican circles, Huckabee said one of his goals is to “continue to make the case that there can’t be a separation between economic conservatism and social conservatism.”

“The most basic form of government is self-government,” he added. “Civil government is the result of the breakdown in self-government, family and community. … The degree to which those structures break down, you’re going to have more civil government whether you want it or not.”

Highlighting the need for individuals, businesses and communities to take greater responsibility for their actions if they want to reduce government involvement, he said, “I think that’s missing out there in the discussion.”

Looking to the future, Huckabee acknowledged, “I haven’t really settled on ‘Gosh, here’s what I want to do when I grow up.’ I think I will continue to be involved politically and also from a policy standpoint, helping people to get elected and keeping my own options open for the future.

“I want to affect the discussion of public policy as it relates to the bedrock issue of why individual morality and the structure of the family really does have an impact on the direction of civil government,” he added. “And the respect for human life is fundamental and foundational to our culture.”

Emphasizing that such respect is not limited to the abortion issue, he said, “That’s where people get messed up. It deals at the heart of whether or not we are, as our forefathers said, all equal. If there’s intrinsic worth and value in each person, then one person is not more valuable than another or less valuable than another.”

What about another run for the presidency in four or eight years? “I won’t rule it out,” Huckabee said. “I mean I’m not making an announcement to say, ‘Yeah, I’m going to.’ The circumstances and everything—who knows what they’re going to be? But it’s not like I’m saying, ‘Boy, I’ll never do that again.’ I won’t rule that out.”

Asked about the possibility of helping her husband conduct another presidential campaign, Huckabee’s wife, Janet, who also attended Ouachita, answered simply, “I’m with him. Whatever he does, I’m there.”

Glancing at the former candidate, she added, “I was very proud of what Mike did. He came from virtually nobody knowing who he was; as we say, he came from being an asterisk to second man standing.

“I’ve always known that if people got to know him, they’d love him,” she concluded. “We just have to get a few more people to know him next time.”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.

Posted: 4/09/08

BGCT budget shortfall
anticipated; cuts implemented

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

DALLAS—Anticipated 2008 Baptist General Convention of Texas income falls $5.3 million short of the budget, requiring cutbacks in spending and staffing, according to a report to the BGCT Executive Board.

The report also calls on the board to provide greater financial oversight—particularly regarding use of investment assets, which have dropped about $27 million in seven years.

“The BGCT has come to this point because we sought to sustain and even expand our ministry during a time of financial challenge. The desire to promote kingdom work exceeded the level of financial resources available at a prudent level,” said a report by board members Fred Roach and Elizabeth Hanna. “In the newly reorganized board, it became evident that the process review and oversight of the budget and financial condition of the convention was inadequate.”

In response to the anticipated budget shortfall, six positions have been eliminated from the Baptist General Convention of Texas Service Center as a cost-cutting measure, and additional BGCT Executive Board staff cuts are expected—but nothing comparable to last year’s layoffs.

The 2008 budget anticipated “higher levels of income than can reasonably be expected,” according to the report by Roach and Hanna. Roach served as chair of the BGCT Executive Board’s ad hoc subcommittee for review of investment spending and is chair of the finance subcommittee. Hannah is chair of the board’s administration support committee.

The budget called for about an 8.5 percent increase in Texas Cooperative Program giving—about $3.4 million. Through March 31, actual receipts are running at just below 95 percent of budget and at 94 percent compared to last year’s giving.

“On the investment side, the BGCT projected use of about $6.8 million, which is $1.9 million beyond the level recommended by the Baptist Foundation of Texas for 2008,” the report states.

In response to the anticipated shortfall, staff will cut spending to 90 percent of budget. Full details of the necessary cuts have yet to be determined, BGCT Executive Director Randel Everett said. The leadership council, made up of 11 team directors, interim Associate Executive Director Jan Daehnert and Everett, are in the process of making the decisions.

The Baptist Building already has shut down its outbound calling effort—part of the Service Center—effective March 31, according to Gus Reyes, director of the BGCT congregational relationships team. Six Service Center positions were cut. Of those six, one employee left the BGCT for another ministry, two employees were reassigned and three were transferred to fill vacant positions.

Some other positions will need to be eliminated in order to reach the 90 percent budget level, Everett said, but not on the scale of layoffs last year.

“It is always difficult when any person loses his or her job, and the leadership council is committed to a minimum reduction of personnel, while at the same time identifying and sustaining the priorities of the BGCT, especially the programs that relate directly to the support of the churches,” he said.

The report by Roach and Hannah notes a combination of factors contributing to the anticipated shortfall—decreased Cooperative Program giving, a general economic downturn and a decline in investment assets.

In part, the report attributes the drop in investment assets—close to $27 million in seven years, in spite of market growth during much of that period—to unusually high use of those funds.

“In the six years prior to 2006, the BGCT had expenditures that averaged 7.1 percent on its investment assets, while investment earnings for this period averaged 2.6 percent,” the report states. “In the past two years, the average rate of expenditures was 13.4 percent (15.5 percent in 2006 and 11.2 percent in 2007), while investment income for the two years averaged 11.8 percent.

“The change in investment assets from Jan. 1, 2001, to Dec. 31, 2007, which was $27 million, means that we will receive less income in the future on these decreased assets. If investment assets were still at the 2001 level and if the 12.5 percent rate of return experienced in the past five years continued into the future, then there would be $3.4 million more available every year for use in BGCT missions and ministries. In other words, such a drawdown of assets negatively impacts our future by millions of dollars per year.

“It should be noted that these expenditure levels were pursued with the best intent of sustaining important ministries to and on behalf of Texas Baptist churches. There was a genuine hope that CP giving would rebound in order to continue these efforts. That hope, however, has not been realized, at least not to the level that would be required.”

The report also notes that in 2007 the Texas Legislature adopted new regulations regarding the prudent management of institutional funds.

“In short, the new regulations recognize that organizations go through periods of economic upswing and downturn. They set forth that to expend more than 7 percent of investment assets in any given year would be imprudent. This should be the benchmark by which the BGCT operates in the future,” the report states.

The Baptist Foundation of Texas, which manages the majority of BGCT investment funds, has recommended a regular distribution of about 5 percent of assets per year, the report says. Taking both the state regulations and foundation guidelines into consideration, “the BGCT should generally be expending between 5 percent and 7 percent of its investment assets during any given year,” report concludes.

The subcommittee that reviewed investment spending recommended a couple of questions the board and its committees should consider:

• “Are we properly balancing our expenditures with our income and the prudent use of resources generated from our investment assets?”

• “Are the funds expended being used in the most effective way to accomplish the mission of the convention?”

Those principles were recommended to the board’s finance subcommittee and its administration support committee and approved at the February board meeting as guidelines to implement as soon as possible.

“Our financial future is bright if the BGCT makes appropriate adjustments to its processes of developing, adopting and managing the annual budget,” the report states. “What the BGCT needs more than anything on the financial front is a commitment to living within the resources God provides.”

With additional reporting by Ferrell Foster of BGCT Communications

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Baptist churches, in Texas, the BGCT, the nation and around the world.