Posted: 9/03/04

African-American scholarships,
ministries benefit from missions offering

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

MANSFIELD–In 2002, a group of Texas Baptist church leaders made an initial trip to minister in Nigeria with the help of funds from the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions.

That trip began a partnership between the Nigerian Baptist Convention and the Baptist General Convention of Texas African-American ministries office.

Since then, Texas Baptists have taken several trips to minister there.

Texas Baptists plan to start a water purification project at the Nigerian Baptist seminary. Bethlehem Baptist Church in Mansfield recently sent 20 computers to Nigeria with the help of a grant.

Thousands of lives have been touched because of that initial Mary Hill Davis-financed trip, said Michael Evans, director of BGCT African-American ministries.

This seems to be the pattern with Mary Hill Davis Offering-funded ministries, which he called the “springboard for equipping people to do more ministry throughout Texas, this nation and the world.”

“I don't think we would have half the success we've had without the Mary Hill Davis Offering,” he said.

About $35,000 in Mary Hill Davis funds is allocated for African-American ministries.

Nearly 800 African-American college students have received scholarships through money given in the offering.

Scholarship recipients must be members of Baptist General Convention of Texas-affiliated churches who want to use their college education to strengthen the work of local churches. Nearly 40 people apply each semester for about 12 scholarships.

“When you give someone a scholarship, you're saying we want you to be equipped with these tools for ministry,” Evans said.

Erica Carter, a scholarship recipient from Concord Baptist Church in Dallas, is attending Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, studying to become a marriage and family counselor.

She hopes to improve lives by improving family relationships.

The scholarship “means a lot in the sense that it helps me pay for tuition and complete my degree–complete what God has called me to do,” she said.

Posted: 9/03/04

Bear track stars bring home Olympic gold

ATHENS, Greece–Jeremy Wariner, a junior at Baylor University, ran a personal best 44.0 to win the gold medal in the 400 meters and lead the United States to a sweep in the event at the Olympic Games.

Americans Otis Harris and Derrick Brew completed the 1-2-3 finish in the race, with Harris coming in second at 44.16 and Brew taking third at 44.42.

Wariner, from Grand Prairie, follows in the footsteps of former Baylor student and current 400-meter world record holder Michael Johnson.

Both men were coached by Clyde Hart, who is entering his 43rd year as head track and field coach at Baylor.

“It's an incredible feeling. I ran just like I was supposed to, like Coach Hart wanted me to,” Wariner said.

“I didn't get the lead right away, but I worked the turn better than I have all year.”

Wariner became the first sprinter in history to sweep every 400-meter title in a single year, winning the indoor and outdoor NCAA championships, the U.S. championship and the Olympic gold medal.

Baylor athletes now have won the last three Olympic 400-meter titles, with Johnson taking gold in 1996 and 2000.

Johnson ran a 43.18 for the world record in Seville, Spain, in 1999 and ran a 43.49 for the Olympic record in Atlanta in 1996.

“He ran a perfect race. That's what we've been working for all year, and he's earned it,” Hart said.

“To have a (Baylor runner) win gold three Olympics in a row, I'm not sure if that's ever been done before.”

Wariner and Baylor Senior Darold Williamson also won gold in the 4×400 relay race, the final track and field event of the Summer Olympics.

Wariner ran the third leg and Williamson of San Antonio ran the anchor portion of the relay.

The Americans' time of 2:55.91 fell barely short of the Olympic record, set by the U.S. at Barcelona in 1992 and the world record set by the U.S. in 1998.

Compiled from Associated Baptist Press and other reports

Posted: 9/03/04

Sexual purity movement marks 10th anniversary at Olympics

By Chris Turner

LifeWay Christian Resources

ATHENS, Greece (BP)–The 10th anniversary of the True Love Waits sexual purity movement culminated in the shadow of one of the ancient world's most impressive ruins, once a site of hedonistic indulgence.

Richard Ross and Jimmy Hester, co-founders of the movement that originated with LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention, called on youth of the world to make a stand for sexual purity by remaining sexually abstinent until marriage.

The event was held during the Summer Olympics on a hill adjacent to the Acropolis, site of the Greek Parthenon.

Kelli Dees, a student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, prays over some of more than 460,000 True Love Waits cards as ruins of ancient Greece stand behind her.

In addition to challenging the few hundred in attendance, the call to purity was webcast through www.truelovewaits.com and still is available for viewing.

The True Love Waits event was held in cooperation with Lay Witnesses for Christ International and featured Carl Lewis, nine-time Olympic gold medalist.

A highlight of the event was the arrival in Athens of more than 460,000 commitment-to-abstinence cards from youth in more than 20 countries, including 200,000-plus from South Africa. Several thousand more pledges were made, but the cards did not arrive in Athens prior to the event. True Love Waits team members learned of the additional cards through e-mail.

“I believe the diversity of countries from where we've received either cards or word of commitments made shows the global scope of True Love Waits,” said Hester, director of student ministry at LifeWay.

“It has had a positive impact in cultures around the world, and it is simple to understand why. True Love Waits is based on God's biblical design for human sexuality. He intended for sex to be between a man and a woman and within the boundaries of marriage. That is the message we unapologetically proclaim here in Athens.”

Event organizers scheduled the Athens rally during the Olympics to celebrate the past 10 years and more than 3 million American youth alone who have made an abstinence pledge through True Love Waits and to raise awareness for a biblical approach to abstinence.

“You stand before a holy God today, and you have to make a decision,” Ross challenged the audience. “Do you love God to the point where you are willing to set yourself apart from what the world is doing so that you can be a holy vessel through which he can work?”

Lewis challenged the youth to “set yourself apart in your group by being a leader and not giving in to what others are doing.”

The international setting was an appropriate place to celebrate the success of True Love Waits because of how the ministry has spread globally, Hester noted. It was introduced in Uganda 10 years ago, and Ugandan First Lady Janet Musevani credits it as the reason for a dramatic decrease in the number of newly diagnosed cases of AIDS in her nation. Most of True Love Waits' global expansion has come in the past four years, taking root in more than 85 countries. More than 100 organizations–secular and religious–have adopted True Love Waits to promote sexual abstinence.

Teenagers who pledge to remain sexually abstinent until marriage are 34 percent less likely to have sex than those who do not take virginity vows, according to a study published in 2001 by the American Journal of Sociology. The pledge works, the study suggested, because it creates an “identity movement” or “moral community” that provides peer support for teens.

It is an environment Ross is hoping will take root in countries like Greece, where abortion has become a key form of birth control and the average girl may have multiple abortions before she reaches age 25.

Sixty-seven percent of sexually experienced teens in the United States say they wish they had waited longer before having sexual intercourse, according to a survey by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. Ross believes a similar survey done in countries like Greece would reveal similar results.

“Sexual activity outside of marriage leads to all types of tragic consequences,” Ross said. “You can see the escalation around the world in sexually transmitted diseases and the AIDS crisis spiraling out of control. The very sad thing is that it is all very much avoidable if young people heed God's biblical precepts. My prayer is that countries like Greece will be transformed because Christian young people make a moral stand and influence their peers not just for sexual purity but lead them to a personal relationship with Christ. The two are very much related.”

Posted: 9/03/04

Texas WMU volunteers in Athens urge
Olympic visitors to enter heavenly race

By Julie Carlson

Baylor University

ATHENS, Greece–Millions watched while some of the world's greatest athletes raced for Olympic medals. But three Texas women journeyed to Athens to talk to people about a different kind of race–the one the Apostle Paul described in the ninth chapter of the New Testament book of 1 Corinthians.

Kathy Hillman of Waco, Suzy Wall of Hereford and Joline Wiley of Kenedy were part of an eight-member team from Texas, North Carolina, Kentucky and Illinois who traveled to Greece with Woman Missionary Union's International Initiatives.

In Athens for almost two weeks, including the first week of the Olympic games, the women offered hospitality to visitors at the First Greek Evangelical Church and helped staff an exhibit at the church titled “The Other Race.”

“The basement of the church housed the exhibit, which explored the history of the Olympics and showed how it related to the athletic imagery and language in Paul's writings,” said Hillman, president of Woman's Missionary Union of Texas and a Baylor University associate professor.

“Upstairs in the sanctuary, there was a loop PowerPoint presentation that showed Paul's movements in Greece. And then in the foyer, there was an exhibit titled 'Strive' that featured athletic artwork created by children and teenagers from around the world.”

During the five hours each day that Hillman's team staffed the exhibit, they witnessed to people from Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq to Hungary, China, Vietnam, Russia and points in-between.

“Primarily, we were there to greet people and talk to them about the 'other race,” Hillman said.

“For example, I spoke with a young man from Albania, who had attended college in the United States. He believed in God but said he was struggling between Islam and Christianity. I talked with him a long time, and he finally admitted what he couldn't understand was how someone who lived 2,000 years ago could die for him. That gave me an opportunity to talk about Jesus.”

Wall, a member of Frio Baptist Church in Hereford who also served at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, said that openness was a very special part of the experience.

“Anytime you were around people, you discovered why the Olympics are such a great opportunity for International Initiatives or any other missions group–the people are just so willing to talk,” she said.

“If you went to their country, they might walk right past you without saying a thing. But at the Olympics everyone talks to everybody. That makes it so easy to touch people quickly.”

Wiley, a member of First Baptist Church in Kenedy, agreed.

“We talked to people from either 52 or 53 countries that we know of–just to meet and talk to people from so many different parts of the world was wonderful,” she said.

The church was located in the heart of Athens with Hadrian's Arch and the Temple of Zeus across the street and the Acropolis behind it. The cycling and marathon routes passed in front. To attract people to the exhibit, free water and restrooms were offered and the exhibit was air conditioned.

As part of their duties, Hillman's team distributed packets of information that contained part of the New Testament in eight languages.

They also distributed a brochure titled “More Than Gold” that gave short testimonies and provided space for recording Olympic results.

The ministry team attended some Olympic venues, including water polo and volleyball matches.

They also went to a taping of the “Today” show, watched as the Olympic torch passed in the front of the church and made a side trip to Corinth.

“But we were there to work. We knew less about what was going on at the games than the people back home who were watching on TV,” Hillman said.

Plans already are under way for International Initiatives trips to the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, and the 2008 games in Beijing. Hillman hopes to be part of those teams.

“There is a spirit of openness at the Olympics that I'm not sure I have seen at other times,” she said.

“You talk to everybody, whether they are next to you on the Metro or sitting beside you at an athletic venue. If they speak English, then you talk.”

With additional reporting by Staff Writer George Henson

Posted: 9/03/04

On the Move

Ken Andress to First Church in Albany as interim pastor.

Ivan Birch has resigned as pastor of Second Church in Ranger.

Larry Carson to First Church in Ralls as pastor from Emmanuel Church in Hoensbroek, Netherlands.

David Cash has resigned as pastor of First Church in Ranger.

Barry Clingan to First Church in Trophy Club as pastor.

Ellis Dean to North Pointe Community Church in Lubbock as pastor from Shadow Hills Church in Lubbock.

Keith Dibble to Prestonwood Church in Plano as children's ministry intern from Indian Hills Church in Grand Prairie, where he was minister of education.

Don Hollister to Pilot Grove Church in Whitewright as pastor.

Tim Hooten to First Church in Happy as minister of music.

Jed Humphrey to South Georgia Church in Amarillo as minister of music.

Dan Kuykendall has resigned as pastor of Genesis Church in Hereford.

Jim Medley to First Church in Spearman as pastor from First Church in Rankin.

Grady Newsom to Belmont Church in Denison as pastor.

John Silva to Community Heights Church in Lubbock as pastor.

Brian Swiggart to Park Hills Church in San Antonio as youth pastor from Immanuel Church in Odessa.

Joe Zillmer has resigned as pastor of First Church in Washburn.

Posted: 9/03/04

Abilene counselors want playground time
to be healing time for troubled children

By George Henson

Staff Writer

ABILENE–Counselors in Abilene are praying play time will become healing time for troubled children.

The counseling center of First Baptist Church in Abilene recently dedicated a playground specifically devoted to play therapy.

Play therapy has long been a staple in counseling children, said Jennifer Smothermon, staff therapist and director of development at the Ministry of Counseling and Enrichment in Abilene. But the playground enables counselors to take that therapy outdoors.

“It may be that this has been used somewhere else, but we went through many journals trying to research this, and we haven't been able to find another instance where this is being done in a Christian counseling setting,” Smothermon said.

While the counseling center is a ministry of First Baptist Church in Abilene, it is located a few blocks away.

“About 95 percent of the people we see are not members of First Baptist Church, and for at least some of them, it helps that they're not coming to a church building. Also, for those who are members of the church, being away from the church property gives them a greater measure of confidentiality and privacy,” Smothermon pointed out.

A fence will surround the playground with a wall facing the road that will look like the buildings at the church. The fence and wall also will provide confidentiality to the therapy.

Elements of the playground will be much like any other.

“It's more how it is used than how it is built,” Smothermon explained. “It's not a recreational tool where you just send kids out to play. Any time a child is on the playground, a counselor will be working with them.”

For example, a child with an anxiety disorder might be led to cross a bridge to help him or her learn how to deal with fear or how to move on to a new stage, she said.

“We've been working with the children indoors through conventional play therapy. This will be a new arena to use to help them work through their issues,” she said.

Research, fund raising and going through the church committee processes have led to a two-year journey from concept to completion. Donations to build the $54,000 therapeutic playground have come from the First Baptist Church of Abilene Foundation, the Community Foundation of Abilene, the Greathouse Foundation, the Junior League of Abilene and several individual donors.

One woman who tragically lost a child donated $10,000.

“She wanted to help with anything that might draw children to counseling who were not able to work out their problems on their own,” Smothermon said.

While the use of an outdoor therapeutic playground may be a new concept, Smothermon said, therapeutic gardens have been used successfully for years, and that was the original springboard to bringing play therapy outside the walls.

Currently, the counseling center sees people from 34 counties, and about one-third of them are children. She expects the playground may bring more children to the center.

Children come to the center with a wide range of psychological and emotional issues. Many of them have problems dealing with the divorce of their parents.

“It's really very interesting, because the church initially wanted to begin this type of ministry because of the problems they saw coming out of the disintegration of families, and that is still the main reason children come here. Generally, however, if it is classified as a psychological disorder, we see it,” Smothermon said.

Among those are anxiety disorder, attention deficit disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder and others.

The fee is $75 per hour, but that rate can be adjusted to meet the needs of an individual family, Smothermon said. For more information, call (325) 672-9999.

Posted: 9/03/04

Americans hold complex views on religion, politics, poll shows

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)–A new poll suggests American voters hold complex–and seemingly contradictory–views on religion and politics.

The poll by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and the Pew Center for the People and the Press reveals both Democrats and Republicans have strengths and weaknesses on religious and ethical issues.

For instance, a majority of respondents–52 percent–said they viewed the Republican Party as more religion-friendly than the Democratic Party.

Forty percent said the Democrats were friendlier to religious values.

But an identical 52 percent majority of voters favored Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry's view on embryonic stem-cell research, which President Bush opposes. That figure is up significantly from a similar poll in 2002.

Similarly, while 53 percent of respondents said they were comfortable with the way Bush's religious beliefs affect his policymaking, he and Kerry were statistically tied on the question of whether voters were comfortable with the amount of time each candidate spent talking about his faith.

Fifty-six percent of respondents were comfortable with Kerry's discussion of faith, while 53 percent were comfortable with Bush's religious language.

The poll also showed a majority of Americans (60 percent) oppose same-sex marriage, but only 34 percent of all respondents consider a candidate's views on the issue a “very important” factor in deciding how to cast their vote.

Another 30 percent of respondents said the issue would be “not at all” important in their electoral decision-making.

A majority of white evangelicals surveyed viewed the marriage issue as “very important” in their decision-making, but no other ethnic or religious grouping in the poll showed more than 35 percent of its voters considering the issue as being of top priority.

Bush has endorsed a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage nationwide. While Kerry has said he opposes legalizing same-sex marriage, he also opposes the amendment and supports marriage-like civil unions for same-sex couples.

The survey also revealed something of a schizophrenic view of the role of religion in the public square.

While an overwhelming majority of respondents–72 percent–support the display of the Ten Commandments in government buildings, 65 percent of respondents opposed the idea of churches endorsing political candidates or parties.

Republicans in Congress have proposed a bill that would allow churches to maintain their tax-exempt status while endorsing candidates or parties–something tax law currently bans nonprofit organizations from doing.

Many conservative evangelical Protestant leaders have expressed strong support for the bill. But the poll showed, even among evangelicals who attend church weekly, only 42 percent supported the idea.

Testing whether respondents agreed with the stance of some Catholic bishops, who have said in recent months they would withhold communion from Kerry or any other Catholic politician who supports abortion rights, respondents overwhelmingly disagreed.

Of all voters, 64 percent said it was improper to deny communion over the issue.

Among Catholics, disapproval for the practice was even higher. Seventy-two percent of Catholics disagreed with denying communion to those who oppose the church's policy on abortion rights.

Even among Catholics who attend church weekly or more often, 63 percent said bishops should not deny communion to politicians over the issue.

The poll was conducted in early August. It involved 1,512 adult respondents from across the nation.

Posted: 9/03/04

Cheney, Bush differ on same-sex marriage

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)–Vice President Dick Cheney surprised many of his and President Bush's most conservative supporters by publicly differing with the president on the issue of same-sex marriage.

Cheney's comments came one day before Republican Party officials ratified platform language that strongly endorses Bush's support of a constitutional amendment banning homosexual marriage.

The platform committee also declined to include a “unity plank” sought by some moderate Republican groups that would have acknowledged that differences exist amid party members on gay-rights and abortion-rights issues.

During a campaign stop in Davenport, Iowa, Cheney indicated he was maintaining the same position on legalizing same-sex marriage he espoused during the 2000 presidential campaign–the decision should be left up to individual states. He also publicly acknowledged, reportedly for the first time, that his daughter, Mary, who works in his campaign, is a lesbian.

When an audience member asked him what he personally believes about gay marriage, according to a White House transcript of the event, Cheney responded: “Lynne and I have a gay daughter, so it's an issue that our family is very familiar with. … With respect to the question of relationships, my general view is that freedom means freedom for everyone.

“People ought to be … free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to.”

However, Cheney also said Bush “makes basic policy for the administration” and the president had endorsed the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment in February because Bush believed some state and federal courts “were making the judgment or the decision (on legalizing same-sex marriage) for the entire country.”

Cheney also said the constitutional amendment–which failed a July vote in the Senate by a wide margin and is expected to come up for a vote in the House in September–“hasn't had the votes to pass.”

Both gay-rights activists and conservative Christian groups criticized the administration for the conflict in message between Cheney's statements and the party's official stance.

“Vice President Cheney must explain how he can stand behind a platform that discriminates against families like his,” said Cheryl Jacques, president of the Human Rights Campaign.

“There are millions of Republican families who don't want to see their sons and daughters discriminated against. It must be hard for these families, including the vice president's, to reconcile their own support for inclusion and this divisive platform.”

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, said: “I find it hard to believe the vice president would stray from the administration's position on defense policy or tax policy. For many pro-family voters, protecting traditional marriage ranks ahead of the economy and job creation as a campaign issue.”

Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, downplayed Cheney's difference with Bush.

“Politically, this is not that big of a deal because this is not any different than what Dick Cheney's been saying,” Land said in Baptist Press.

“It's just that he's publicly distancing himself from the president's position.

“The president's position is strongly supportive of the Federal Marriage Amendment, which is the only position that counts.”

Posted: 9/03/04

Same-sex marriage bans hit obstacles

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)–An elections panel in Michigan and a state judge in Louisiana have presented obstacles to same-sex marriage bans in those states.

The Michigan Board of State Canvassers deadlocked 2-2 along party lines when asked to certify petition signatures for a proposal to amend the Michigan Constitution. The amendment would not only ban homosexual marriage, but also marriage-like civil unions between partners of the same sex.

The deadlock means the proposed amendment will not appear on the November general-election ballot in that presidential-battleground state.

Supporters of the amendment said they had collected far more than the 318,000 petition signatures needed and had expected the board's certification of the petitions to be merely a formality.

But the board's two Demo-crats–who voted against certification–said they thought the amendment would ultimately be ruled unconstitutional because it would void contracts and benefits arrangements between partners of the same sex.

Similarly, a state judge in Louisiana ruled that a proposed ban on same-sex marriage and civil unions in that state would violate the Louisiana Constitution.

Civil District Judge Christopher Bruno of New Orleans said the proposal violated two tenets of the state's charter–that constitutional amendments may not deal with more than one subject, and that they must appear on the ballot on a statewide election day. The vote in Louisiana is scheduled for a special election Sept. 18.

Two other Louisiana courts ruled against gay-rights activists who had sued to stop the amendment from appearing on the ballot. However, those rulings dealt only with procedural matters and not with the amendment's constitutional merits.

The conflict between courts in Louisiana means the state's Supreme Court will have to rule on the matter.

Posted: 9/03/04

Stadiums become sacred space for some megachurches

By Bob Smietana

Religion News Service

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (RNS)– Stop by a typical church on a weekday night, and you might find an Alcoholics Anonymous group or Boy Scout troop meeting there. At Faithful Central Bible Church, you just might find Madonna.

That's because Faithful Central is among a small but growing number of megachurches using sports and entertainment facilities as their houses of worship.

This spring, the pop star spent six weeks rehearsing for her Re-Invention Tour at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood, Calif., the former home of the Los Angeles Lakers, now owned by Faithful Central. Madonna also used the church/arena to kick off her tour with a concert.

For most of the time, “Madonna's set was on one end of the Forum and ours was on the other,” said Bishop Kenneth Ulmer, pastor of Faithful Central, which bought the Forum in 2000. The church had been planning to build a new building when it became available.

“To build a new, 5,000-seat church would have cost $18.5 million,” Ulmer said. “To buy the Forum cost us $22.5 million, and we have unlimited space to grow. It's not a bad investment.”

Worshipping in unique settings is nothing new for Faithful Central. Since Ulmer became pastor in 1992, this predominantly African-American church has moved four times –from a 450-seat traditional building to a high school and two converted warehouses before settling at the Forum.

About 6,000 people attend the 10 a.m. Sunday service at the arena, with another 1,000 attending a 7 a.m. service at “the Tabernacle,” a converted warehouse. The two services will be combined later this year.

“Our church wouldn't know what to do in a stained-glass, padded-pew structure–we haven't been in one for so long,” Ulmer said.

The Forum isn't completely converted to a church space. It still hosts concerts and sporting events when not being used for worship.

Ulmer said the building is a “tool for ministry”–offering the public positive forms of entertainment while employing 500 to 600 people at each event.

Besides, he said, what else do you do with a building that seats 18,000 people on the other six days a week?

Faithful Central is not the only church to take over a sports arena. In Houston, the Compaq Center–former home of the Rockets–is being converted for use by the 30,000 member Lakewood Church. It's scheduled to reopen next spring after a $75 million renovation. Lakewood has signed a 30-year lease on the building, which will seat 16,000 for worship.

Scott Thuma of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research doesn't think many other churches will follow in the footsteps of Lakewood and Faithful Central. Instead, he said, most megachurches build “a sanctuary that looks like a stadium,” complete with giant projection screens and stadium-style seats.

At least two churches, he adds–Creflo Dollar's World Changers Church International in College Park, Ga., and the Crenshaw Christian Center in Los Angeles–meet in buildings that resemble the Astrodome. Crenshaw Christian Center's building is called the Faith Dome.

There is something fitting about a former stadium becoming a church, Thuma said.

“It's not that much of a stretch to go from one national religion–football, baseball and basketball–to another,” he said. “The stadium space, in some sense, already has a sacred feeling.”

Ulmer admits it feels odd to be preaching in the same venue where he once watched the Lakers play. But what makes worship sacred, he said, is not the place–it's God working in the lives of people.

“Theologically,” he said, “we emphasize that the church is the people. The building has been sanctified and consecrated when the people of God are gathered and the presence of God fills the place.”

Some of the banners from Laker championships are still in place at the Forum, Ulmer said.

“We say that we are still building champions. We are continuing the legacy of building champions.”

Posted: 9/03/04

Texas Baptist Men serve in Florida
after one storm, await arrival of another

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

BARTOW, Fla.–Long after the rain caused by Hurricane Charley stopped, Texas Baptist Men quietly continued meeting needs in the wake of the storm that blasted the Western Florida coast in mid-August. And they prepared for the arrival of Hurricane Frances.

The statewide Texas Baptist Men feeding unit and chainsaw crews served as part of a massive Baptist relief effort in Florida before their units relocated to Georgia to wait out Frances.

More than 100 Southern Baptist disaster relief teams responded to the wreckage left by Charley. Volunteers prepared more than 800,000 meals, provided nearly 15,000 showers, cleaned more than 3,000 homes and washed nearly 2,000 loads of laundry throughout the state.

The state-wide Texas Baptist Men food service unit, one of several Texas feeding teams that have served for some duration, prepared more than 31,000 meals. A Texas Baptist Men communications unit helped coordinate all the Southern Baptist disaster relief units.

Larry Burks, a member of First Baptist Church in Plano who coordinated the statewide unit, said conditions were improving in the state, but a lot of work remained.

Workers had reconnected much of the power near Bartow and were moving south to harder-hit areas.

Trees remained down. Some areas still did not have electricity. Homes were missing roofs. Other houses had trees lying in the middle of them.

“The need is there, and more and more people are needing help,” he said.

Frank Brooks, associate pastor of education and activities at First Baptist Church in Bartow, Fla., said the Texans' work inspired and elevated the congregation.

After seeing the Texas Baptist volunteers, members began trying to help other people in need, he said.

Having the unit at the church also reminded the town their congregation was there to reach out in service, Brooks said.

The ministry helped church members make contacts that can become opportunities to share the gospel.

Residents witness kindness in the actions of disaster relief volunteers, Burks said. He hopes they also saw Jesus.

“I think what they see is Southern Baptists cutting trees, cleaning and feeding them,” Burks said.

“There's only one thing they could think–that we are doing a good deed in the name of Jesus.”

Brooks said residents were upbeat as neighbors came together to help.

Some residents were gathering and cleaning one house at a time as a team.

But they were aware danger lurked on the horizon in the form of Hurricane Frances.

Posted: 9/03/04

Agency relies on churches to
connect poor to state aid programs

By Ferrell Foster

Texas Baptist Communications

AUSTIN–A Texas state agency has assigned a job to churches–help connect needy people to governmental assistance programs.

Last year, the legislature passed and the governor signed HB 2292. That bill sought to transform the state's health and human services agencies by collapsing 12 entities into one large one with four departments. It also changed the way people apply for state benefits.

The transition is under way, and the business plan of the new Texas Health and Human Services Commission reveals a role for community-based organizations and churches are a part of that.

The state is expecting churches and other community-based organizations to be the front door for one-fourth of the people applying for state aid, including Medicaid, welfare, food stamps and mental health services, said Suzii Paynter, director of citizenship and public policy for the Baptist General Convention of Texas' Christian Life Commission.

State projections anticipate the need for 1 million volunteer hours and 627 volunteers annually to help people apply for state aid. All of those volunteers would come from community-based organizations, including churches.

This new approach is necessary because the Health and Human Services Commission will close hundreds of offices around the state in the next few years, beginning this fall, according to its business plan.

Today, most people who apply for state benefits do so at one of 381 Department of Human Services offices administered by the agency's staff, says a report from the Center for Public Policy Priorities, a group that challenges key portions of the state plan. The state also “outstations” staff at hospitals and community health centers to help people apply for Medicaid.

That report anticipates 200 state offices will be closed and 4,500 staff people will lose their jobs.

The state is moving to a process built around “call centers,” probably three of them, that will be operated by a for-profit corporation on contract, Paynter said. Applications for state aid will come to the centers via telephone, the Internet, mail, fax and community organizations, including churches.

By closing offices and reducing staff, the state hopes to save money and make the process simpler for those applying. In the past, different application processes have been required for different types of assistance. In the new approach, there is only one application process.

But no one really knows yet how the new system will work, so advocates for the poor and other disadvantaged groups express concern that the old system is being dismantled before the new one has been tested, Paynter said.

Some of the cost savings for the state will come by consolidating the work of hundreds of state offices into the call centers. One application process also will bring savings. Another large portion of the cost savings will come at the expense of churches, nonprofits and other community organizations.

“Local communities will be forced to absorb additional costs, meaning less money for other services,” Paynter said. “It has a domino effect whenever the state cuts funds for services. Local groups pick it up.”

But concerns are about more than cost; they're about service.

Churches and other community organizations will provide the “person-to-person contact” with benefit applicants, Paynter said. Helping an applicant may be “a very time-consuming part of the process because of the nature of the clients and their needs.” These people often are in crisis, have a language barrier or need help with documentation.

“My concern is that this is a labor-intensive part of the process,” she said.

One projection calls for 250,000 applications to be handled during the 1 million volunteer hours, Paynter said. That comes to an average of four hours per application.

Whatever the actual hours involved, the state is “expecting the applications served by community-based organizations to be time-consuming,” she said.

Paynter expressed five concerns regarding the role of community organizations:

“Clients will not receive proper services and will perceive a system that is inconsistent, inefficient and regionalized.”

“Tithes, offerings and charitable gifts are not given to replace the state infrastructure,” rather they are for “direct service and ministry.”

“Screening and applications tasks will be vulnerable to error, fraud or personal bias.”

“There is no test plan before closing regional DHS offices.”

Churches and other community-based organizations “have not been included in the process of making a business plan.” Only in recent days have state officials expressed a desire to involve community-based organizations in making future plans, she added.

Texas Impact, which represents mainline Christian denominations, is producing an online reference for churches that explains the new system, she said. Visit www.texasimpact.com.