Posted: 7/09/04

Presidential Prayer Team organization
launches its Pray the Vote initiative

By Sarah Farris

BGCT Summer Intern

In hopes of encouraging Christians to vote this fall, the Presidential Prayer Team launched its Pray the Vote and Prayer Party initiatives prior to Independence Day.

Pray the Vote is built “around God's people praying for fall elections–not specific candidates and not specific parties–just elections,” said Presidential Prayer Team President John Lind.

The Prayer Party program–part of Pray the Vote–gave people resources to hold gatherings during July 4th celebrations.

“We want to get people to take advantage of the (holiday) and pray specifically for the election this fall,” Lind said.

The idea for prayer parties came, like many of the organization's ideas, from one of the Presidential Prayer Team members.

Some of the Pray the Vote prayer points, available on organization's website, include “wise involvement by all Americans; God's will be done; protection over the candidates, conventions, delegates and the nation; truth in media; and responsible citizenship.”

The Presidential Prayer Team is a bipartisan, nondenominational organization.

“We're not the George W. Bush prayer team. We support the office of the president,” Lind said.

While the organization does not ask its members to disclose party affiliation, Lind says that they hear their 3 million members represent a broad demographic of Democrats, Republicans and independents.

“The influence we want to project–before politics–is that we need to focus on prayer. …We're not policy makers. We don't promote issues. We promote prayer,” Lind said.

Along with prayer parties, the Pray the Vote program also includes virtual prayer rallies, which will be held Oct. 5 and on the eve of presidential elections, Nov. 1.

These rallies consist of people from all over the United States committing via Internet to pray a half-hour or more for the electoral process.

The Presidential Prayer Team has become a way for members to “make an impact (on politics) without becoming political,” Lind said.

“We come to God in crisis,” he said. “Why not come during normal times?”

For information on the Presidential Prayer Team, visit www.presidentialprayerteam.org or call (800) 295-1235.

Posted: 7/09/04

Churches find purpose beyond 40-day experience

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

Benefits from 40 Days of Purpose stretch beyond an initial 40-day shared congregational experience, say leaders of several Texas Baptist churches that have been through the program–including some who approached it with skepticism.

The 40 Days of Purpose study is a churchwide spiritual-growth campaign built around principles in “The Purpose Driven Life,” a best-selling book by Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif.

Participants explore five purposes for living–worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry and evangelism–through small-group Bible studies, worship services and personal devotional times.

The program's website says 12,000 churches nationally have completed the program, and it claims they have experienced 20 percent average growth in worship attendance.

First Baptist Church in Rio Grande City–which went through the 40 Days of Purpose last fall–is the kind of congregation that blows the curve.

“Our numbers are up 35 percent to 40 percent in worship, our giving is up, and we've sustained that growth since the first of the year,” said Pastor Bob Alderman, who noted new visitors are coming to the church almost every week.

He hastens to add the growth has not just been the kind that can be tracked numerically.

“There's more energy, more involvement in our church,” he said, noting several ministries to youth in the community that grew out of the spiritual growth campaign.

Even so, some churches tend to look with suspicion on what they see as the latest church-growth fad–particularly when it's promoted by a California preacher in a flowery shirt.

Pastor Phil Christopher acknowledged some members of First Baptist Church in Abilene initially questioned the value of the curriculum and Warren's use of what they considered “proof-texts.”

Christopher encouraged them to question and examine the curriculum. “I told our people: 'We're not saying this is all gospel. Read it with a critical eye. … Raise questions. Don't take everything (Warren) says at face value.'”

And as small groups in Sunday school classes began to study and discuss the material, they found its basic principles to be thoroughly biblical, he noted.

“It has made a lasting impact on our church,” Christopher said, pointing particularly to the value of all age groups in the church sharing the same 40-day experience. “There were valuable conversations that came up in families as they were going through it together.”

The 40-day emphasis last fall gave birth to small groups that continued during the spring. Now the church is considering devoting Sunday evenings to small-group studies.

The spiritual growth campaign also set the stage for a capital fund-raising campaign in the spring to renovate the church's sanctuary. Lessons learned about worship, church unity and decision-making in community proved invaluable, he noted. Tangibly, the church exceeded its goal by $700,000.

Barry Chinn, pastor of Woodlawn Baptist Church in Austin, admitted he approached the 40 Days material with a degree of skepticism.

“I had always seen Rick Warren as a California flake whom God had raised up to minister to other California flakes,” he acknowledged. “But I came to realize he has made a significant contribution to evangelical faith in this country through the purpose-driven congregational model.”

Woodlawn Baptist had gone through difficult days–from a tragic bus accident more than 30 years ago to more recent divisions in the fellowship–and the 40 Days of Purpose was a “a time of healing, helping us move beyond painful experiences,” Chinn said.

A ministry and missions fair, held near the end of the campaign, proved particularly beneficial. He noted: “It helped move us down the road toward becoming a missional church.”

Later this year, a team from the church will serve in Uganda. The church has given its blessings to other members serving in Ghana, Taiwan and Gambia.

First Baptist Church in Plains skipped the recommended ministry and missions fair when it went through 40 Days of Purpose. Pastor Bill Wright knew his church already understood the concept of every member having a ministry and a mission.

Per-capita, the church–which averages about 200 in weekly Bible study attendance in a town of 1,400–could be one of the most “missional” churches in the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

Members have worked on at least one missions construction project a year for more than a decade, as well as staffing a regional disaster relief unit for Texas Baptist Men and working in local ministries.

The key teaching that made an impact on First Baptist in Plains, Wright said, was one of the first lessons in the 40-day study–“It's not about me. It's about God.”

“It caused us to focus on kingdom work and eliminated a lot of me-isms,” he remarked.

In particular, going through 40 Days of Purpose gave members of First Baptist in Plains a renewed passion for personal evangelism and deeper commitment to Bible study and discipleship, he noted.

When First Baptist Church of Kaufman went through the 40 Days of Purpose in fall 2002, church leaders presented it in terms old-time members could understand. They promoted it as a 40-day revival.

“I think that's what it is–a new model of revival,” said Associate Pastor Steve Bezner. First Baptist in Kaufman particularly found value in “lining up all the ministries in the same direction at the same time. It gave us something to rally around.”

The 40-day experience also gave the church a shared understanding for moving ahead in planning.

“It created a culture of purpose in our church that has stuck with us,” Bezner said.

“Whenever we start new (Bible study) classes, we ask them to walk through the 40 Days curriculum together and read the book together. It gives us a common reference point.”

Stephen Lowrie had the same experience as pastor of First Baptist Church in Dalhart.

He found it so valuable, one of his first priorities when he moved to North Fort Worth Baptist Church was persuading his new congregation to commit to the 40 Days beginning this coming October.

“It gave us a common vocabulary to use. … We all began working from a common point of reference,” he said, recalling his experience in Dalhart.

Many Texas Baptist churches will participate in the 40 Days of Purpose in the fall–so many that the Baptist General Convention of Texas was able to receive a discounted rate for affiliated churches.

Additional discounts are available for Spanish-speaking churches and for small-membership congregations.

For details, contact Ted Elmore at (214) 828-5114 or e-mailelmore@bgct.org.

Posted: 7/09/04

Texas Baptist Men build worship
center for African Texas church

By Mary Crouch

BGCT Summer Intern

GRAND PRAIRIE–Texas Baptist Men formed a new bond this spring with African Evangelical Baptist Church of Grand Prairie as volunteers built a sanctuary for the congregation.

About 20 TBM Retiree Church Builders and their spouses started work on the 3,000-square-foot building in April.

Texas Baptist Men bonded with church members after working and having an African food picnic together, learning about their different cultures, said team leader Wayne Simpkins of Bryan.

Pastor Johnson Omoni, who has worked closely with both the African American ministries and the intercultural initiatives offices of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, said the connections made through TBM have enriched the church's ties to the volunteer group.

“We feel blessed by their ministry,” Omoni said, noting TBM's spirit and willingness to help further African Evangelical Church's growing ministry.

The Retiree Builders' work with the church is part of a plan to provide more ministry to non-Anglo cultures.

TBM Executive Director Leo Smith noted his group already has connections with Habitat for Humanity, Hispanic ministries, African American ministries and Korean churches, but the group is continuing to expand its ministry through connections with African Evangelical Church.

Posted: 7/09/04

Texas WMU board approves staff
reoganization, change in its focus

By Ferrell Foster

Texas Baptist Communications

DALLAS–The Woman's Missionary Union of Texas board of directors has approved a reorganization of the state WMU staff.

The reorganization moves the missions organization from a “program-based” to a “solution-based” focus, said Texas WMU President Kathy Hillman of Waco, adding, “This is a huge change.”

The new plan reduces the Texas WMU program staff from six to five. But since two positions are vacant, one new role will need to be filled, said Executive Director-Treasurer Carolyn Porterfield.

Texas WMU will retain six support staff roles. No current staff member is losing her job.

The board approved the plan unanimously after discussing the changes in closed session. The changes, proposed by the organization's personnel committee, go into effect immediately, Hillman said.

Staff had been organized around age-level designations. Age-level ministries such as Mission Friends, Girls in Action, Acteens and Women on Missions will not be abandoned, Porterfield said. They will be supported through the new organizational structure.

The five new positions will include the unchanged role of executive director-treasurer, plus four others–missions growth, missions involvement, missions leadership and missions resources.

Each person in the four new roles will be referred to simply as program staff, not directors, consultants or any other title–at least for now, Hillman said.

Porterfield continues as executive director. Christine Hockin-Boyd will be responsible for missions involvement, Debra McCammon will lead missions growth and Shelda Reeves will work in missions leadership. The missions resources role is vacant.

Texas WMU wants to “assist and partner and network with churches to help them with their needs and help them accomplish the Great Commission in their setting,” Hillman said.

The new organization reflects a team approach, she said. The staff will form a team, and each staff member will lead a team that may include contract workers and volunteers.

It also will enable WMU leaders to work more collaboratively with other women's ministries in churches, Hillman said.

This provides a way of “building bridges,” Porterfield added.

Responsibilities of the various positions include:

Missions involvement. Develop missions involvement strategies, Christian Women's Job Corps, Baptist Nursing Fellowship, Project HELP, women's ministries and other missions opportunities.

Missions growth. Develop missions growth strategies for use in churches and associations.

Missions leadership. Develop strategies for identifying, mentoring, training and equipping missions leaders, Mission Friends, Girls in Action, Children in Action, Acteens, Youth on Mission, collegiate audience, Women on Missions, Adults on Mission and missions camping.

Missions resource. Develop strategies for marketing WMU and its publications, including resource development and production.

Hillman, in her president's address, said Texas WMU had “taken a leap toward the concept of shared leadership” with the new organization.

“Through shared leadership, sometimes called a team approach, no longer will only one person in the state office be designated to assist a congregation in missions education” for a particular age group, she said.

Depending on a church or mission's need, “a team of program staff, their ministry assistants and volunteers stand ready to offer growth assistance, leadership development, involvement opportunities and appropriate missions resources,” Hillman said. All will collaborate to “design the best plan to meet the need, … not merely to push a program.”

Speaking from the New Testament book of 1 Corinthians, Hillman said the Corinthian conflict sounded like Christians and Baptists today.

“We attach to a particular person or an idea, sometimes for personal benefit without remembering that we must all work together,” she noted.

“How sad that Southern Baptists have chosen not to work with the Baptist World Alliance. How sad that our missionaries have been told which groups they can partner with and which ones they cannot. How sad that some of our states have formed two conventions.

“How sad that many years ago, national WMU leaders chose not to embrace women's ministries as an avenue … to develop women toward a missions lifestyle.

“How sad that in some churches, preschool, children and youth missions leaders see themselves in competition with Sunday school teachers or choir directors.

“Who wins? No one. Who loses? Everyone, especially the lost. We must work through our conflicts and work together.

“I pray that as leaders of Texas Woman's Missionary Union, we will overcome conflict, embrace the concept of shared leadership and connect with each other any way we can to win the lost of our state. May it be said of us, 'Truly Texas WMU labored together with God.'”

Posted: 7/09/04

Texas Tidbits

DBU hosts Japanese group. Dallas Baptist University recently celebrated the opening of its International Center by playing host to the National Collegiate Network, a recruiting company that helps Japanese students select universities in the United States. The network donated 10 cherry blossom trees to DBU in gratitude, and the recruiting company and DBU jointly sponsored a cultural festival for Japanese students at DBU. The International Center is a 11,000-square-foot building that houses four classrooms, two large multipurpose meeting rooms, a computer lab, a student lounge and a full-service kitchen. DBU's student body includes more than 300 internationals from at least 50 countries.

O'Brien to describe world. "Global Reality Check: A Status of the World," will be the theme of a presentation by Baptist missions strategist Bill O'Brien July 13 at 7 p.m. The event is sponsored by Greater Good Global Support Services and will be held at the WorldconneX offices, located at Southside at Lamar streets, near downtown Dallas. O'Brien will discuss health pandemics like HIV/AIDS; world population growth and migrations; political, religious and cultural shifts; and life-changing technologies. For more information go to the website, www.g3s2.org/training.

Lubbock CWJC graduate receives WMU award. Amanda Perez of Lubbock received the national Woman's Missionary Union's 2004 Sybil Bentley Dove Award. Perez, a single mother rearing three children, graduated in May 2003 from Christian Women's Job Corps in Lubbock. She accepted Christ as her Savior and was baptized less than a month after entering the program. After graduating from Christian Women's Job Corps, Perez attended summer school to complete requirements for her high school diploma. She attends South Plains College and hopes to become a social worker. The Sybil Bentley Dove Endowment was established in 1998. The WMU Foundation presents the award annually to a current or former CWJC participant whom the foundation recognizes as wanting to improve her life through skills training, academic development and faith in Christ.

TBM offers relief following train collision. Texas Baptist Men volunteers rushed to the scene of a train wreck near San Antonio to cook meals for workers who were cleaning up chlorine that leaked from the train and for families who were confined to their homes. The American Red Cross and Salvation Army distributed 900 meals Texas Baptist Men prepared. The accident occurred when one train traveling east on a sidetrack was struck by another train traveling west, which failed to stop, a Union Pacific spokesman said. Four cars were punctured. Traces of chlorine gas were detected up to 10 miles away. Three people died, and nearly 50 people were taken to a local hospital with breathing problems, headaches and other symptoms.

Riley retires at TBCH. Jay Riley has retired as development director at Texas Baptist Children's Home. He served on the TBCH board of trustees from 1989 to 1997, including terms as chairman from 1993 to 1995. He joined the children's home staff in 1998. He led 11 Children at Heart Golf Marathons, an annual fund-raising event in which participants play 100 holes in a day.

Church music conference slated at Wayland. MusiConference West will be held July 23-24 at Wayland Baptist University. The training event will feature sessions targeting age-group choirs, instrumentalists, worship leaders and multimedia specialists in churches. Paul Magyar of Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston will lead sessions for ministers of music, and Larry Pierce, president of G3, will present sessions on contemporary worship and praise bands. Saturday-only sessions are scheduled for bivocational ministers of music. Cost for the conference is $75 per person, or $30 for bivocational ministers. Music packets for reading sessions are $10 each. For more information, contact Robert Black at (806) 291-1067 or Karen Witcher at (888) 447-5163.

Posted: 7/09/04

TOGETHER:
Life verse exerts powerful influence

Do you have a life verse? Many Christians look for a single verse in Scripture that seems to “wrap up” the truth for their life. Sometimes that verse is called a life purpose statement. Here are some I have heard people use.

From Paul's Philippian epistle: “For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain” (1:21). “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (4:13). “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead” (3:10-11). “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (3:13-14).

Or from Paul's letter to the Romans: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (8:28).

From Matthew's Gospel: “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (6:33). “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (28:19-20).

From the Old Testament: “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:4-5). “'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future'” (Jeremiah 29:11).

There are many others, but these have helped shape the lives and devotion of millions of Christians.

What might be Jesus' life purpose statement? I believe you find it in John's Gospel: “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (10:10).

Jesus painfully notes how thieves and robbers try to steal the sheep from the Good Shepherd, but he lays down his life for his sheep. Make no mistake. There are false religious leaders who will lead God's people away from the joy of abundant life in Christ. How do you recognize false leaders? They lead you away from Jesus' way of following God. How do you know Jesus' way? How do you know what Jesus would do? You study the Scripture to know what he did!

In the Bible, you find what mattered to Jesus and what should matter to us. There you find the heart of the one who knows the mind of God as no other teacher has ever known it. And there, in him, you find the life of the one who lived perfectly and fully the truth of God and invites us to follow him. Make sure you follow no substitute.

My verse? I have had several across the years, but in the last decade, the passage for my life has been Matthew 22:37-39: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'”

We are loved.

Posted: 7/09/04

True Love Waits on display at Olympics

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–True Love Waits will carry its message of sexual purity to the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens this August.

True Love Waits, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, is an international campaign that challenges teenagers and college students to remain sexually abstinent until marriage.

An estimated 2.5 million to 3 million young people worldwide have signed the True Love Waits sexual purity pledge, according to LifeWay Christian Resources, the Southern Baptist publishing house that created the True Love Waits initiative.

Hundreds of thousands of those signed pledges will be displayed Aug. 22 as part of a moral purity celebration at the XXVIII Olympiad.

The pledge reads: “Believing that true love waits, I make a commitment to God, myself, my family, my friends, my future mate and my future children to a lifetime of purity including sexual abstinence from this day until the day I enter a biblical marriage relationship.”

In addition to the display of True Love Waits' commitment cards from around the world, the celebration will feature music, Olympic athletes challenging students to take a stand for moral purity and youth from AIDS-ravaged nations giving testimonies of courage and moral resolve.

A same-day video of the day's event will be available for download on www.truelovewaits.com Aug. 22.

Posted: 7/09/04

True Love Waits helps slow
spread of AIDS/HIV in Uganda

By Shawn Hendricks

LifeWay Christian Resources

WASHINGTON (BP)–Ten years ago, three out of 10 people in Uganda were infected with HIV or AIDS. Today, that number has dropped to six out of 100. And Uganda's First Lady Janet Museveni credits faith-based abstinence programs with slowing the spread of the fatal disease in her country.

Museveni spoke recently to the Medical Institute for Sexual Health's annual meeting in Washington, D.C., where she received the institute's Hero Award for efforts she and her husband put forth to create awareness and promote sexual abstinence.

One of the most effective strategies used in communicating that message was True Love Waits, she said. True Love Waits is a sexual purity pledge campaign promoted by LifeWay Christian Resources, the Southern Baptist publishing house.

“Religious organizations played a major role in prevention (of HIV/AIDS) and had a strong influence,” Museveni said. “When we adopted the True Love Waits slogan, we found that the most important thing was focusing on our spiritual foundation and values.”

Uganda's willingness to embrace the abstinence-until-marriage program helped turn the AIDS crisis around. Museveni cited a 2000 report in which 95 of 100 Ugandans were either abstinent or only had one sexual partner.

In the late 1980s, Uganda was one of the countries hardest hit by the AIDS epidemic.

“The situation looked bleak. … Uganda was at its most vulnerable,” Museveni said. “This was more than a disease, it was a national disaster. … Our only hope was to sound a loud alarm.”

For the past 10 years, Museveni and her husband, President Yoweri Museveni, have promoted True Love Waits in speeches and ad campaigns and have worked closely with faith-based organizations such as the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board.

One of those relationships was with Southern Baptist missionaries Larry and Sharon Pumpelly, who helped implement True Love Waits throughout the 1990s.

Pumpelly, now working at the International Mission Board's main office in Richmond, Va., said the Musevenis' influence added tremendous credibility to the program. Janet Museveni, whom he described as a “committed Christian” and a prayer partner with his wife, was a key element in the program's success, he added.

Museveni especially was helpful in persuading Uganda's minister of education to allow True Love Waits material into the schools, Pumpelly said.

“She became extremely instrumental in opening doors. Schools would close down for four hours at a time to allow us to bring True Love Waits in to teach the students.”

Pumpelly hopes other countries such as Kenya, where True Love Waits programs are beginning to prosper, will show similar improvements. The success of the program, he said, depends on young people's willingness to embrace the program.

“The youth are dying to know what the truth is,” Pumpelly said. “But it's about more than that. True Love Waits is about God's plan for sex in your life, and when you get that right, AIDS goes away.”

Museveni referred to safe-sex initiatives, such as distributing condoms to the public, as both irresponsible and ineffective. “The truth is, there is no safe sex outside of faithfulness in marriage. … One thing my husband used to say is that 'a thin piece of rubber is all that stands between us and the death of our country if condoms are allowed to become the main means of stemming the tide of AIDS.'”

Posted: 7/09/04

Jonathan Williams of First Baptist Church in Flower Mound works among the Amarakaeri people in remote areas of Peru as part of the International Mission Board's Xtreme Team.

Texan takes missions commitment to the extreme

By Sarah Farris

BGCT Summer Intern

WESTERN SOUTH AMERICA–Deep in the jungles of the Amazon and high in the Andes Mountains, Texan Jonathan Williams and other missionaries are ministering in Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Chile in extreme ways.

Williams, 24, is a member of the International Mission Board's Xtreme Team, a group of men ages 21 to 30 dedicated to sharing the gospel of Christ in isolated areas unreached by traditional missionaries.

A member of First Baptist Church in Flower Mound, Williams felt God's call to “serve internationally among unreached people groups a few years ago,” he said.

Jonathan Williams

The goal of the Xtreme Team is to “go to these hard-to-get-to people groups and share the gospel through chronological Bible story telling, making disciples, training leaders and planting house churches that will hopefully reproduce over and over again and become a church planting movement,” Williams said.

Members of the team are divided into two groups, each overseen by a married couple in the International Service Corps. One group serves the Apollo Queche people group in the mountains of Bolivia, and the other serves the Amarakaeri people group in the jungles of Peru, said Williams, who works with the Amarakaeri.

The Peru locations, where indigenous people subscribe to animist beliefs, are seeing more response, said Debbie Floyd, stateside advocacy coordinator for Western South America at the International Mission Board in Richmond, Va.

Team members bond with villagers by working alongside them in their daily tasks. This has strengthened the respect between the villagers and the team by creating a way to get to know the “Amarakaeri on a personal level,” Williams explained.

“God has not only allowed our team to be accepted in every village we've thus far been to, but he has blessed us with friends as well. Their kids call us 'uncle,' their wives cook us dinner, and the men themselves count us friends.”

Seventeen adults have committed their lives to Christ and been baptized, he reported. Because many of the new believers are from the same families, missionaries hope they will start house churches.

The team is in the jungle for about six weeks at a time. Then they come back to Cuzco, Peru, to debrief and plan the next trip.

“Each trip finds us constantly changing plans as we follow the Father's leading,” Williams said. On their first trek to the jungle, the team invested greatly in two villages they did not even know existed.

“We know that God is on a mission among the Amarakaeri people group,” Williams said. “We daily see him accomplishing his work and his plan.”

Williams is grateful for the support he receives from the International Mission Board and his home church. Many other missionaries, he said, have to leave for four to five months of the year to raise monetary support. Because of the continuity of time in Peru, the Xtreme Team is able to “live this mission.”

Churches can support their missionaries by making it “a high priority to be aware of the work God is doing around the world,” because awareness allows Christians to pray specifically, he said. In addition to praying and giving, churches can support missionaries by sending their members into the mission field.

“I would say that (churches) sending most of their members to the mission field and giving most of their money to support Great Commission missionaries are the two next greatest ways the church can support the task” of reaching the unreached.

During his year on the mission field, Williams has “begun to see first-hand what it is actually going to take if we are to see the task of reaching the world accomplished.”

Becoming dependent upon God for literally everything, he has grown with Christ in deeper ways, he noted.

“There are nights in the jungle when I lay in my tent, sun-burnt, bitten by bugs …, hungry, thirsty, tired and worn. God is teaching me that he never calls us to an easy or even comfortable life. He calls us to a full life–a joyful life–and no matter how difficult this mission can sometimes seem, our team remains joyful, for God is glorified.”

The second wave of team members will be trained in mid-July, and the first group of women will begin training in November.

For more information about the Xtreme Team and missionaries involved in reaching Western South America, visit www.thextremeteam.org. Williams' web site is www.fbcfm.org/firstbaptistflowermound/jonathan.

Posted: 7/09/04

Sexual purity, evangelism share meeting spotlight

By Ferrell Foster

Texas Baptist Communications

DALLAS–More than 12,000 Texas Baptist teenagers attended this year's Youth Evangelism Conference.

That marked an increase of about 4,500 from last year's event in San Antonio, reported Leighton Flowers, youth evangelism consultant with the Baptist General Convention of Texas and director of the event.

This year's program featured a two-pronged emphasis– evangelism and sexual purity.

A counselor prays with two young girls who made public decisions during Youth Evangelism Conference. (Landon Foster Photo)

More than 2,400 decisions by students were recorded during the event–2,250 commitments to sexual purity until marriage (many students already had signed purity pledges in churches), 104 professions of faith in Christ, 75 spiritual rededications, 12 calls to ministry and 17 special needs.

The True Love Waits sexual-purity commitment cards will be sent to Athens, Greece, for an Aug. 22 event in conjunction with the Olympics.

The return of the evangelism conference to Dallas' Reunion Arena after five years in San Antonio's Alamodome featured a change in the normal program.

Mid-morning of the second day of the two-day event, Flowers handed off the program to a non-denominational group out of Florida called STAND–Students Taking a New Direction–who led the purity emphasis.

Flowers had been emcee of the three most recent Youth Evangelism Conference events, and this year he added director's duties.

Flowers has high expectations for today's youth.

“A lot of people see this generation, and they're real discouraged by it,” he said. “But I think there's some great qualities about this generation.”

They tend to be risk-takers, adventurous and ambitious–all qualities needed to fulfill Christ's Great Commission, he noted. "Students with that kind of ambition desire to do something that matters."

Storylist for 7/12/04 issue

• Delivering smiles at Texas Baptist Children's Home

• Churches find purpose beyond 40-day experience

• Child care homes need houseparents to show love to neglected children

• Scholarship recipient moves beyond past, looks ahead to life of ministry

• Hardin-Simmons volunteers show neighbors 'we care' about the community

• Immersion Spanish class equips Texas Baptists for missions

• Bequest to institution for mentally disabled benefits Breckenridge Village

• Community rehab volunteers seek to show 'what the church ought to be'

• Compensation survey shows BGCT churches rank #2 in pay for pastors

• ETBU enters partnership with Chinese university, plans 2005 conference

• Thrift store volunteers see work as ministry to terminally ill

• DBU soccer teams kick off missions venture in Mexico

• Mission Waco offers Christian hope to poor, marginalized

• Texas Baptist Men build worship center for African Texas church

• Texas WMU board approves staff reoganization, change in its focus

• Texan takes missions commitment to the extreme

• YOUTH EVANGELISM CONFERENCE: Sexual purity, evangelism share meeting spotlight

• On the Move

• Around the State

• Texas Tidbits


HISPANIC BAPTIST CONVENTION MEETING
• Hispanic Texas Baptist president issues call for cooperation

• Hispanic Baptist missions giving up 12 percent in first quarter of 2004

• FAMILY REUNION: Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas




• True Love Waits on display at Olympics

• True Love Waits helps slow spread of AIDS/HIV in Uganda

• Baptist World Congress to recite Apostle's Creed

• Patterson reaffirms allegations that BWA too open to gays, too anti-American in tone

• Baptist Briefs


COOPERATIVE BAPTIST FELLOWSHIP MEETING
• Church-state watchdogs won court battle, lost PR war, attorney notes

• Two Texans named to Fellowship task force on partnership with Baptist World Alliance

• San Antonio missions minister, pastor from College Station named CBF-Texas officers


These CBF stories were posted previously:
• Baptists must exercise their freedom to accomplish God's work, Gregory insists

• Baptists, Jews break bread together, build relationship

• CBF votes to help launch national ecumenical organization

• Vestal tells Coordinating Council it's time for CBF to 'step up' and be good BWA member

• First Freedoms Project introduced to work for religious liberty

• Being near the right Son opens doors, theologian preaches

• Split personality compels Baptists to fight, historian asserts

• Fellowship welcomes Baptist World Alliance with open arms

• Faithful can help media set the record straight

• Networking, collaborating fellowships on rise, speaker tells congregational leaders

• Jesus the foundation for fellowship in CBF, coordinator says

• Baptist Women in Ministry affirm continuing need for organization




• Presidential Prayer Team organization launches

• Evangelical political involvement encouraged

• Court rules Child Online Protection Act appears unconstitutional

• Colorado Supreme Court strikes down state's school-voucher pilot program

• Bush campaign solicits church membership rolls




• Texan takes missions commitment to the extreme




• Texas Baptist Forum

• Classified Ads

• Cartoon




• EDITORIAL: Paradox strengthens evangelism

• EDITORIAL: Texas earns a big, fat F

• DOWNHOME: Maybe purgatory is infinite spam

• TOGETHER: Life verse exerts powerful influence

• Texas Baptist Forum

• Cybercolumn by Berry D. Simpson: Skating the issue

• Cybercolumn by Jeanie Miley: Free to question, blessed to grow




• LifeWay Explore the Bible Series for July 18: God requires unqualified obedience and service

• LifeWay Family Bible Series for July 18: Nehemiah was God's servant in Jerusalem

• LifeWay Explore the Bible Series for July 25: Conforming to world's standards is dangerous

• LifeWay Family Bible Series for July 25: Be faithful even when times are tough–God is


See articles from previous issue 6/28/04 here.