Posted: 5/28/04

Competing resolutions on public
education confront SBC committee

By Lonnie Wilkey & Greg Warner

Associated Baptist Press

PETROS, Tenn. (ABP)–A proposed resolution asking Southern Baptists to remove their children from public schools is getting widespread media attention, but another resolution is being proposed in support of public education.

The opposing statements will be considered by the Southern Baptist Convention's Resolutions Committee when it meets prior to and during the SBC annual meeting June 15-16 in Indianapolis.

It is likely the committee will submit only one version to SBC messengers for a vote. And if recent history is any indication, public schools will not fare well.

Prior to the conservative shift in power that began in 1979, Southern Baptists were advocates of public education, passing seven resolutions in support of public schools or opposing government funds for private schools–the earliest in 1947.

But since the fundamentalist ascendancy, now a quarter-century old, Southern Baptists have gradually shifted their loyalty to Christian schools and home schooling.

More than a dozen resolutions passed since 1979 decry the secularization of public schools, denounce sex education and anti-Christian bias, or endorse government funding of private schools.

The resolution proposed recently by T.C. Pinckney of Virginia and Bruce Shortt of Texas goes further, asking Southern Baptists to remove their children from “godless” and “anti-Christian” public schools.

“Just as it would be foolish for the warrior to give his arrows to his enemies, it is foolish for Christians to give their children to be trained in schools run by enemies of God,” the proposal says.

In pulling children out of public schools, Pinckney and Shortt's resolution encourages parents to “see to it that they receive a thoroughly Christian education, for the glory of God, the good of Christ's church and the strength of their own commitment to Jesus.”

Although previous resolutions submitted to the Resolutions Committee have called for withdrawal from public schools, such a radical approach has not yet survived committee scrutiny for presentation to messengers.

This year's proposal, however, benefits from widespread pre-convention publicity.

That publicity prompted Tennessee pastor Jim West to offer his own counterproposal, which calls for Southern Baptists to “affirm the American public education system and encourage its members to participate actively in the life of society so that they may indeed perform the dual functions of salt and light.”

West, pastor of First Baptist Church in Petros, Tenn., said he is concerned about the impression created by the Pinckney amd Shortt resolution.

“The public at large will think that the majority of Baptists are thinking about removing their children from public schools,” he said. “I don't think a lot of Baptists will pull their kids out of public school just because a resolution is passed at the convention.”

Resolutions passed at the annual SBC meeting carry no authority over churches or individual Baptists, but they often express trends in Southern Baptist opinion and can influence SBC policy.

West's resolution hearkens back to pre-1979 SBC statements, affirming “the hundreds of thousands of Christian men and women who teach in our public schools” and encouraging “our youngsters to consider the teaching profession as a possibility that in it they may well be answering the call of God.”

It notes Southern Baptists “are devoted to missions and the call of Christ to be salt and light in a world desperately in need of both” and that “Southern Baptists take seriously the Great Commission and its requirement that we go into all the world.”

West told the Baptist and Reflector, newsjournal of Tennessee Baptists, his essential concern is theological. “Christians aren't supposed to withdraw from the world. They are supposed to minister to the world,” he said.

He said the resolution submitted by Pinckney and Shortt sends a sign of withdrawal to the world. "It says, 'We don't want to have anything to do with you.' You can't be salt and light if you are hiding behind the walls of the church," West said.

Posted: 5/28/04

Save the Children names
top 10 best, worst nations to be a mother

WASHINGTON (RNS)–More than 1 million infants and about 70,000 teenage mothers die each year in developing countries because adolescent girls are marrying and having children before they are physically prepared for parenthood, a report from Save the Children has found.

The fifth annual “State of the World's Mothers” report ranked the wellbeing of mothers in 119 countries and declared Sweden the best country to be a mother and Niger the worst. The United States ranked 10th.

The ranking, called “The Mothers' Index,” was based on the health, education and political status of mothers in those countries. The report found that a mother in the bottom 10 countries is 26 times more likely to see her child die in the first year and 750 times more likely to die herself in childbirth or pregnancy than a mother in the top 10 countries.

“Childbirth can be a dance with death for young girls and their babies,” said Charles MacCormack, president and CEO of Save the Children, a nonprofit humanitarian organization that works on behalf of children in more than 40 countries. “Girls are marrying and having children before they are emotionally and physically ready.”

The report list the top 10 best countries to be a mother as:

1. Sweden

2. Denmark

3. Finland

4. Austria

5. Netherlands

6. Norway

7. Australia

8. Canada

9. United Kingdom

10. United States

The report says the 10 worst countries to be a mother are:

1. Niger

2. Burkina Faso

3. Ethiopia

4. Mali

5. Guinea-Bissau

6. Chad

7. Sierra Leone

8. Yemen

9. Central African Republic

10. Mauritania

Posted: 5/28/04

Churches finding it hard to leave the SBC–even if they do

By Greg Warner

Associated Baptist Press

CHARLESTON, S.C. (ABP)–Providence Baptist Church never has been a Southern Baptist church and doesn't want to be one. But the congregation has had a hard time convincing the Southern Baptist Convention of that.

The eight-year-old church in Charleston, S.C., was counted as one of the SBC's 40,000-plus congregations for years and still gets mail and solicitations from its agencies, even though the moderate Baptist congregation has repeatedly asked to be excluded from Southern Baptist rolls, says pastor Don Flowers.

St. John's Baptist Church in Charlotte, N.C., voted to leave the Southern Baptist Convention in 1997 but still is treated as an SBC church, says pastor Richard Kremer.

“You've got a better chance of stopping the sun from rising in the east than getting off the list,” Kremer lamented. “It's not for lack of trying. We've called everyone we know to call. We've sent mail back marked 'return to sender.' … If our experience is paradigmatic of others, it's pretty much impossible.”

Counting churches

Because of the way the Southern Baptist Convention counts its churches, most moderate Baptist congregations are included in the tally long after they quit participating in the SBC.

No one knows how many moderate Baptist churches fall into this category.

Jack Wilkerson, an SBC spokesperson, acknowledged the convention has no way of knowing how many of the 43,024 congregations it counts could even qualify to send messengers to the annual SBC meeting–which technically is the only official way of joining the Southern Baptist Convention.

Instead, the SBC relies on state conventions to decide which churches are in. Usually if a church is a member of a state Baptist convention, by default it is considered a Southern Baptist church. “They control who is affiliated with them,” Cliff Tharp, the SBC's top statistician, said of the state conventions. “We do not go behind them and check that.”

State conventions, in turn, rely heavily on the Annual Church Profile, the statistical report each church is asked to file annually with its local association. But the hundreds of churches that don't file church profiles usually are counted anyway. State conventions routinely transfer data from the previous year for non-reporting churches, unless they know the congregations no longer exist or have opted out of the state convention, said Tharp, constituent information coordinator for the SBC's Lifeway Christian Resources.

Although the Annual Church Profile provides a wealth of information about church activities–such as membership, baptisms and contributions–the form does not ask churches if they are affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.

“The fly in the ointment is there is no formal process for joining the SBC, so therefore there is no formal process for 'unjoining' the SBC,” said Tharp, who manages the church profile data reported to the SBC from its affiliated state conventions.

Although the system worked fine in the past–when church participation was virtually uniform at the local, state and national levels–“that has sort of broken down now,” Tharp said.

Opting out

Lifeway keeps a list of churches–now up to 108–that it knows have officially opted out of the SBC or, in the case of a few, been kicked out. “When we do the SBC totals, we exclude those churches that are not affiliated, if we know,” said Tharp.

Although an updated system initiated in 2000 makes that information easier to track, he said, the list of non-SBC churches is almost certainly incomplete. An effort is made to keep the list up to date, Tharp said, but the default assumption is to include a church unless instructed otherwise.

That apparently is how Providence Baptist in Charleston got on the SBC's list in the first place.

When it was founded in 1996, Providence chose not to establish any ties with a national denomination. The congregation first noticed it was listed as an SBC church three years later and wrote the SBC Executive Committee in Nashville asking to be excluded. But mail kept coming from the Southern Baptist Convention and its agencies.

Earlier this year, the congregation was randomly selected to participate in a survey of SBC churches conducted by the Executive Committee, Flowers said. “So I wrote them back and said we have never sought membership, so it wouldn't be appropriate to participate in this survey.” An Executive Committee employee called to say Providence was indeed an SBC church because it is a member of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, Flowers recalled.

Bob Ethridge, director of the research group for the South Carolina convention, confirmed that churches are assumed to be in the SBC unless they state otherwise. And because the number of those churches is relatively small, he added, “that's not been something that we've been aggressive about identifying.”

“Providence is one that got by us, apparently,” Ethridge said. “Because of the Providence situation, we are more aware that this can happen and we are being more sensitive.”

Providence has since been added to the SBC's do-not-count list, said Tharp of Lifeway. However, the church still might be contacted by an SBC organization. “If someone got a printout of all churches in the (SBC's) database, Providence would be in there,” he said.

St. John's Baptist in Charlotte, on the other hand, is still on the list of SBC churches despite its protests.

Making assumptions

Russell Schwab, assistant administrator for the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, said churches that are members of the state convention are automatically assumed to be SBC churches. St. John's was on the list forwarded to the Southern Baptist Convention, Schwab said, because he was unaware the church had withdrawn from the SBC. He said he would correct the problem.

Schwab said only 1 to 2 percent of North Carolina Baptist churches choose not to affiliate with the Southern Baptist Convention. The percentage likewise would be small on the national level, though no one knows for sure.

About 1,800 churches participated in some way last year in the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, the primary organization of moderate Baptists. That represents about 4 percent of the SBC tally of 43,024. Most of those moderate churches are still affiliated with the SBC–at least nominally.

The experience of Boulevard Baptist Church in Anderson, S.C., is typical of those moderate congregations. The church no longer takes an active role in Southern Baptist life, and Pastor Johnny McKinney noted, “I do not call myself Southern Baptist.” But he added, “We've never officially voted to withdraw from the Southern Baptist Convention.”

Boulevard Baptist, which remains a member of the state convention, still contributes a minimal amount to SBC causes “based on the individual choice” of some members, McKinney said. The issue, he explained, is fairness.

When some Boulevard members first grew disenchanted with the direction of the Southern Baptist Convention, they asked for the freedom to redirect their mission contributions outside the SBC, McKinney said. Now, years later, “we wouldn't feel very good about telling a handful of members who still want to fund the missionaries they know that they can't contribute to the SBC.”

Like other pastors who spoke to Associated Baptist Press, McKinney said the congregation decided little would be gained from a churchwide vote to leave the SBC. Instead, he said, the church will wait for the SBC or state convention to kick it out. Already there are rumblings, he said, because of the church's open membership policy, which got Boulevard ousted from its local association.

University Baptist Church in Coral Gables, Fla., came to a similar conclusion. “We don't like what (Southern Baptists) are doing, but we're not going to waste our time” debating SBC membership, said pastor Bill White. “It would make more stink than it was worth.”

After a lengthy study, the church–one of the largest congregations in South Florida–decided instead to remain “minimally involved” in the SBC, White said. He described Southern Baptists as “uncomfortable relatives.” The church still is involved in the local association but not the state or national convention.

A multiethnic congregation in the heart of Miami, University feels far removed from Southern Baptist life, White said, and more like a foreign-mission outpost. When the church was asked to participate in the SBC's “Strategic Focus Cities” project, which targets large urban areas for evangelism, University decided to cooperate because there were no strings attached but made it clear it doesn't support the SBC's priorities, White said.

Although University's members disagree with many of the public positions of the Southern Baptist Convention, White said, “They determined they wanted to keep 'Baptist' in our name because of our heritage and what it really means.”

At St. John's Baptist in Charlotte, a negative public perception of Southern Baptists is causing church members to ask, “'Do you keep the name 'Baptist'?'” said Kremer, noting the church's deacons recently raised the issue of a name change.

“That, to me, cuts to the core of the whole theological evolution,” Kremer continued. “For those of us who have treasured Baptist values for a long time, dropping 'Baptist' from our nomenclature” would be both significant and sad, he said.

Kremer and others say being misidentified as a Southern Baptist church is particularly bothersome this time of year, as Southern Baptists gather for their annual meeting. Past headlines about Southern Baptists' boycott of Disney, evangelization of Jews, wifely submission or condemnation of Islam have put moderate Baptist churches on the defensive, pastors say.

“Our people are tired of saying, 'We're Baptist, but … ,” said Kremer.

A proposed SBC resolution urging a mass exodus of Christians from public schools already has stirred up national publicity even before the June 15-16 SBC meeting. That becomes a problem for Providence Baptist in Charleston, where a majority of new members don't have a Baptist background, said Flowers.

“I spend a great deal of time trying to explain to people that we are not a Southern Baptist church when something like this comes up,” he said.

Still only a tiny fraction of churches on the Southern Baptist rolls don't support the convention's direction, said SBC spokesperson Wilkerson.

"Out of 43,000, the number you will find is minuscule," he said. But he noted, "If by some means they have been mislisted, we would want to correct it." Wilkerson, vice president of business and finance for the SBC Executive Committee, acknowledged the Annual Church Profile provides an imperfect accounting of Southern Baptist churches.

“The ACP is not a complete list in itself,” he said. “There is the realization that even that database is not 100 percent.”

Any church that sends any amount of money to a Southern Baptist institution or entity can qualify for representation at the annual SBC meeting, Wilkerson said, but the Southern Baptist Convention has no record of church contributions.

“The verification of that,” he said, “is the state convention,” which forwards contributions to the SBC in lump sums, not itemized by individual churches. “We have no idea at all where that money comes from.”

Although the system of representation is imperfect, Wilkerson said, there is no sentiment to change it.

“The issue, from my point of view, is does (a church) have a heart and purpose for our work,” he concluded. “We think if they're with us in purpose and work, the dollars will follow.”

Posted: 5/28/04

Pass on wisdom, values, life lessons through spiritual wills

By Pat Cahill

Religion News Service

EAST GRANBY, Conn. (RNS)–One thing Louise Colletti of East Granby, Conn., remembers about her childhood is her dad kneeling to pray every morning after he turned on the hot water for coffee.

Even after she is gone, that gesture of devotion will live on because she has written it down.

“I want my daughter to know she comes from a line of spiritual people,” she said.

The nugget of information is part of something she calls her “spiritual will.” Unlike an ordinary will, a spiritual will is a document that passes on wisdom and experience rather than money–or, as Colletti puts it, values rather than valuables.

She and her husband, Joe, have been giving workshops on spiritual wills for the past two years.

The couple developed the idea of spiritual wills after discovering the book “Ethical Wills” by Barry Baines. The ethical will is a Jewish tradition that dates back to ancient times and also emphasizes a legacy of values over material things.

Mrs. Colletti, a family therapist, and her husband, a strategic planning consultant, had teamed up in the past to teach classes on quality improvement. The response to their spiritual will workshops has been “overwhelming,” she said.

Putting together this kind of will is powerful because it validates people's lives, the Collettis say. Sometimes people start off insisting that they haven't done anything very interesting. But taking stock of their lives helps lead them to important insights.

Because every life is so full of detail, the Collettis have simplified the process by designing a graphic they call a “map.”

It consists of a horizontal line across a page, divided into three or four parts to indicate periods of a person's life. The space above the line is for listing people from that period, below for listing events.

As people make their lists, stories start to tumble out. (“I'd forgotten about my Uncle Charlie. He was a big part of my life when I was a kid!”) And from those emerges a picture of beliefs and values.

“The map lets you step back and ask: 'From all my life experiences, what have I learned?' 'What has my life taught me?'” Colletti said.

One of Colletti's earliest memories, at age 3, was watching his father board a train, leaving the family to fight in Korea. He said this image helped shed light on his relationship to his own children.

The value of family comes up most often in their workshops, the Collettis said. Other values that come up frequently are friendship, integrity, honesty, independence and education.

The will should include words of regret, forgiveness and other lessons learned, even if they are as simple as “I regret my alcoholism.”

Authors Joe and Louise Colletti encourage people of faith to record the life-lessons they have learned and the values they cherish in spiritual wills for their children and grandchildren

If people don't have confidence in their writing skills, they can use art or audiotapes to pass on their message, Mrs. Colletti said. But she believes in writing things down, because writing lasts. Don't worry about spelling and grammar, she added.

“Like anything that comes from the heart, it does not have to be perfect,” she said.

Anyone or any place can be designated a recipient of the spiritual will.

A woman in one of the Collettis' workshops said she had begun writing a spiritual will when her granddaughter was still in the womb. The child now is 5, and the grandmother still is writing.

Spiritual wills can be given at weddings or birthdays or can be read at funerals.

“For us, the advantage of sharing the will while the person is still alive is that it will stir up a lot of conversation and inspire comments like 'Tell me more about this,'” Mrs. Colletti said.

She gave her spiritual will to her daughter, Michelle, when the young woman turned 25. And there's no rule that says she can't start another one, she said.

One of the many benefits of a spiritual will is that it can assure people left behind that the writer felt loved.

The Colletis say people worry about that a lot, especially the elderly.

“I wonder if my mother knew that I loved her,” they say. “I wonder if my sister knew that I loved her.”

The spiritual will offers a chance to put those doubts to rest, they say.

For more information on spiritual wills, visit www.spiritualwill.com.

Posted: 5/28/04

State comptroller backpedals on tax exemption decision

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

DENISON–Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn abruptly reversed course after her office's denial of tax-exempt status to a North Texas church because of its beliefs–or lack of them–attracted media attention.

About three years ago, the comptroller's office rejected tax exemption for Red River Unitarian Universalist Church because it does not have a clearly defined system of belief in God, gods or a higher power.

But less than a week after the decision became public, Strayhorn issued a statement that she had instructed her general counsel to review the “earlier staff decision” regarding the Denison church.

Attorney Jesse Ancira wrote to Dan Althoff, president of the congregation's board of trustees, indicating Strayhorn had asked him to review the file on the church's application for tax exemption.

“After reviewing the submitted application, file material, as well as correspondence between yourself and staff from our tax policy division, it is my opinion that the Red River Unitarian Universalist Church is an organization created for religious purposes and should be granted the requested tax exemption,” he wrote.

Althoff said his congregation was “gratified” the controller's office revisited the application for tax exemption.

But the question of whether the “God, gods or a higher power” criteria remain in place was unclear, and Strayhorn's office did not respond to requests for clarification.

The state office's initial willingness to set up belief in a Supreme Being or beings as the criterion for being a tax-exempt church troubled some religious liberty advocates.

“Religious liberty is always threatened when state officials attempt to define religion–all the more when they do so narrowly. They should always err on the side of inclusion in close cases,” said Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs in Washington, D.C.

The Supreme Court has called attempts to define religion “a dangerous and difficult task,” and the court has ruled religion does not have to be reasonable or logical–much less orthodox–to be protected by the First Amendment, he noted.

“Any purported standard that requires a formal creed or belief in God leaves a lot of faith traditions out,” Walker said.

Phil Strickland, director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Christian Life Commission, agreed. He noted many Asian world religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism and Taoism, as well as some Native American religions, essentially are non-theistic.

The Unitarian Universalist Association developed historically from two related strands of liberal Christianity–Unitarians, who believed in the unity of God rather than the Trinity, and Universalists, who believed in universal salvation of all people. Modern Unitarian Universalists look to a variety of world religions and secular sources for inspiration.

The Red River Unitarian Universalists' website notes: “Unitarian Universalism is a free and open faith which does not demand that its members subscribe to any particular religious creed or doctrine. Instead, it emphasizes the right and responsibility of each individual to search for his or her own religious truth and meaning.”

The Denison church describes itself as a place that “provides religious seekers in North Texas and southern Oklahoma with a supportive community to assist them in their personal spiritual journeys.”

Strayhorn's office declined to answer questions about the decision, saying the only official comments were remarks by Ancira, the comptroller's top attorney.

For an organization to qualify as a religion, its members need “a belief in God or gods or a higher power,” he told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

“We have got to apply a test and use some objective standards. We're not using the test to deny the exemptions for a particular group because we like them or don't like them,” he continued.

The newspaper reported Strayhorn had denied tax-exempt status to 17 groups and granted the status to more than 1,000 since January 1999. In addition to the Denison church, other groups denied tax exemption were the North Texas Church of Freethought in Carrollton, as well as a New Age group in Bastrop and a witches' group in Copperas Cove.

In 1997, Comptroller John Sharp–Strayhorn's predecessor–denied tax-exempt status to the Ethical Culture Fellowship of Austin. The group sued, and both a lower court and the Texas Supreme Court ruled against the state's decision.

When the court announced its decision in April regarding the Austin humanist group, Strayhorn released a public statement: “This fight is about more than one organization trying to avoid paying their fair share. It's about protecting the groups in Texas who truly deserve to be tax exempt. Otherwise, any wannabe cult who dresses up and parades down Sixth Street on Halloween will be applying for an exemption.”

Ancira told the Fort Worth newspaper Strayhorn had applied a consistent standard based on principle.

“This comptroller, in particular, wants everybody on a level playing field,” he said.

“The issue as a whole is: Do you want to open up a system where there can be abuse or fraud, or where any group can proclaim itself to be a religious organization and take advantage of the exception?”

Mark Westergard, former district president of the Southwestern Unitarian Universalist Conference, agreed Strayhorn “has established a policy and–for better or for worse–has applied her policy even-handedly. … That is to say, although I do not agree with the specifics of the judgment call she made in administering the Texas tax statutes relating to the attributes an organization must have in order to qualify as a church for Texas tax purposes, she has not 'singled out' Unitarian Universalists.”

Strickland expressed sympathy for the comptroller's desire to deal with “illegitimate groups that are not really interested in religion but are only interested in a tax exemption.” But he suggested the state judge the legitimacy of claims for tax exemption based on whether groups have established places of worship and a history of religious practices–not on the basis of their theology.

“When the state uses a theological criteria, then it clearly is usurping its power by trying to define good religions and bad religions. That is not the role of government,” he said.

Walker also agreed “obvious shams and clear cases of fraud” rightly can be denied tax exemption.

“But I don't see that here,” he added. “If the Unitarian Universalists–a denomination of long standing–don't qualify, then we all are in jeopardy.”

Posted: 5/28/04

Teens who pray expect answers–
at least some of the time, survey reveals

WASHINGTON (RNS)–The vast majority of U.S. teenagers who pray believe their prayers are answered, a new study by the American Bible Society has found.

Ninety-one percent of teens said they believe their prayers are answered, the New York-based society said.

But teens had varying views on how often their petitions received a response: 24 percent believe their prayers are answered all the time, 24 percent believe they are answered most of the time and 44 percent said they are answered at least some of the time.

They also vary in the kinds of prayers they utter: 54 percent say they most often say a personal prayer, 22 percent say the Lord's Prayer and 1 percent say the rosary. Eleven percent of teens say they utter some other kind of prayer, and 14 percent say they do not pray at all.

Most praying teens pray for a sick relative or friend (77 percent) or for personal needs (72 percent). Fifty-one percent pray for world peace or other global concerns. Twenty-three percent pray for material things.

Asked about ongoing religious activities, 45 percent of teens said they pray daily or weekly before meals at home, compared to 23 percent who never pray in that setting. Most students–64 percent–never pray before meals at school, while 36 percent pray before school meals daily or weekly.

While 35 percent of teens said they never read the Bible, 29 percent said they do so at least weekly and 7 percent said they read Scripture daily.

The results were part of a study of 500 female and male teenagers ages 12-17 that has an overall margin of error of plus or minus 4.38 percentage points. Participants were interviewed in mid-April.

Posted: 5/28/04

Texas-based missionaries offer
ministry of reconciliation in Macedonia

By Charles Richardson

Hardin-Simmons University

ABILENE–Arville and Shelia Earl, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship workers in Macedonia, have spent the spring on home assignment in Abilene from their “ministry of reconciliation” to ethnic conflict in the Balkans.

Former Longview resident Sheila Earl is working toward a master of divinity degree at Hardin-Simmons University's Logsdon School of Theology with hopes of completing the program in 2005. Her husband, who claims Marshall as his hometown, has been working on a research project while in Abilene.

The couple have been living in a missionary residence furnished by Abilene's First Baptist Church. They are scheduled to return to their missions assignment in the summer.

The Earls were missionaries with the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board in Burkina Faso from 1980 to 1992. They were appointed by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in 1994.

They first were sent to Eastern Europe in August 1994. In 1997, there was an uprising in Albania, and all non-essential personnel were evacuated.

“We were in the States because of Arville's father's death,” she said. “Once things settled down, there was a huge influx of missionaries to Albania. … In 1997, Albania had more missionaries per capita than any other country in that part of the world.”

She said she and her husband decided to go to a place where Albanians had not been reached with the gospel message.

“In consultation with our Albanian Team and the CBF office, we decided to relocate to Macedonia and live in the western part of the country where the largest number of Albanians were located,” she said.

Soon, the Kosovo war began, and they found themselves located “a few miles from two of the refugee camps in Macedonia. We had tremendous opportunity to minister to Kosovar Albanian refugees, who prior to this time, had been isolated across the border from Macedonia,” she said.

Once the refugees returned to Kosovo, the Earls were able to help them rebuild their lives.

Team members of the Earls “had numerous opportunities” for ministry among the refugees, she recalled. “There is now a church established in Rrahovec (near Gjakova) that was started by a Kosovar-Albanian woman, Eliza, who returned home with the gospel message.”

Since 1999, they have been witnesses to ethnic conflict in their part of the Balkans.

“We have seen long-standing animosity seethe and boil, finally exploding into open warfare,” Mrs. Earl said.

“We have been involved in ministry to refugees who fled their homes to escape the ravages of ethnic cleansing.”

With the intervention on the part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the United Nations, the armed conflict ended. “We prayed for direction in terms of how to demonstrate the love of Christ in these circumstances, and after some weeks, felt a very decisive sense of calling to be involved in a ministry of reconciliation,” the CBF missionaries declared.

They opened a Center for Ethnic Cooperation in Gostivar in the fall of 2001.

“Since opening the center, we have had meetings on a continuing basis that brought Macedonians and Albanians, Turks and Gypsies (Roma), together around the table to talk in a non-threatening environment,” she said.

The Center for Ethnic Cooperation in Gostivar also offers English as a Second Language classes, women's-interest seminars, and a large array of volunteer-based ministries. Wilshire Baptist Church of Dallas has supported the ministry.

“Friendship crosses all cultural barriers, even language barriers at times, and is truly a gift of God. It seems that friendships grow deeper and more meaningful when trust and cooperation are part of the equation,” she said.

Her husband added: “We thank God that he has called us to this ministry of reconciliation and that he has given us the opportunity to see it come to some measure of fruition.”

Posted: 5/28/04

Texas Tidbits

Mayborn Museum opens at Baylor. The Sue and Frank Mayborn Natural Science and Cultural History Museum Complex has opened on the Baylor University campus in Waco. The Strecker Museum's natural history collection, previously housed in the science building, and the Ollie Mae Moen Children's Discovery Center, formerly located in downtown Waco, now are under one roof in the Harry and Anna Jeanes Discovery Center. The center features 17 themed discovery rooms with interactive learning activities and traditional exhibits. It also includes walk-in dioramas such as the Waco mammoth exhibit, where a see-through floor enables guests to view casts of mammoth bones displayed exactly as they were unearthed five miles from the Baylor campus. For more information, call (254) 710-2517 or visit www.MaybornMuseum.com.

BUA offers Spanish instruction. The Baptist University of the Americas Center for Cultural and Language Studies will offer intensive immersion courses in conversational Spanish and an introduction to Hispanic culture, June 7-18 and Oct. 11-15. Courses include morning and afternoon classroom instruction and field trips. The two-week session includes a weekend with church members in Piedras Negras, Mexico. Cost is $375 for the two-week session and $200 for the one-week session, not including off-campus lodging. The Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions provides a $100 scholarship to each participant who is a member of a Baptist General Convention of Texas-affiliated church. For more information, call toll-free (800) 721-1396, ext. 216; e-mail valmartinez@bua.edu; or visit www.bua.edu.

Valley Baptist to buy Brownsville hospital. Valley Baptist Health System has agreed to purchase Brownsville Medical Center from Tenet Healthcare. Brownsville Medical Center is a 243-bed hospital with about 900 employees. Valley Baptist has agreed to offer employment to substantially all Brownsville Medical Center employees in good standing. The purchase is expected to be completed by June 30.

UHMB schools become colleges. Trustees at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor unanimously voted to change the names of all academic divisions on campus from "school" to "college." The designation is more representative of UMHB's university status, said President Jerry Bawcom. Each college functions as a separate body under the umbrella of the university, including respective accreditations. The six new academic divisions are the College of Business, College of Christian Studies, College of Education, College of Fine Arts, College of Nursing and College of Sciences and Humanities.

Cassle Scholarship established at HSU. The James and Mickey Cassle Endowed Scholarship for Christian vocational ministries students has been established at Hardin-Simmons University. The scholarship was endowed by the Cassles' daughter and son-in-law, Molli and Gary Elliston of Dallas. Recipients may be either graduate or undergraduate students. The Logsdon School of Theology dean will select recipients, in consultation with appropriate Logsdon committees.

ETBU yearbook honored. The East Texas Baptist University yearbook received honorable mention in its category, and staff members won numerous individual awards at the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association convention.

Owens named Piper Professor at UMHB. The Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation named Carolyn Allison Owens, associate professor of education and director of field experiences at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, a 2004 Piper Professor. Each year, the foundation selects 15 professors in Texas for the award. Owens is the fourth UMHB professor to receive the honor. The award is based on nominations of peer-faculty, and professors are selected on the basis of their lasting influence on students. Owens is a UMHB graduate who taught in public schools in Wolfforth, Holland and Temple at all levels, including special education. She has taught 30 years in the UMHB School of Education.

Posted: 5/28/04

TOGETHER:
God offers opportunity, accountability

In the process of revisioning and anticipating restructuring for our convention, I have found guidance in Jesus' teaching just before the crucifixion. Matthew 25 lays out Jesus' passion regarding what is important to him and the consequences of not knowing and acting on that.

He teaches three parables: The Ten Bridesmaids, The Three Servants and The Two Destinies. The first has to do with being prepared and making tough decisions. The second has to do with using wisely and courageously what has been put in your hands. The third has to do with true service to God and people. All three have to do with the consequences of not getting it right.

Jesus warns a time is coming when the doors will be shut, when the darkness will be filled with crying and remorse, and when ignoring the needs of people will bring eternal punishment.

We live in a culture that seeks to ignore the warnings. We think we can redefine marriage (serial marriages, living together without marriage, same-sex “marriage”) without negative consequences in the lives of children. We think we can ignore the needs of the immigrants who live among us, treat them as intruders and still create a secure future. We think we can depend on others to plan for the future and live off their wisdom, only to wind up bankrupt. We can be so afraid of failure that we will not make expensive investments of money and time so that the future can be better.

These stories insist God pays us the ultimate compliment. He believes we are responsible people who can make decisions for which we will be held accountable. God created us in his image so we can rejoice in our fellowship with him and he can expect of us moral lives. It is both our great opportunity to live in his image and our great challenge to realize we will be held accountable to live that way.

How does that help us in the process of planning for the future of this convention?

As we anticipate our Lord's return and the evangelism and missions we are commanded to do until then, we must use our resources wisely, so we do not run short and depend on others to provide “oil” for our lamps.

When God invests unusual resources in one of his servants, he has a right to expect faithful effort, wise investments and hard work.

We will be held accountable for how we cared for the hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick and/or imprisoned. This is not optional. This service reveals whether or not we love Jesus.

Those who are helped can become helpers. God trusts some with great resources and others with fewer, but all are expected to use what they have.

We will be held accountable before God.

What if we fail? If we fail trying, there is forgiveness. If we do not try, the door is shut, the darkness awaits, there is only hell before us.

Jesus' teaching is urgent. Pray with me that all Texas Baptists will feel it. Can you hear: “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness”?

There is another word: “You wicked, lazy servant! … Depart from me.”

I pray every day that I will be a faithful servant.

We are loved.

P.S. This is not “works” salvation being taught here. But it is a warning to all who consider salvation to be a verbal deal with God that changes nothing in the heart and leaves us the way we were.

Posted: 5/28/04

Former Soviet republic named a top
violator of religious freedom by panels

By Robert Marus

ABP Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (ABP)–Members of two federal panels have turned a spotlight on an often-overlooked former Soviet state as one of the world's worst violators of religious freedom.

“Overall, Turkmenistan is a severe violator of religious freedom,” said Ron McNamara, deputy chief of staff for the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the United States Helsinki Commission.

McNamara's group and the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom co-sponsored a recent briefing for Capitol Hill staff and reporters.

It featured three experts on religious freedom conditions in the Central Asian dictatorship.

Despite the fact that Turkmenistan President Saparmurad Niyalov is a signatory to the Organization on Cooperation and Security in Europe, panelists said the nation has failed to meet the human-rights protections found in treaties agreed to by that group.

In particular, the nation essentially bans religious activity by any groups besides the Russian Orthodox Church and a government-approved brand of Sunni Islam.

Officially, “unregistered” religions are illegal, and congregations or groups of religious believers who attempt to hold a worship service without the government's express permission face stiff penalties–both of the legal and extra-legal variety.

However, the requirements for registration are stiff, and no group besides Sunni Muslim and Russian Orthodox groups has successfully registered since registration laws were created in the late 1990s.

According to Felix Corley, editor of the Forum 18 news service, the experience of congregations that have made applications for official registration has discouraged others from doing so.

He explained that all members of a congregation have to add their names to the registration application.

"The last time around, they came around, and they went through all the people on the list and harassed them," Corley said. "I mean, they could kick you out of your job, for example, if you're on a state-run job. They could … remove your child from higher education."

Corley's news agency covers religious freedom issues in Europe. He also noted that the government panel charged with monitoring religious activity in the country and reviewing registration applications is made up of religious leaders–thus having an inherent conflict of interest when it comes to legally authorizing religious groups that may compete with their own.

“Of its senior four officials of this committee, two of them are Muslim clerics, one of them is a Russian Orthodox priest, and one of them is a functionary of the state,” Corley said.

He explained that means the Muslims and the Russian Orthodox have a power of veto over any other community functioning in the country.

The council also appoints imams to mosques, rather than the congregations choosing their own leaders.

Lawrence Uzzell, president of International Religious Freedom Watch, said the government interferes in even approved Sunni Muslims' religious practice in other ways.

He noted the government's promotion of the Rukhnama–a book of spiritual sayings compiled by Niyalov.

“What our sources in Turkmenistan tell us is that when a Muslim enters a mosque in today's Turkmenistan, he is supposed to pause upon entering, touch the text of the holy Ruhknama, which must be on display … and reverence it in the same way that one would reverence the Koran,” Uzzell said.

He pointed to a government website promoting the Rukhnama in English. The site says the book's author was “a truly prophetic man” and that it is “on par with the Bible and the Koran.”

The book, Uzzell said, is taught extensively in Turkmenistan's public schools.

That should be enough to concern anyone–not just religious-freedom advocates, he insisted.

“If you're utterly indifferent to religion and to freedom of conscience, but just care about the quality of secular education, you have to be concerned about the fact that the Ruhknama is now taking over state education in Turkmenistan,” he said.

The State Department recently announced its designations for “countries of particular concern,” or CPCs, under the terms of the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act.

Although the independent U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom just recommended such a designation for Turkmenistan for the fifth straight year, so far officials at the State Department have not followed the suggestion.

Earlier this year, Niyalov announced he was loosening some of the registration requirements for religious communities.

But Corley, McNamara and others dismissed that as simply window-dressing to avoid CPC designation.

“Despite the moves made by the president in March under intense international pressure, the fundamentals on the ground have not changed,” Corley insisted.

“People cannot meet openly for worship if they're in an unregistered religious community.”

He also noted that only one church has applied since the rules change was announced, and it has heard nothing back about its application.

Posted: 5/28/04

CYBERCOLUMN:
Dad's old glove

By John Duncan

I’m sitting here under the old oak tree, thinking of Father’s Day. Actually, I’m thinking of a glove. Imagine a leather baseball glove. Hear the sound of the ball popping the leather. Smell the leather.

I think back to the ’70s, when I was a teenager. I am leaning against a steel chain-link fence on a softball diamond. My father wears a yellow jersey with blue letters on the front and numbers on the back. My father is wearing tennis shoes. A baseball glove fits nicely on his rather large left hand. I do not know if his team won or lost. I remember the game was played on a spring evening as the sun set.

Fast forward to a spring evening in 2004. Two of my teenage daughters sit in the stands behind a steel chain-link fence on a baseball diamond. I wear a red jersey. The jersey has black letters and no numbers. I am wearing cleats. A baseball glove fits nicely on my rather large left hand. My church softball team is winning. On this spring evening, the sun sets as the baseball diamond lights slowly come alive with the bulbs shining on the field.

I should tell you the baseball glove is my father’s, the one he used when I was a teenager. The softball guys give me a hard time about my glove. It has been restrung, tied with shoestrings and looks like it has been left out in the rain a dozen times. Just the other day, a hard-throwing teammate threw the softball so hard it broke the webbing. I cut a shoestring, fixed the broken webbing with a knot, and played the game with that glove.

The poet Percy Shelley has a line in one of his poems, “God dawned on chaos.” My glove has been fixed so much it looks like chaos. I need to purchase a new one, but I guess I am sentimental. I like that glove because my father passed it on to me.

Father’s Day arrives in the glory of a Texas summer. I am thankful for all that my father passed on to me—love, care, grace, hope, life, laughter, eternal things, not just things you can stuff in the garage or attic; not just baseball caps, bats and a leather glove.

When I think of my father, I think of the words of C.K. Chesterton, “The secret of life lives in laughter and humility.” My father discovered that secret. I thank the Lord for him and remember him every time I put on my baseball glove. I remember him on this Father’s Day.

Who knows, maybe I’ll call him and see if he wants to come over and play catch.

John Duncan is pastor of Lakeside Baptist Church in Granbury, Texas, and the writer of numerous articles in various journals and magazines

Posted: 5/25/04

CYBERCOLUMN:
Lessons from a Habitat house

By Brett Younger

With increasing frequency, ministers are expected to do manual labor as a way of sharing ministry with their parishioners. Ministry outside my comfort zone can feel like an interruption. I feel like I should be back at the church writing a newsletter column, but humility is a lesson learned in more than one way.

When volunteering requires a “waiver of liability,” it’s almost never a good sign. The form contains the ominous declaration that “as a volunteer, you are not covered by Workers’ Compensation Insurance.” It does not say, “chances are good that you, with your laughable lack of skills, will be disfigured beyond recognition,” but it could.

I spend every moment with Habitat for Humanity pretending to be adequate. At my last such attempt, the project manager encouraged me: “We have paint, caulk and trim. We can cover up everything you do.” My goal is to be assigned work no one actually needs to do. (One minister friend was strangely offended when given the job of painting pre-painted trim.) I live in fear of hearing, “Put a nail in that real quick.”

When I listen carefully, what I hear is more interesting than fear-provoking:

“Aren’t the little curly-cues that the saw makes cute?”

“You might want to count again.”

“Is your phone ringing? If it’s not, I should stop hammering for a while.”

“Aren’t you just Jimmy Carter?”

“Are you sure we’re building camaraderie?”

On my last trip to the construction site, I started out with a hammer, but someone took it away. Another person handed me an X-acto knife, but I knew that was a bad idea. For a while, I tried to make a job out of picking up things that real workers had dropped—nails, pencils, spare change.

I tried to look like I knew what I was doing. I hung a nail out of my mouth for a while, but everybody knew the truth. When I heard a serious carpenter talking about “deadwood,” I thought he was referring to me.

I was finally asked to work on an important job with a Methodist pastor. Sara and I were to put up the Tyvek weatherization wrap. It’s gift-wrapping a house with a staple gun. We moved quickly, but carefully. Each time we finished a wall, one of us would say, “That’s a wrap,” and laugh. Even at my level of expertise, it didn’t take long, so I ended up admiring my work and talking to the project director.

The house we were working on was advertised as a clergy-built house—which makes everything about the house suspect. Most of the workers had tools that made them look like they aren’t pastors—tool belts, levels, measuring tape and hammers that looked used. I asked the director how many of the people working on the house were ministers. She was defensive: “Some of them. The really inept clergy put the Tyvek wrap around the house.”

Working with Habitat is embarrassing and amazing. I keep waiting for profound, spiritual thoughts to flood my consciousness. The penetrating insights never come, but I have learned a lot while working with the organization: Sheetrock is neither a sheet nor rock. Clockwise to tighten; counter-clockwise to start all over. Measure twice, cut once. Habitat T-shirts and bumper stickers make ministers look socially aware even when we’re socially unconscious. The only thing worse than hitting your thumb with a hammer is hitting half your thumb. It’s foolish to put on coconut-scented sun block if you’re working inside a house. People will make fun of you. The way in which I am least likely to be like Jesus is by becoming a carpenter.

It’s remarkable that thousands of people—skilled and ministerial—pound nails, cut the ends off rafters, paint, pick up pencils and gift wrap. The best things we do can feel like interruptions. At the time, I spend too much energy thinking I should be doing something else—”I should be writing something inspiring.” Sometimes we need to stop dwelling on when we will get to the next task long enough to recognize that what may first feel like an interruption is actually a joyful part of our faith.

Brett Younger is pastor of Broadway Baptist Church, Fort Worth. This column is an excerpt from Who Moved My Pulpit? A Hilarious Look at Ministerial Life, available from Smyth & Helwys Publishing, books@helwys.com, (800) 747-3016.