Posted: 6/11/04

Student sees summer medical program
as part of God's plan for his life

By Teresa Young

Wayland Baptist University

PLAINVIEW–When Martin Ortega received word he had been accepted into the Joint Admissions Medical Program for the summer, he viewed it as an answered prayer.

Now he's in Houston at the Baylor College of Medicine, participating in an intense summer program designed to provide him and the 68 other participants with extra academic and practical preparation toward medical school–even though it is three more years away.

The Texas Legislature created the Joint Admissions Medical Program in 2002 to provide support for economically disadvantaged students pursuing medical careers.

Summer programs are held after each academic year. Students in the program are guaranteed admission into one of Texas' medical schools and substantial scholarships toward the expensive training.

Ortega, who just completed his freshman year at Wayland Baptist University, saw the program as an affirmation from God.

Ortega came to Wayland from Midland, where his father is pastor of Iglesia Bautista Emmanuel.

Ortega initially enrolled to pursue a career in physical therapy, mostly because he knew the cost of medical school would be prohibitive.

But the dream of being a physician lingered in his mind.

When his academic adviser, Adam Reinhart, learned Wayland would have a chance to nominate students for the Joint Admissions Medical Program, he immediately thought of Ortega.

Private schools in Texas are allowed to submit nominations for the program on a rotation basis, and only 10 percent of the places are reserved for private-school freshmen.

“I think this program is tailor-made for people like Martin,” said Reinhart, assistant professor of biological and earth sciences at Wayland.

“You have to be Pell Grant eligible, so it's really meant for students who may not be able to pay for medical school, even if they got accepted.”

When Ortega learned he'd been chosen for the program, he was amazed.

“I feel very blessed to be chosen, but I don't feel like it's a coincidence,” Ortega said.

“I really felt like (Wayland) was where God wanted me to be, and I can't think of anything more affirming than to be accepted into this program.”

Ortega said the narrow window of opportunity for the honor makes it even more special.

Application for the Joint Admissions Medical Program has to be made during the freshman year, and had he come to Wayland a year later or earlier, it would not have been the school's chosen year to nominate. Ortega saw the timing as providential.

“This program gives me a purpose,” he said.

“I realize that all the honor and glory goes to God for this, and it makes me excited because I can see my purpose laid out before my eyes. I know God wants me to use this experience for his glory.”

Ortega is interested in focusing his medical career toward family and community medicine or pediatrics.

For now, though, Ortega says his goals are making it through the intense nine-hour class days this summer, keeping his grade point average high and staying on track with his academic plans.

Posted: 6/11/04

Around the State

The Association of Woman Students at Houston Baptist University bestowed honors on a number of women as it celebrated its annual Woman's Day. The 37-year-old tradition honors a woman from each class, the faculty and the community as Woman of the Year. Students honored were Jessica Watson, freshman; Katy Bowser, sophomore; Christina Marchesano, junior; and Jenny Chunn, senior. Ruth Ann Williamson, professor of education, was the faculty member honored. Lori Salierno, founder and chief executive officer of Celebrate Life International, was the community member chosen for the honor.

Forrest McMillan (left) and Lawson Hager (right) were presented plaques by Hardin-Simmons University President Craig Turner during the school's annual Faculty and Staff Appreciation dinner. McMillan, the school's newly named dean of students, was announced as the staff member of the year, while Hager, dean of the School of Music, was the faculty member selected for the top honor. In addition to the plaques, the pair also received $500 checks. Hager joined the faculty in 1973, and McMillan joined the staff in 1997 as a residence hall director and was director of recruiting since 2002 prior to taking his new post.

The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor held a pinning ceremony commemorating the graduation of 23 social work majors. Frances Pinckney of Copperas Cove received the outstanding student in field practicum award, Shaunie Carter of Killeen the Spirit of Social Work award and Misty Rosenberg of Killeen the academic excellence award.

Roy Vogtsberger is the new head of Hardin-Simmons University's biology department. An assistant professor of biology, he has been a member of the faculty since 2000.

The East Texas Baptist University Concert Band recently completed a recording of new concert band arrangements. The CD will be sent to junior high and high school band directors in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma to market the printed arrangements.

Dallas Baptist University has announced the addition of four faculty members. John Jaeger will join the university as reference librarian. John McCuin joins the faculty as assistant professor of physics and mathematics. Ross O'Brien has been selected as assistant professor of management. Phil Williams goes to the school as assistant professor of kinesiology.

Six Texans were among New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary's recent graduates. Bobby Chandler of Pasadena received the bachelor of arts in Christian ministry degree. Stephanie Frey of Katy earned the master of arts in marriage and family counseling degree. Dudley Lloyd of Abilene received the master of arts in Christian education degree. Stephen O'Neal of Tyler received the master of divinity degree with specialization in biblical languages. Tobey Pitman of Austin received the doctor of ministry degree, as did Rick Webb of Longview.

Anniversaries

Cliff Feeler, 15th, as associate pastor/minister to senior adults at First Church in Denton.

Alan Six, 10th, as pastor of Trinity Memorial Church in Marlin.

Glynn Cummings, 10th, as pastor of Grace Church in Cameron.

Samuel Buhl, fifth, as pastor of True Love Church in Cameron.

Southcrest Church in Lubbock, 50th, June 26-27. Tours of the church's former site will be conducted from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., while tours of the current facility will be from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. A meal will be held at 5 p.m. that day. A celebration service featuring former Pastor Charles Broadhurst will follow the meal at 6:15 p.m. Sunday morning will begin with a time of fellowship at 8 a.m. Former Pastor Don Cass will speak in both morning services. For more information, call (806) 797-9000. Brad Jurkovich is pastor.

First Church in Sunnyvale, 100th, June 27. Charles Wilson is pastor.

Calvary Church in Beaumont, 100th, July 3-4. A golf tournament will begin at 8 a.m. Saturday, with a women's luncheon set for noon. Hamburgers and hot dogs will be served at 5 p.m., followed by a worship service at 6:30 p.m. Sunday morning services will include all living former pastors–James Thompson, Curtis Mathis, Claude Thomas, Mike Dean and John Powers. Author Ron Ellison will autograph copies of the church's 270-page history. Register at www.calvarybeaumont.com. Nathan Cothen is pastor.

Robert Lee Church in Robert Lee, 100th, July 17-18. Saturday kicks off at 3 p.m. with a fellowship and church historical and pictorial displays. A meal will be held at 6 p.m. Sunday's service will begin at 10:30 a.m. Mike Poye is pastor.

Retiring

George Hamontree has retired as camp manager at High Plains Baptist Conference Center in Canyon after 18 years of service.

B.F. Risinger, as pastor of First Church in Corsicana, effective June 27. He has led the church 25 years. He plans to serve in the intentional interim ministry, and has completed his primary training. He can be contacted at (903) 874-6460 after July 1.

Larry Embry, as pastor of Calvary Church in Brenham, effective Aug. 1. That date also marks his 35th anniversary of service to the congregation. He plans to be involved in several mission trips abroad and other areas of ministry.

Deaths

Iva Sibley, 95, May 29 in Corpus Christi. She was the wife of pastor J.M. Sibley, who served churches in Texas and Oklahoma, including Calvary Church in Beaumont from 1944 to 1967. He also served on the board of directors of the Baptist Standard from 1960 to 1966. They also ministered in a Chinese church in Singapore from 1967 to 1969. She was preceded in death by her husband and three brothers, Larkin, William and Leon Crutcher. She is survived by her daughters, Annita Frazier and Betty Hawley; son, Melburn; 11 grandchildren; 25 great-grandchildren; and three great-great-grandchildren.

Betty and Russell Morris were honored with a footwashing at a service at First Church in Donna to mark the couple's retirement as Mission Service Corps volunteers. The Morrises were presented a frame print of “The Servant” depicting Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. As Rio Grande Valley Association Associate Director of Missions George Morrison washed the feet of the couple, Director of Missions Mike Gonzales read the related passage of Scripture. Carl and Mary Lou Wilson also were presented MSC emeritus certificates for their service as volunteers.

Noble Hurley, 88, June 4 in Dallas. A Baptist layman, he served on the Christian Life Commission of the Baptist General Convention of Texas and on the boards of trustees of Baylor University, Baylor University Medical Center and Baylor College of Dentistry. At the time of his death, he sat on the board of trustees of Dallas Baptist University. He also served on the Executive Board of the BGCT and the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention. Baylor College of Dentistry and DBU both conferred honorary doctoral degrees on him. He was a member of Gaston Oaks Church in Dallas more than 60 years, where he served as a deacon. He was a philanthropist, supporting Baylor Health Care System, DBU, Buckner Baptist Benevolences, Dallas Baptist Association, the BGCT, Baylor University, Truett Seminary, Texas Scottish Rite Hospital, Salvation Army, International Linguistics Center and Children's Medical Center of Dallas. He was particularly pleased with the joint efforts of DBU, Dallas Association and his couples Sunday school class to assist churches and Christian ministries in meeting the needs of homeless and street people in Dallas. He was preceded in death by his wife, Jane, and son, Bill. He is survived by his son, Jack.

Margarita Morales, 78, June 4 in Dallas. She and her pastor husband, Servando, founded Primera Iglesia in San Juan. She was a pianist, accordionist and Sunday school teacher 58 years. They also served as missionaries in Beaufort, S.C., 12 years and in Mexico. She was preceded in death by her husband. She is survived by her daughter, Teresa Molina; sons, Servando Jr., Abel and Jacob; grandchildren; and great-grandchildren.

George Hawkes, 87, June 8 in Arlington. Hawkes was the longtime editor and publisher of the Arlington Citizen-Journal. An award-winning journalist, he served on the board of trustees of the Baptist Standard from 1967 until 1975. He was a deacon at First Church in Arlington. He is survived by his wife, Jeanne; daughters, Erin Chaney, Elizabeth Turner and Kay Ellen Goodyear; son, George Jr.; brother, Charles; sister, Ellen Bunkley; 12 grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.

Ordained

Carey Gamble to the ministry at Levita Church in Gatesville.

Joe Barrera to the ministry at Jericho Fellowship in Plainview.

Mack Dowell, Ronny Fisher and R.C. Hudgens as deacons at Eagle Springs Church in McGregor.

Chris Doloff, Don Greer, John Holden, J.M. Taylor and George Wilson as deacons at Carlton Church in Carlton.

John Cunningham and Tommy Elder as deacons at Bethel Church in Quanah.

Dan Treviño as a deacon at Second Church in Harlingen.

Events

Longbranch Community Church in Midlothian held a dedication service for its facilities May 23. Bill Pinson, executive director emeritus of the BGCT, was the guest speaker. Herb Pedersen is pastor.

First Church in Graham held a commissioning service for Mission Service Corps volunteers Danny and Ruth Ann Perkins.

Posted: 6/11/04

U.S. News & World Report names
Baylor among top graduate schools

By Mary Crouch

Texas Baptist Communications

U.S. News and World Report magazine has named Baylor University's graduate schools among the nation's best.

Baylor Law ranked 50th overall, and is joined by two other Texas schools, Southern Methodist University and the University of Texas at Austin, in the top 50. Within the law school, Baylor's trial advocacy program placed seventh, moving up one from eighth in 2003.

The medical program ranked 13th for research and 20th in primary care, beating out such prestigious schools as Harvard and Brown, as well as the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

Schools were chosen based on academic and professional judgments from alumni, faculty, deans and program directors.

U.S. News then looked at several factors, such as starting salary and length of time to find a job after graduation.

The overall scores are a composite of the previous factors plus performance, acceptance, tuition and comparison with the other schools.

“We're always extremely proud of our institutions that show academic excellence and are grateful for the recognition from U.S. News,” said Keith Bruce, institutional ministries coordinator for the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

This is the fifth year for Baylor to be listed among the top 50 in the U.S. News rankings.

Posted: 6/11/04

Baylor tennis team takes title

Baylor University's men's tennis team clinched the school's first-ever NCAA title with a 4-0 victory over UCLA at the NCAA Championships in Tulsa, Okla. The second-ranked Bears, making Baylor's first title appearance since the 1948 basketball team lost to Kentucky in the NCAA final, won the match in 1 hour, 58 minutes, surrendering just one point and posting five shutouts in six NCAA tournament matches. Baylor completed the 2003-04 season with a school-record 32-2 mark and the nation's longest winning streak at 24 matches. Pictured are (front row, left to right) Ivor Lovrak, Matias Marin and Reiner Neurohr; (back row) Head Coach Matt Knoll, Benedikt Dorsch, Benjamin Becker, Jon Reckeway, Jason Gould, Matija Zgaga, Joel Morgan, Adrian Szatmary, Barry McLaren, and Assistant Coach Rob Cheyne.

Posted: 6/11/04

BGCT names controller/assistant treasurer

DALLAS–Jill Larsen of Tulsa, Okla., has been named controller/assistant treasurer of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board staff effective July 6.

As controller, Larsen will supervise general accounting and cash management operations for the BGCT.

She will assist David Nabors, chief financial officer/treasurer, in a variety of business and financial matters.

“I am thrilled to have found the right person to fill this critical role in our organization,” Nabors said.

Larsen, a certified public accountant, fills a position left vacant with the October 2003 resignation of Randy Reid.

She will be leaving a position as accounting supervisor for Deloitte Consulting Outsourcing in Tulsa.

Larsen worked six years with the Southern Baptist Annuity Board in Dallas, where she held two department head positions–retirement administration and financial reporting.

Larsen said she sees her new position as a “great opportunity to assist the ministry” of the BGCT and for her to “use my past experience to advance the future there.”

Chris Liebrum, BGCT director of human resources, said: “We are fortunate to have found a person with her experience and skills. Ms. Larsen brings to us specific skills in the areas of financial analysis, budgeting and personnel management.”

As controller, Larsen will supervise all accounting activities of the BGCT Executive Board, including the processing and reporting of $80 million to $85 million annually in mission gifts. She also will provide monthly, quarterly and annual financial reports for the Executive Board staff.

She will develop and implement new accounting systems and procedures required to ensure contributions are properly processed and recorded in accordance with cooperative mission giving guidelines.

The new controller grew up in Grapevine, moved to Colorado and then returned to Texas, graduating from high school in Olney.

She graduated summa cum laude with a degree in accounting from Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls.

Prior to moving to Tulsa, Larsen was a member of The Heights Baptist Church in Richardson. She currently is a member of Southern Hills Baptist Church in Tulsa.

“This involves the complete redesign of all related financial reporting of church contributions.”

Posted: 6/11/04

Some want single Bible translation
to become universal English standard

By Douglas Todd

Religion News Service

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (RNS)–An American academic wants to see a Bible translation put together by scores of conservative scholars become the one Bible everyone uses.

Alan Jacobs, an English professor at Wheaton College near Chicago, said the new English Standard Version Bible, whose translation was overseen by Vancouver's J.I. Packer, is the only one with the potential to become the universal Bible of all English-speaking Christians.

Jacobs laments the end of the era when most English-speaking Protestants read and quoted from the same Bible–the King James Version, first published in England in 1611.

“Everyone who grew up with the (King James Version) feels the loss of a shared language, of particular words and phrases that resonated in the common ear,” Jacobs wrote in First Things magazine.

With more than 100 English-language Bible translations now competing against one another, Jacobs called the English Standard Version “the best available English Bible.”

It was created two years ago by a team of about 100 conservative Protestants led by Packer of Regent College, an evangelical post-graduate school on the University of British Columbia campus.

However, some Bible scholars consider Jacobs' high-profile campaign to champion one common English-language Bible quixotic and misguided at best and imperialistic at worst.

“It sounds like ecclesiastical and scholarly tyranny we shouldn't put up with,” said Professor Lloyd Gaston, a veteran Bible scholar at the Vancouver School of Theology.

“The more Bible translations we have, the better,” Gaston said. It's good for people of faith to realize there are many different ways of interpreting ancient Bible stories, he added.

“It seems to me anyone who suggests using just one Bible is simply making a pitch for their own favorite translation,” said Gaston, whose students come from a variety of Christian backgrounds, including Anglican, United Church of Canada, Presbyterian and Catholic.

“It creates the danger of not truly listening to the Bible in all its complexity, but just listening to one voice. It narrows the range of possibilities, which some Christians might like, but not all,” Gaston said.

Although Jacobs had no role in translating the ESV, he is a friend of Packer and a fellow evangelical.

The literary chairman of the ESV translation team is Jacobs' English faculty colleague at Wheaton College, Leland Ryken, who routinely criticizes modern Bible translations.

In his essay, Jacobs glosses over how Roman Catholics, for instance, have never used the King James Bible, while many have read the Douai-Rheims translation, which reflected similar language.

Today, many Catholics prefer The Jerusalem Bible, while many mainline Protestants read the New Revised Standard Version and many evangelicals use the New International Version.

Even Packer, the translation's general editor, backed away from Jacobs' hope that one Bible translation would dominate the world's English-language Christian community.

There is no such thing as a definitive translation of the Bible, Packer said, and it would be “foolish” of him and his colleagues to suggest theirs is the last word.

As for Jacobs' claim that the ESV is “the best available English Bible,” Packer is flattered, but said: “Our only claim is that for the purposes for which we need the Bible, this ESV is as good as any and better than some. But we would be foolish to say it's the last word.

“People have different cultural backgrounds. They talk and read English at different levels. The different versions choose their English idioms to plug into the literary backgrounds which they think their intended readers have.”

Packer, 77, said the audience for his team's translation is “the kind of people who are bewildered by the pressure to embrace novel understandings of the faith and paraphrased translations of the Bible. We believe there's a large constituency of people who appreciate a more conservative Bible.”

The ESV translation, which Packer prepared with other biblical scholars from throughout North America, is a more literal translation than other translations, he said.

Packer said more “liberal” translations of the Bible rely more heavily on paraphrasing the original Greek, Hebrew or Aramaic, whereas his translation uses, wherever possible, the precise words of the original, or as close to them as differences in language will allow.

Jacobs, however, said one of his main reasons for arguing for the supremacy of the ESV is his concern that other modern Bible translations lack good English style.

The ESV slightly reworks the popular 1952 Revised Standard Version, for instance, dropping “thees” and “thous.” Still, Jacobs favors “deference to existing excellence”–if a King James or Revised Standard Version phrase is accurate and understandable, keep it.

Posted: 6/11/04

BOOKS: Debunking DaVinci

By Mark O'Keefe

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)–After reading “The Da Vinci Code,” Holly Jespersen wondered if Jesus Christ did in fact wed Mary Magdalene and father her child, as the novel claims.

“It definitely made me question all that I have been brought up to believe,” said Jespersen, a Presbyterian who lives in Chicago.

Alarmed by that kind of reaction, defenders of traditional Christianity have launched a counteroffensive on author Dan Brown's fast-paced thriller, which has been atop The New York Times' fiction best-seller list for the last year, has sold more than 6 million copies, is being translated into more than 40 languages and will be made into a Columbia Pictures film directed by Ron Howard.

Books and articles with titles like “Dismantling the Da Vinci Code” and “The Da Vinci Deception” have been published. Preachers are giving sermons in response to church members who ask why they were never told there was a Mrs. Jesus. Web sites and discussion groups are humming over the book's “heresies.”

A collective Christian outcry is rising, with some of the country's most influential clerics joining in.

When “The Da Vinci Code” was released in March 2003, church leaders paid little attention. Brown was an obscure author; this wasn't the first time a novel had taken shots at Christianity. And it was, after all, fiction.

But as the book became a publishing phenomenon, religious leaders noticed that readers, even in their own congregations, were taking the novel's historical claims as fact. “Jesus, Mary and Da Vinci,” an ABC special last November that seriously explored Brown's themes, made clear that this was a cultural force to be reckoned with.

Yet where some Christian leaders perceive a threat, others see an opportunity.

The book has sparked interest in early Christian history, with the public suddenly fascinated with topics like the Council of Nicea in 325.

“It's only a threat if people read this fictional book naively, don't think critically about it and don't pursue truth,” said Mark Roberts, pastor of Irvine Presbyterian Church in Irvine, Calif. “Now that we have people thinking and talking, we can look at the real evidence of Jesus.”

But on the book's first page, Brown makes an assertion that galls his critics: “All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate.”

The plot centers on the search for the Holy Grail by a brilliant Harvard symbologist and a beautiful French cryptologist, who follow clues in the work of Leonardo Da Vinci.

The greatest protest has been over the book's negative portrayal of central Christian beliefs, including:

Jesus' divinity. Brown writes that Constantine collated the Bible, omitting some 80 gospels emphasizing Jesus' human traits in favor of four that made him God. This was supposedly done at the Council of Nicea, “in a relatively close vote.”

But the actual vote was 300-2, said Paul Maier, professor of ancient history at Western Michigan University, and it did not determine Jesus' divinity. That was attested to much earlier “by many New Testament passages, as well as by the earliest Christians and all the church fathers, even if there was some disagreement as to the precise nature of that deity,” Maier said.

The Council of Nicea “did not debate over whether Jesus was only mortal or divine, but whether he was created or eternal.”

The Bible's inerrancy. Peter Jones, co-author of “Cracking the Da Vinci Code,” says that in trying to establish that the Bible was cooked by Constantine and his cronies, Brown overlooks the fact that four-fifths of what is now called The New Testament was deemed divinely inspired in the first century–two centuries before Constantine and the Council of Nicea.

Jesus' celibacy. Even feminist scholars, such as Karen King, a Harvard professor who may be the world's leading authority on early non-biblical texts about Mary Magdalene, have said there is no evidence that Jesus was married to her or to anyone else.

Cardinal Francis George and other traditionalists treat the claim as absurd. “All I have to say is, nobody ever told me to keep secret the fact that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene,” he told The Chicago Sun-Times.

“All those martyrs the first 300 years, they were covering up the fact that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene? Why in heaven's name would someone go to their death to protect that secret? It's absurd.”

Posted: 6/11/04

BOOKS:
Shadowmancer Hotter than Potter?

By Bob Smietana

Religion News Service

CLOUGHTON, England (RNS)–When he was 21, Graham Taylor woke up in his London flat after a night of heavy partying, looked in a mirror, and said, “Oh, God, there has got to be more to life than this.”

Taylor didn't expect God to answer. But a voice inside told Taylor to make peace with his parents, whom he had hardly seen since running away at 16.

“Go home,” the voice said, “and I'll find you a job and I'll find you a wife.”

“I'll tell you–I didn't want the job in my hometown, and I didn't want the wife,” Taylor said in an interview from his home in Cloughton, where he's now the local vicar. “That was off the agenda.”

But within a few days, Taylor had packed his bags and headed home, where to his surprise he found a job, and a wife, in short order. He also found a calling as an Anglican priest, a career he started after working his way through school for 10 years as a police officer.

And then came the surprise of his life. Last summer, at age 43, Taylor became one of his country's best-selling authors. His novel “Shadowmancer,” about an 18th century evil cleric who tries to take over the world, topped the United Kingdom's best-seller list 15 weeks and sold more than 300,000 copies–despite being released at the same time as the latest Harry Potter book.

“Shadowmancer,” which also has become a best seller in Spain, Argentina, Poland and Greece, debuted in the United States with a 250,000-copy first printing. Taylor arrived in the States in early May for a publicity tour that included an appearance on the “Today” show.

The book was so popular it spawned a new trend dubbed “Shadowmania” by newspapers and is advertised as being “hotter than Potter.”

Taylor says the success of his book–the film rights recently sold for $4 million–is “unreal.”

“I am here by complete accident,” he says. “I am a storyteller. I tell stories in my sermons, and this big accident has been arranged (for the book) to suddenly became an international best seller. And I sit back and chuckle.”

Taylor wrote the novel on a lark. A woman had challenged him to do it after a speech he gave about occult themes in children's books like Harry Potter and the works of Philip Pulman. Pulman–whose “Dark Materials” reworks Milton's “Paradise Lost” so that Satan is a hero–particularly bothered Taylor.

“Pulman says that God is dead, that God is a liar, God is a cheat, God is senile. Well, that really offended me,” Taylor says. He set out to write a fantasy novel that would be exciting and scary and show a God who was active in the world.

Since he didn't think anyone would publish his novel, Taylor sold off his beloved Harley-Davidson motorcycle to pay the 3,000 pounds to have it self-published. One of the original 500 copies made its way to Faber and Faber publishers, who bought the U.K. rights. It's being published by G.P. Putnam's Sons in the United States.

Set in 18th century Yorkshire, the book pits three teenagers–Thomas Barrick, Cate Coglan and an Ethiopian boy named Raphah–against Obadiah Demurral, the vicar of Whitby. Demurral is a shadowmancer–a sorcerer who talks to the dead–who keeps the body of a dead girl in his church and summons her to foretell the future.

Not content with the wealth he's accumulated from oppressing local peasants, Demurral sets his sights on overthrowing God. He steals part of the Ark of the Covenant and uses it to summon the devil, named Pyratheon, to Earth.

Raphah's family has been the keeper of the Ark of the Covenant for centuries, and he tries to retrieve it with the help of Thomas, Cate and a local smuggler named Jacob Crane. Taylor describes their adventures as “Robert Louis Stevenson tinged with J.R.R. Tolkein and with C.S. Lewis.”

He based Demurral, who is completely corrupted, on some of the criminals he met as a police officer.

“I met people who were like that, who were evil,” he said. “Thankfully, they were few and far between–but when you met them, there was this sense of evil. I was always amazed at how many people started off in quite a good place and then through circumstances and will and sin and all those sorts of things, they ended up committing these horrendous crimes.”

“Shadowmancer's” fast-paced plot features a number of fight scenes, also based on some of Taylor's experiences as a police officer in rural Yorkshire. Taylor, who describes himself as a “lumbering Yorkshireman”–about 6 feet tall, and 6 feet wide–said he often “flew by the seat of my pants as a cop, with no backup.”

Most times it went well. One night, things went bad when he arrested a young man for breaking a shop window. The man's friends–30 or so of them–came out of the pub just as Taylor was putting the man in his police car. Fueled on “drug and drink,” they attacked Taylor. As he was getting nearly beaten to death, the man he had arrested kicked out the window of the police car and yelled out, “Where's your God now, Graham?”

“God was there,” says Taylor. “God was there with me. If I had died–if I had been murdered– then I would have gone straight to be with God because I am a Christian. I survived, so I believe that God protected me. Though either way, as a Christian, I win. It's that win-win situation. In our suffering, God is with us.”

That sense of God being with him sustained him through some heart trouble and a case of pneumonia earlier this year. He's decided to give up his parish this fall and work as a locum, or interim minister, while spending more time speaking and writing.

While he hasn't yet replaced his Harley, Taylor's publicity pictures show him in the church graveyard in Cloughton, wearing his leather motorcycle jacket. He says he's just doing what he thinks Jesus would do if he showed up today.

“If Jesus was alive today, he wouldn't walk, he'd ride a Harley,” Taylor says. “There you are in a town, and 12 guys turn up on Harleys. They take off their helmets and they all have got long hair, and then they start healing people–you are going to attract a really big crowd.

Posted: 6/11/04

Baptist Briefs

Lottie Moon Offering posts record increase. Southern Baptists gave $136,204,648 to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions–an increase of almost $21.2 million (18.4 percent) over 2002. It marked the largest dollar increase in the offering's 115-year history.

FamilyNet will cover SBC. FamilyNet television will broadcast daily news reports from the Southern Baptist Convention in Indianapolis, June 15-16. FamilyNet is a 24-hour, Fort Worth-based network owned and operated by the SBC North American Mission Board.

Baptist World Congress speakers announced. A best-selling author and a former president of the United States will headline the 100th birthday celebration of the Baptist World Alliance at the Baptist World Centenary Congress, July 27-31, 2005, in Birmingham, England. Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., and author of "The Purpose-Driven Life" and the "Purpose-Driven Church" will be a keynote speaker. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter–a Nobel Peace Prize laureate–will teach an international Sunday school class at the meeting. Billy Kim will bring his final message as BWA president after five years in office.

Brazilian Baptists support BWA. The Brazilian Baptist Convention voted at its annual meeting to support the Baptist World Alliance and to appeal to the Southern Baptist Convention "to maintain its precious cooperation with the BWA in terms of leadership, talents and financial resources."

Moscow Seminary honors Lotz. At its spring commencement, the Moscow Theological Seminary of Evangelical Christian-Baptists conferred an honorary doctorate on Baptist World Alliance General Secretary Denton Lotz. Although Baptists around the world began praying and collecting money for a Russian seminary as early as 1905, seminary leaders credited Lotz with taking the initiative to help launch the school in 1993.

Baptist named chief of chaplains. Baptist chaplain Brig. Gen. Charles Baldwin has been promoted to the chief of chaplain service for the U.S. Air Force. He will become a major general and one of the three highest-ranking chaplains in the United States military. As chief of chaplains, Baldwin will be senior pastor of a combined active-duty, National Guard, reserve and civilian force of more than 850,000 people serving in about 1,300 locations worldwide. Baldwin, a graduate of the Air Force Academy and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, is endorsed by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

Southwestern VP announces retirement. Hubert Martin is retiring July 31 as vice president of business affairs at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary after 30 years of service to the school. Martin, who came to Southwestern as a student in 1973, began his career at the end of his second year of studies when he became director of purchasing. He became the business manager of the seminary a few years later and vice president of business affairs in 1984. Martin received an honorary doctorate of humanities from Dallas Baptist University in December 2003. He also recently received the Taylor Daniels Award of Merit from the Southern Baptist Business Officers Association, an annual award given to a business administrator in the denomination.

San Francisco pastor nominated. Joy Yee, pastor of New Covenant Baptist Church in San Francisco, Calif., will be nominated as moderator-elect of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship by the Fellowship's nominating committee during the CBF General Assembly, June 24-26, in Birmingham, Ala. The moderator-elect automatically succeeds the moderator at the conclusion of a one-year term. Bob Setzer, pastor of First Baptist Church in Macon, Ga., is the current moderator-elect, and attorney Cynthia Holmes from St. Louis, Mo., is moderator.

Posted: 6/11/04

Buckner Protective Homemakers
program reunites, strengthens families

By Russ Dilday

Buckner News Service

LEVELLAND–Five children are wrestling, watching television, munching on snacks and playing games–seemingly all at the same time–inside a modest, three-bedroom mobile home. Above the noise and activity, their mother smiles and says her life is “normal.”

A year ago, life was anything but normal for Kim, a single mother in her 30s. She admits problems with drug abuse had made her life and the lives of her children chaotic.

“There was a lot of drug abuse, and it's been off-and-on for years,” she explained. “My drug abuse started when I was 12.”

Child Protective Services already had investigated her several times for her drug use, and she knew that with her personal and home life on a downward turn, the investigations could lead to losing her family.

The turning point came in March 2003. That's when she said she grew “tired of it and knew I wasn't taking care of the kids right. My house was upside-down, the kids weren't being fed, and I said, 'I can't get any higher than I've been.' I called my therapist and told her something needed to happen. CPS picked the kids up that day, and I started rehab.”

Her call to authorities started a 90-day stay in a drug rehabilitation program during which she was allowed few outside contacts.

“I didn't know much about where the kids were. They had been placed with my great aunt after being in a shelter for a couple of months,” she said.

Her oldest child was placed at Buckner Children's Home in Lubbock for specialized school needs and behavioral therapy.

She credits her faith in God for helping her through her rehabilitation and absence from her family. “I prayed a lot. I told God that he knows what's best, and if it wasn't right to get the kids back, do what's best for the kids. I did it for them, and I did it for myself.”

But after the 90-day rehabilitation period, she returned home needing oversight and help for the rehabilitation and reunification of her family. She found the help she needed in Karen Thompson of the Buckner Protective Homemakers program. And she also found a friend in Thompson.

Protective Homemakers, a program of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, is the answer for many families in need of help, especially when Buckner Children and Family Services of Lubbock put its brand on it. It provides services to families involved with Child Protective Services. Its goal is to prevent individual or family breakdown, encourage maximum independent parental functioning, prevent removal of children from the home and promote family reunification.

“I came in, taking it as a courtesy case from the town where Kim was living,” says Thompson. “I made sure Kim stayed on task, and if she needed anything, I tried to get it for her.”

The program approaches reunification and strengthening families by focusing on daily living skills such as budgeting money and finding resources to help families.

The strength of the Homemakers program, Thompson notes, is that it allows caseworkers to “do what you can do to help your families. If they need furniture, clothing or food, you find resources for those. You help them budget. If Kim needed to go somewhere, she didn't have a car, so I provided transportation, like taking her to the store. The girls didn't have beds, so we got bunk beds from a family, and now her girls have beds.”

But it's not the help Thompson brought Kim that has made the greatest impact on the family's rebuilding. “It's the positive support. She's always pushed me up, made me feel good about myself. Christmas was a good (example). If it wasn't for her and Buckner, we wouldn't have had much.

“She's more of a friend than a caseworker,” Kim emphasized, pointing out that Thompson's last visit had occurred days before. “My case is closed and she's still here.”

And “here”–home–is “different than before,” she says. “We have a routine, we wake up, we go to school, we get home and we clean. The kids hate that. It's peaceful, and we're all in bed by 10. I never slept before. We're like normal people.”

Home also has its challenges, she says. “I work, and I have had a job for nine months, the same job. My income is $600 a month and rent is $400 a month. We pay all the bills, but I'm dead broke.”

Since she entered rehabilitation, Thompson says, Kim has shown “consistency in wanting to do better for her kids, working herself to death to make things better for them. She has her faith in God, and that is awesome. That's why I feel like I can help her make it.”

Eleven-year-old Daniela has noticed the changes in her home, too. “My mom has been taking care of us, and so has Ms. Karen.”

Looking to her future without the careful oversight of Thompson and the Protective Homemakers program, Kim says: “My future is going to be day-by-day. I have dreams. I want to own a house. I want a house so bad. I want a house that my (future) grandkids can come to at Christmas.”

Posted: 6/11/04

Bush-Cheney campaign under fire for
effort to identify, target 'friendly' congregations

By Adelle Banks

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)–The Bush-Cheney campaign is under fire from church-state separationists for asking supporters to help identify “friendly congregations” in Pennsylvania that might be good locations for distribution of campaign information.

“The Bush-Cheney '04 national headquarters in Virginia has asked us to identify 1,600 'friendly congregations' in Pennsylvania where voters friendly to President Bush might gather on a regular basis,” said an e-mail from Luke Bernstein, a staffer in the re-election campaign in Pennsylvania.

“In each of these friendly congregations, we would like to identify a volunteer coordinator who can help distribute general information to other supporters.”

The Interfaith Alliance and Americans United for Separation of Church and State say such a move crosses the line of using religion for partisan purposes.

“Whether or not this is legal, this is an astonishing abuse of religion,” said Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith Alliance.

“It is the rawest form of manipulation of religion for partisan gain.”

Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said churches that participate as requested could endanger their tax-exempt status.

“This is the most shocking example of politicizing churches I've ever seen,” Lynn said.

“The last thing this country needs is a church-based political machine.”

The e-mail sought coordinators in places of worship who could help distribute updates and information about voter registration “in a place accessible to the congregation.”

Sharon Castillo, a spokeswoman for Bush-Cheney '04, said the effort was designed to connect individuals, not congregations, to the campaign.

“The message … that was sent out is intended to encourage individual-to-individual contact,” she told Religion News Service. “We strongly believe that people of faith strongly support this president because of his policies, and we want to empower them to be part of our campaign.”

The reference to “friendly congregations” did not intend to suggest there should be gatherings within houses of worship specifically to help the campaign, she asserted.

“We fully respect the letter of the law, and we in no way want to imply that people should congregate at their places of worship” for political purposes, she said.

The campaign is launching similar efforts in other states, Castillo added.

Only people who had already signed up on a campaign website to be part of a “social conservative coalition” received the message, she explained.

The sign-up area for volunteers on the Bush-Cheney site mentions “religious conservatives” among 31 options for coalitions they can join.

Other categories include Catholic, Jewish, “pro-life,” home-school and various professional, racial and ethnic groups.

Placing people with religious interests in the same league as farmers and other special-interest groups shows an insensitivity on the part of the Bush campaign, said Gaddy, former pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth.

“This administration shows less sensitivity to actions that compromise the sanctity of houses of worship and the integrity of religion than any previous administration,” despite its frequent discussions of religion and houses of worship, he said.

Sandra Strauss, director of public advocacy for the Pennsylvania Council of Churches, said congregations could distribute nonpartisan bulletin inserts about the right to vote, for example, that would not violate legal and ethical boundaries.

Mara Vanderslice, director of religious outreach for Sen. John Kerry's presidential campaign, said in a statement that the approach of campaigners for Bush is disrespectful to churches and risks their tax-exempt status.

“Religious voters should be encouraged to raise their voices in this election, and we expect millions of devoutly religious people to vote for John Kerry,” she said.

“Although the Kerry campaign actively welcomes the participation of religious voices in our campaign, we will never court religious voters in a way that would jeopardize the sanctity of their very houses of worship.”

Posted: 6/11/04

President tells editors he sees his
role as a voice for cultural change

WASHINGTON (RNS)–President Bush described himself as a cultural change agent in a group interview with editors and writers of conservative Christian publications.

“The job of a president is to help cultures change,” Bush told the nine writers and executives, according to an edited transcript posted on ChristianityToday.com. “Governments cannot change culture alone. I want you to know I understand that. But I can be a voice of cultural change.”

In the wide-ranging discussion, Bush addressed domestic and foreign policy, his personal prayer life and his defense of a “culture of life” and traditional marriage.

Bush said he doesn't want to be confused with a preacher, so he instead works to “let the light shine” as a secular politician.

“One of the prayers I ask is that God's light shines through me as best as possible, no matter how opaque the window,” he said.

More than once, the president said Americans have the right to worship how they wish or not at all.

“My job is to make sure that, as president, people understand that in this country you can worship any way you choose,” he said. “You can be a patriot if you don't believe in the Almighty.”

Bush said he sees Israel “a little differently” than conservative Christian leaders such as religious broadcaster Pat Robertson.

“I view Israel as a friend and ally in democracy who is in a rough neighborhood, and … we will stand side-by-side with Israel if anybody tries to annihilate her,” he said.

“I see … development of a Palestinian state as a major change agent–along with a free Iraq–in the part of the world that desperately needs free societies, out of which will come the ability for people to worship as they see fit, … the ability for people to realize their hopes.”

One questioner asked the president to respond to a concern that his interview on Arab television following the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal might have been “a mistake for appearing to be apologizing in a way that reinforces Pan-Arabism.”

Bush said he expressed his regret for the humiliation of Iraqi detainees by U.S. soldiers, but emphasized: “I never apologized to the Arab world.”

Asked if he saw evil in the way some people practice Islam, the president responded: “I think what we're dealing with are people–extreme, radical people–who've got a deep desire to spread an ideology that is anti-women, anti-free thought, anti-art and science, you know, that couch their language in religious terms. But that doesn't make them religious people.”

On the domestic scene, he considers his work on faith-based initiatives to be one of his most important efforts and thinks a change in the definition of marriage “will weaken civilization.”

Prayer, Bush told his interviewers, is a constant in his life.

“I pray all the time. All the time,” he said.

“You don't need a chapel to pray, I don't think. Whether it be in the Oval Office, I mean, you just do it. That's just me.”