Posted: 5/14/04

Volunteers help church building
committees visualize their dreams, plans

By George Henson

Staff Writer

DETROIT–Shirley Wright draws dreams.

She and her husband, Travis, may be the best friends a building committee ever had. And the price is right, too–they say they work for God, so the church doesn't owe them a thing.

For a little more than a year, the Wrights have traveled from their rural Northeast Texas home to points across the state helping put a visual representation to the dreams of building committees.

They are Mission Service Corps volunteers through the North American Mission Board.

A message by Cecil Deadman from the Baptist General Convention of Texas Missions Equipping Center helped them realize that even though they were retired, they still could put their talents to use for God's kingdom.

He had been a NASA engineer, and she had been a building consultant and certified kitchen planner experienced in putting homeowners' dreams on paper.

As building consultants, the Wrights were a new type of Mission Service Corps volunteer.

“They didn't have anybody like us, so they had to think about it for awhile,” Mrs. Wright said with a grin.

But for the last year, the Wrights have met with the building committees of about 20 churches and have helped more than a dozen get a better picture of what they want.

So far, they have helped design church sanctuaries and kitchens, a camp kitchen and dining room and a parsonage renovation.

They first thought about launching a building consultant ministry after helping their own church, Leesville Baptist Church in Leesville, develop visual plans for its family life center and youth building.

Wright said one of the most important things they do is help churches think through what they are wanting so that the reality matches their dreams.

“A lot of times someone, sometimes two or three people will have made sketches of what they want. We may look at it and tell them, 'You can have all this, but you really don't want this room next to this one,” he said.

“Traffic is the key,” Mrs. Wright added. “How people are going to move through the building is very important.”

Another thing the Wrights stress is the importance of meeting or surpassing building codes.

“Many country churches don't think they have any building codes or think they can just ignore them,” she said.

Mrs. Wright said one of the most important things the couple does is help the committee reach a consensus.

“Each person has ideas, and we help put them together into one building. We try to get them to look at the question, 'What does this church need to grow?'”

“Sometimes she acts as a referee, and they really do need an outside person to do that,” her husband added.

They also provide churches with information on the steps of the building process provided by the building and facilities office of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, attend seminars on changing building codes and make a special effort to stay up- to-date on handicapped accessibility.

Mrs. Wright makes talking with churches about accessibility to the handicapped a priority.

“If they are not considering accessibility for the handicapped, that's my first project, because a handicapped accessible church is a friendly church. And it really doesn't cost much to do if you do it up front. It's much more expensive to come back and add later,” she said.

Once the committee has an idea of what it wants, Mrs. Wright uses her drawing skills to give them a visual representation of what it could look like.

“Sometimes they make gobs of changes, but that's fine. We're working for God, so it doesn't matter to us if we're working for this church or that church.”

Once church leaders decide they like the look of what Mrs. Wright has drawn, the couple help them find an architect.

“An architect takes the plan and makes working drawings from them, but by this time we've probably saved them at least $2,000,” she said. “I'm not an architect and can't do what an architect does, but I can do a lot of preliminary things an architect won't do or will charge a large fee to do.”

The Wrights continue to help the churches even at that point.

“We're developing a list of soft-hearted architects,” she said with a smile.

The Wrights say they are thrilled to be helping Texas Baptist churches. “This has become my life,” Mrs. Wright said. “As long as we're breathing, we're going to do this.”

She sees what they do not as a job or service as much as a ministry.

“I know I do better work than I ever did when this was my business. There's no time pressure, and as a volunteer, I only have to please God. I have a different boss now, and he is a genius. Think about the engineer God is, so much creativity and imagination. And I get to work for him. It's just wonderful.”

Posted: 5/14/04

SURVIVOR:
Mandy Biggs, 'Chemo Chick'

By George Henson

Staff Writer

CEDAR HILL–Karen Biggs vividly remembers the moment she and her husband, Ray, told their 13-year-old daughter she had cancer.

“I walked into the room behind Ray so that I could hide. I was really emotional, and I didn't want to upset Mandy,” she recalled.

She stayed in her hiding place as her husband told their youngest daughter tests had shown she had Hodgkin's lymphoma, and a string of tumors trailed from her neck into her chest.

She stayed there nestled in her husband's shadow until she heard Mandy's reply: “It's OK. I've prayed for this.”

That brought her mother immediately to forefront. “What do you mean you prayed for this? You prayed to have cancer?” she asked.

“And she told me, just as calm as she could be, 'No, but I have been praying for God to give me a stronger testimony, and I think this is how he's going to do it,'” her mother remembers.

That was four years ago, and Mandy still is boldly sharing the testimony of how God gave her peace and comfort in a time of trial.

Mandy–a member of Hillcrest Baptist Church in Cedar Hill–doesn't sugar-coat her story and admits to struggles, primarily feelings of abandonment by friends. But she is adamant about God's care every step of the way.

Her story is one of 52 included in the book “True, Vol. 1: Real Stories About God Showing Up in the Lives of Teens.”

The book, compiled by Irene Dunlap, co-author of three “Chicken Soup for the Soul” books, allows teens to share their faith experiences with other teenagers. The book's purpose is “to encourage teens and young adults in their faith,” Dunlap said.

That's exactly what Mandy was doing, even while she was fighting cancer.

In addition to sharing her testimony with nearby youth groups, she also answered invitations from churches in Odessa and Shreveport to speak to their youth groups.

Mandy, an athletic eighth grader who played both softball and volleyball at the onset of her cancer, first became aware of a problem when she started feeling tired and run down after a school day. Then she noticed a lump in her neck.

The initial diagnosis was a thyroid problem, and the medication shrank the lump for a little while. Then it returned even larger.

After tests confirmed Mandy had cancer, Biggs told the doctors he thought the news should come from him–not that he in any way wanted the job.

“This was my baby, and it was the worst thing you could ever think of having to say to your daughter,” he recalled. “But I didn't want it to come from them.

“We found out later that it wasn't a death sentence, but we didn't know that at the time.”

Mandy recalls having a peace about her illness from the moment she heard the words.
“I think God was kind of preparing me, because in the weeks before, I had kind of been getting the feeling that I had cancer. I just had a peace about it from the very beginning. I just kind of had this overwhelming feeling that if I just stay focused on him this is all going to be OK,” she said.

Her parents agreed and said her strength quickly began to transfer to them.

“I just felt this aura around her–that God was in control,” her father recalled. “It was kind of like getting hit up side the head with the worst news you can think of and a few minutes later knowing it was going to be all right.”

While going through the chemotherapy, it often didn't seem that way. No matter what medicine she was given, Mandy had a dramatically adverse reaction. Each dose made her so sick she had to be hospitalized for days.

“Her treatment didn't follow any of the normal protocols, and they had to develop a new plan,” Mrs. Biggs recalled.

“Every time they changed the drug they were giving her, we would read about the possible side effects, and they told us, 'Don't read that; it almost never happens that way.' But with Mandy, it did. Every time, she had a severe reaction, and what was supposed to be a couple of hours in the hospital turned into a few days.”

Biggs marvels at his daughter's self-assurance during that time. “For awhile there, the chemo took her hair, and she was bald as a cue ball, but she went to school that way. She never wore a hat or a wig or anything,” he said.

Despite the difficulty of the chemotherapy regimen, the eight months of treatment was successful, and three years later, she remains cancer-free.

Although she was told she would never be able to be involved in athletics again, this year she played first base for Duncanville High School's softball team. Across the back of her letter jacket is emblazoned a nickname given by one of her nurses–Chemo Chick.

Mandy said she heard about “True, Vol. 1” through her youth minister, who helped her edit her testimony after she had written it. She wanted to tell her story, she said, to honor the request she first made of God.

“I asked God in the beginning for a stronger testimony so that it could have a greater impact on people, and I might as well use it, even with people who I will never meet,” she said.

Biggs said the ordeal has strengthened the faith of the entire family. “The amazing thing was to see how God used it so obviously and so often,” he said.

Mandy said the greatest lesson she took from the experience is that God is in control.

“I think by going through it, I was forced to rely on God. I was so independent and stubborn, and I still am, but I realized that this was something I had no control over. I've learned that there are a lot of things I have no control over, but it's OK, because God does,” she said.

Her father said he saw God raise up an outgoing minister of his love in his daughter, even when she was so sick herself.

“When she was in the hospital, and she was never an outgoing person but a kind of a shy tomboy, she would take her IV pole and go to other kids' rooms. She was older than most of them and would play with them and talk with them.

“The nurses began to notice, and after awhile they would come down and tell her when-ever a new kid was admitted,” Biggs recalled. “Mandy's an incredible witness. We'd never seen do that before, and she hadn't done it before. That's what came out of this, and she has been doing it ever since.”

One of the ways Mandy has sought to minister was to baby-sit the daughter of a woman with cancer. The girl's mother thought Mandy might be able to deal with some of her daughter's questions and emotions. That girl, Rachel, is now Mandy's younger sister. Rachel's mother died, and the Biggs family has adopted her.

“God always does his best at the worst times,” Biggs said. “We were all really new Christians when this all began, and it just catapulted our faith. God had us in his hands that entire time and just carried us through.”

The Biggs family have copies of the book, “True, Vol. 1,” available for $13. For information, call (972) 291-3608.

Posted: 5/14/04

Care for dying requires
'watchful medicine,' ethicist insists

By Ferrell Foster

Texas Baptist Communications

SAN ANTONIO–The Christian's view of sickness and death should be understood in the light of resurrection, and that understanding should lead toward a “watchful medicine” in caring for the dying, ethicist Allen Verhey said.

Verhey, professor of religion at Hope College in Holland, Mich., spoke to the annual Baptist General Convention of Texas Christian Life Commission conference.

The Christian belief in resurrection does not deny the pain and reality of sickness and death, but it insists on “another and a better destiny,” he said. “Death is not the last word.

“God's good future makes its power felt, not where the dying cling desperately to life, nor where the dying are deliberately killed, but where dying is faced with courage and accompanied by care.”

Courage and care are part of what Verhey calls watchful medicine. In the face of death and dying, Scripture calls for heroic discipleship, patient endurance, hopeful rejoicing in the midst of grief and care for the sick.

Verhey began his lecture by quoting the Apostles' Creed, an ancient confession of the church, saying: “I believe in … the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.”

That Christian belief, however, does not deny the reality of death, he said.

“Death is real, and it is a real evil. It is intimate with sickness and suffering,” which are its “forerunners and messengers.”

Death, sickness and suffering can alienate people from their own bodies, their communities and God, he said.

“We are embodied selves, not ghosts,” he said, pointing to how people “live and love in the world” through their bodies. “We eat, work, play and worship in our flesh.”

Sickness reminds a person of his connection with his body while at the same time causing alienation from the body.

Ironically and tragically, Verhey said, “death makes its power felt in a hospital and in the sort of medicine which is technologically oriented to biological survival. … Patients are sometimes reduced to their pathology.”

A sick person is alienated from community, as well. “We are communal selves, not isolated individuals,” he said. “Death threatens separation and removal, exclusion and abandonment. Sickness comes as the forerunner and messenger of this alienation.”

“Death makes its power felt” in four ways related to community, he said.

Sick people are removed or separated from those with whom they share a common life.

Disease monopolizes attention so much it leaves no space or energy for other tasks.

“Fear of being abandoned is not met by the presence of others who care.”

“Medicine neglects a person's community and a patient's voice.”

Sickness also can threaten a person's relationship with God. “Death threatens any sense that the one who bears down on us and sustains us is dependable and caring,” Verhey said. “It threatens abandonment by God and separation from God.”

To the dying person, death can seem to have the last word. “And the horror of it is not simply the termination of existence, but the unraveling of meaning, the destruction of relationships and the lordship of chaos,” he said.

Christians, however, face a different ending. Christians “insist that death is not the last word, that the last word belongs to God, that the last word is not death but life, not suffering but shalom.”

That confidence is grounded in the story and the faithfulness of God, Verhey said.

Jesus is the center of the Christian story. Jesus came “announcing the good future of God, and he made its power felt in works of healing and in words of blessing.”

The church has carried on that story, but “it is not yet that good future,” Verhey said. “The creation and the Christian still wait and watch and pray for it.”

While that good future is awaited, Verhey said, Scripture calls believers to watchfulness.

“Heroic discipleship” requires that “sometimes life must be risked and death accepted,” Verhey said. “Sometimes suffering must be endured or shared for the sake of God's cause in the world and for the sake of our own integrity. The refusal ever to let die and the attempt to eliminate suffering altogether are not signs of watchfulness but of idolatry.

“And if life and its flourishing are not the greatest goods, neither are death and suffering the ultimate evils,” he continued. “They need not be feared finally, for death and suffering are not as strong as the promise of God.”

Watchfulness also requires patience, Verhey said. Patience helps a person realize that “because God is God and Jesus has been raised,” sickness and suffering signal human limits and dependence on God. “At those limits and in that dependence, God may still be trusted.”

Verhey spent more time on the next aspect of watchfulness–lament and joy.

In lament, “suffering and grieving find a voice addressed to God,” but it is confident in God's faithfulness.

If people are to cope with and recover from suffering, “they must find words to express their pain,” Verhey said. “Lament does not disallow the sorrow. To look to God is not to look away.”

But there is more than lament. There also is joy. Christians are “ready to celebrate merrily the outrageously good news of God's good future, ready to dance with delight wherever God's future makes its power felt in this sad world.”

Watchfulness finally expresses itself in care for the sick and dying. Verhey took this final point from Matthew 25, where Jesus says a person ministers to him when he feeds the hungry, gives drink to the thirsty, welcomes the stranger and cares for the sick.

The story is an “elegant reminder to caregivers that the presence of God is mediated to them through their patients,” Verhey said.

“It is an elegant witness to the humility appropriate to caregivers. There is no place here for messianic pretension. If anyone is messiah in this parable, the patient is. The caregiver is not messiah.”

Watchful medicine requires a watchful community, Verhey said. Such a community “will not abandon the sick and the suffering to medicine, nor will it abandon caregivers to their technology.”

Posted: 5/14/04

Violent retribution should be
unthinkable to Christians, pastor maintains

By Ferrell Foster

Texas Baptist Communications

SAN ANTONIO–God made peace with mankind through Jesus' “nonviolent self-sacrifice rather than violent retribution,” and that is how Christians should make peace with others, said Dallas pastor George Mason in stating his opposition to capital punishment.

Mason, pastor of Wilshire Baptist Church, spoke to the Texas Baptist Christian Life Conference, sponsored by the Baptist General Convention of Texas Christian Life Commission.

Christian belief and practice should “shape us into the kind of people that would make penalizing people with death sentences so inimical to the gospel that we could never find ourselves advocating for capital punishment in public life,” Mason said.

Capital punishment is an outward expression of a dominant culture's need for order and stability, he said. But Christ and his church are built on forgiveness and transformation.

“Forgiveness is the new law of the church that bears witness to the coming kingdom of God and provides at the same time all the stability we need” to attest to God's goodness, he said.

Forgiveness in Jesus Christ is the “ground of our relations with one another, the starting point for our enactment of justice and the imaginative source for our vision of human transformation.”

Conservative and liberal churches are guilty of two different errors, Mason said. Conservatives can become “preoccupied with social power and the need to see society hold people accountable for their sins.” Liberals can neglect to recognize that sinners need to be transformed into the image of Christ by “adopting the practices of the gospel” that would lead toward participation in the “new creation.”

Scripture offers a third way, a gospel way, rooted in the forgiveness of God through Christ and the transformation of people. Two Christian practices, baptism and the Lord's Supper, reflect that gospel way, he said.

Mason reminded participants Jesus was an unjust victim of capital punishment and that the early church suffered from it, as well. When Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire under Constantine, Christian views toward capital punishment changed.

“After gaining power and protection from the state, the church came to read the Bible differently,” Mason said. “Suddenly, Old Testament texts that authorized capital punishment for a diverse number of crimes seemed to provide rationale for such support.”

When the church turned to the state, rather the gospel, in developing its views of justice, its focus changed in interpreting Scripture, he said. “Now the church came to be the chief authorizer of concern for order and stability.”

Such an approach “closes off the transformative dimension of the new creation that Christ inaugurated,” Mason said. “The church's identification with the victim and concern for justice among the most vulnerable” lost its power because “now the church itself was not the most vulnerable.”

“Jesus' words about neighborliness and concern for the marginalized and the stranger were obscured by the need to justify the privileged place of the church in the society.”

A similar condition is evident today in the United States, Mason said.

“The church is failing to provide sufficient evidence that there is a third way to deal with injuries against each other,” he said. “The lack of attention given to disciplines of grace that must be practiced in our relationships impoverishes our witness to anyone outside the church. …

“God holds us accountable for what we do with our forgiveness.”

Posted: 5/14/04

ANOTHER VIEW:
A new network for doing missions

By Bill Tinsley

God's vision always has been the spark that ignited missions. But the world in which we carry out God's vision has changed.

To create an effective missions entity for the 21st century, we must understand the world in which we live. Here are seven significant changes that are re-shaping the context of missions.

We live in a world of 24/7 global communication. The world is wired for instant communication from virtually any point on the globe. On my recent trip to Guatemala, I found Internet cafés on the streets of Antigua. In Columbia, I found a waiting line for Internet access at the hotel business center and called home on a cell phone.

Bill Tinsley

“In this new world that is being created around us, we must all be 'world-connectors,' helping one another connect for God's vision in this day and age.”

We are witnessing the largest population migration in history. Only 8 percent of the world's population lived in cities in 1900. Today, more than one-half the world's population live in urban areas. Houston is home to more than 100 ethnic and cultural groups. The Polish population in Chicago is larger than Warsaw. Sao Paulo, Brazil, with 16 million people, has over 1 million Japanese.

The world operates as a global economy. Companies are transnational. This month, Global Spectrum conducted The Edge conference in Houston “where profession, passion and God's purpose connect.” The conference drew mostly young professionals who are looking for ways to connect their skills to serve God around the world. Few of these twentysomething professionals are waiting to be sent. They are anxious to go!

The center for Christianity is shifting from the West to Latin America, Africa and Asia. According to author Philip Jenkins, “By the year 2050 only one Christian in five will be non-Latino and white, and the center of gravity of the Christian world will have shifted firmly to the Southern hemisphere.”

There are now more than 3,000 evangelical mission agencies and entities such as Wycliffe, Youth With a Mission, Frontiers, Pioneers and many others in addition to the International Mission Board and Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Our churches and people are already connecting with many of these for missions opportunities.

Churches are reclaiming the front line of missions. Many are sending mission teams. Some are adopting people groups. Last fall, I listened as a church planter in Wisconsin stated his church's vision “to plant a church on every continent in the world.” Last week, John Durham, pastor of First Baptist Church in Irving, told me of their 6-week-old nonprofit organization called Salvation Safari, designed to outfit backpackers going into remote regions of the world to share the gospel.

The laity are being released and empowered. We are witnessing a release of God's people for missions unparalleled since Acts 8. Church members want to be engaged in missions, and they want to go. Missions is no longer the province of the seminary graduate and the professional clergy.

If we believe God is in control of history, we must believe these changes have not occurred by accident. God is re-shaping the world so that his purposes can be achieved.

WorldconneX, the new missions network created by the Baptist General Convention of Texas, responds to these changes by “connecting God's people for God's vision.” We first ask: “What is God's vision for your life? What is God's vision for your church?” Then we ask, “How can we help you fulfill God's vision?”

To do this, we are creating four frameworks for connections, PeopleconneX, ChurchconneX, BaptistconneX and GlobalconneX.

PeopleconneX helps people make the right connections to fulfill God's vision for their lives on either a short- or long-term basis. For those interested in short-term missions, we will help them connect with opportunities that fit God's vision. For those seeking long-term missions, we will connect them with a “connector/coach” who will help them take the next steps to fulfill God's vision for their lives.

ChurchconneX helps churches move to the front line of missions. We are creating learning environments and networks where “front-line” churches can learn from each other and discover how to more effectively engage in world missions.

BaptistconneX brings together our Baptist institutions and entities for collaboration and cooperation with national Baptist leaders around specific projects and specific regions in the world.

GlobalconneX will strengthen and expand existing global networks in various regions of the world. At the same time, we will spark new networks that are needed to accomplish God's vision for missions.

WorldconneX is not about our staff or our office, although God has given us some of his most gifted people in Stan Parks, Carol Childress, Frank Dang and Michelle Colon. In this new world that is being created around us, we must all be “world-connectors,” helping one another connect for God's vision in this day and age.

Pray for us. And pray that God will create connections for his people called Texas Baptists so that his vision will be fulfilled.

Bill Tinsley is the leader of WorldconneX

Posted: 5/14/04

DOWN HOME:
He got far more than he deserved

They call this “silver,” but I'd say that's undervaluing the event by cosmic proportions.

Next week, the former Joanna Jarchow and I will celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary.

I know what you're saying: “But, Marv, you're impossibly young. You must've only been 5 when you got married.”

Thanks; you're so kind. And insincere.

We were 22. And only 13 days out of Hardin-Simmons University.

I wanted to marry this girl a couple of years earlier. Boys being boys, I was “ready.”

But our parents prevailed. My dad appealed to reason: “Look, son, you've got the rest of your life to be married. Enjoy college; then get married.” Her dad was more persuasive: “If you kids get married before Jo graduates, the purse strings will be cut. If you're old enough to get married, you're old enough to pay your way.”

I just love those guys, and they were right. We enjoyed dating through college and grew to love each other more along the way. (And we got to know each other very well. We went undefeated in every Sunday school social “Newlywed Game” in at least three states.)

Now, I can hardly believe we've been married 25 years. A quarter-century. Seems like the day before yesterday when I turned and watched her walk down the aisle.

Since then, we've done a load of living. We've moved into 10 apartments, duplexes and houses. She's followed me to seven jobs. We've raised two daughters and made a zillion friends. We've been members of six churches (one twice), driven 11 cars, been to the beach at least nine times and owned two dogs.

Numbers and places and events can't total the sum of 25 years of marriage. If I were to list all the ways my wife soothed my soul, this paper could not contain them. So I won't even try.

But I'll tell you this: A joyful marriage is a divine blessing. And for me, it's undeserved.

I didn't deserve the courageous girl who sat me down, more than two years before we wed, and said, “Make up your mind.”

I didn't deserve the young woman who promised, “Wherever you go, I go.”

I didn't deserve the faithful companion whose fierce fidelity is a steady rock.

I didn't deserve the soulmate whose constant conversation has guided all my days.

I didn't deserve the confidant who calms my fears and stokes my dreams.

I didn't deserve the mother who birthed two beautiful daughters and raised them to be wise, godly and delightful.

I didn't deserve the smart adviser who has thought up our best decisions.

I didn't deserve the best friend who has made me laugh the last moment of the evening more times than I can count.

I didn't deserve the ray of sunshine who greets me each morning with a kiss.

I didn't deserve her, but I'm grateful. To God and to Jo.

Posted: 5/14/04

EDITORIAL:
Abu Ghraib pornography presents warning about power

Right now, we all remember why we teach our children to avoid pornography. Pornography debases human beings for whom Christ died. It treats people created in the divine image as objects, and thus it blasphemes God. But the most crippling aspect of pornography–at least to the voyeur–is its ability to crowd out all other images. It replaces beauty with revulsion and nobility with scandal.

So, we should not be surprised that the porn we have seen from Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad reflects the genre. Naked prisoners stacked in a pyramid. A naked Iraqi, grimacing in fear, taunted by dogs. Another, also naked and on a leash, mocked by a young female soldier. Vile and degrading, the images sear themselves into our minds' eyes, shoving aside the beautiful and noble images we cherish when we think of our nation.

Those pictures from Baghdad should not reflect negatively on the tens of thousands of heroic U.S. troops who are serving courageously and sacrificially in Iraq. They are risking their lives to ensure democracy for people who live half a globe away. By all accounts, the deplorable behavior at Abu Ghraib does not represent the vast majority of military personnel.

But those pictures do reflect negatively on America, whether we like it or not. We see ourselves as vanguards of liberty and human rights, defenders of the powerless, champions of the underdog. But there, for the world to see, are pictures of U.S. troops humiliating and terrorizing Iraqi prisoners. They're ugly–literally and symbolically.

Like porn that has preceded it, the filthy pictures from Baghdad will pop to mind at the most inopportune times. How will we feel when we sing the National Anthem or recite the Pledge of Allegiance but see a leashed Iraqi at the feet of a woman soldier? In the coming decades, how many Americans will die as their attackers remember a pile of naked prisoners?

Some among us would like to banish these pictures and all talk of them. (And don't we all wish we'd never seen them?) But they are there, and we must learn from them.

More than a century and a half ago, French philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville said: “America is great because she is good. And if she ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.” These pictures remind us we must not assume our goodness nor take our greatness for granted. When we look at those picures, we wonder about both.

Of course, we could write many books on Americans' goodness. We could recite stories great and small. Of individual acts of kindness and heroic acts of mercy. Of rebuilding nations after devastating wars and removing evil dictators. Of stepping into harm's way when other nations sit on their hands. Of sacrificing to take humanitarian aid to people who would kill us, given the chance.

But those pictures. They remind us of what novelist Joseph Conrad called the “heart of darkness.” It is a void and desolate place. A place where even “good” people can descend. Ironically, they are most vulnerable when they feel most invincible.

The Apostle Paul described the human condition: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Each of us sins, and each of us is capable of new and as-yet-unimagined sin. Lord Acton warned about a particular temptation to sin: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” This admonition is appropriate for America, the world's sole surviving superpower. We want to compare ourselves favorably with the “axis of evil,” the truly demonic leaders of totalitarian states. But seduced by unparalleled power, even baby-faced soldiers can commit barbaric acts of inhumanity.

The Abu Ghraib pornography should shock us into taking stock of our national will and integrity. We will be judged not by what we say, but by what we do. We will be judged not by the sadism of tyrants but by the lofty standards we have set for ourselves. That may not seem fair, but we are the ones who have set the rules.

On a personal level, those images from Baghdad should present each of us with a cautionary picture of the seductive power of evil. Few among us would imagine any of those U.S. soldiers would behave so badly under normal circumstances. But given power and opportunity in a climate of extreme anger, they debased themselves.

Prison Fellowship President Mark Earley cites alarming results from separate studies at Stanford and Yale universities. Given power and authority in a no-rules climate, students quickly inflicted barbaric pain on others who had no power. Each of us must acknowledge that tendency toward depravity. We must guard against abusing any power we possess. We must pray we never see or treat others as objects, as anything less than creatures made in God's image.
–Marv Knox
E-mail the editor at marvknox@baptiststandard.com

Posted: 5/14/04

LifeWay Explore the Bible Series for May 23

Mature Christians should provide an example

Titus 2:1-15

By David Morgan

Trinity Baptist Church, Harker Heights

New Christians need guidance. They do not instantly know how to live godly lives when they begin the lifelong journey of learning what it means to be Christ's disciple. Developing Christian character and conduct takes time. New believers can expect Christians in the community of faith to steer them toward Christ-likeness.

Guiding principle for behavior (2:1)

The church on Crete was struggling. False teachers endangered it. Resisting these threats required Titus both to teach sound doctrine and live an exemplary life. Christians sometimes pause to learn “doctrine.” They fail to understand that such teaching focuses on the practical side of living. True teaching aims for the spiritual well-being and Christ-like behavior of believers. Godly behavior then becomes its own witness to the transforming power of God's grace.

Behavior of various groups (vv. 2-10)

Paul singled out five distinct classes of people for advice–older men, older women, younger women, younger men and slaves. Christian behavior for all can be summarized as exercising self-control, being reverent, honoring God's word, preventing damaging accusations against the church and making the gospel attractive.

The “older men” may have been designated church leaders. That they were older surely gave them influence. “Temperate,” “worthy of respect” and “self-controlled” suggest the need to control excesses and demonstrate behavior that secures a high reputation from others. Being sound in “faith,” “love” and “endurance” echoes 1 Corinthians 13. Faith is personal commitment to God. Love is personal commitment to others. Endurance generates persistence in tough times. This steadfastness arises from the Christian hope that God is working all things to accomplish his purpose.

Older women with holy behavior are tasked to teach younger women those things necessary for Christian homes. Resisting the temptation to tear down or slander others modeled Christian conduct.

In Paul's day, the primary responsibility of women was as wives and mothers. Young women learned their duties from older women. “Young” may suggest a newlywed. Younger women would honor God by protecting the faithfulness of the marriage bond, providing a good home environment and exhibiting goodness (“kindness”) in behavior. Such conduct would bring no dishonor to their family or the church.

Paul appealed to Titus to teach the young men to be “self-controlled,” perhaps because some young men tend to be impulsive. Titus may have been a young man himself, since Paul urged him to model godly behavior. Pure motives and not personal gain should motivate Titus in his actions.

“Soundness of speech” means more than simply true proclamation. It includes all actions. To be “sound” would be to eliminate unfair criticisms that might bring disrepute on the church. The opponents may have been either Christian or unbelievers. Paul reminded Titus how important it was to live a life no one could criticize.

Slaves comprised a large segment of both the Roman population and the early church. An attempt to abolish slavery would have proved futile. Instead, Paul instructed slaves (and masters in other passages) on how to relate to one another in Christ.

Christian slaves possessed new freedom in Christ. Slave and master worshipped and ate together in the church. Paul instructed slaves not to use this freedom as an excuse for not serving their masters, but instead to serve their masters more faithfully. Such willing service would honor Christ and perhaps attract others to the Savior.

Rationale for Christian behavior (vv. 11-15)

Christians live “in the meantime,” between the first and second comings of Jesus. Mentioning “God our Savior” (v. 10) may have reminded Paul of a hymn, prayer or confession that recalled the gracious work of God in Christ. Paul viewed the work of Christ in its totality–birth, life, death and resurrection. “Grace” specifically refers to God's unmerited favor by which he redeems humanity. The verb “appeared” stressed that grace happened in history. The word suggests a dramatic appearance. Christ appeared to make salvation available to every person without consideration of gender, ethnic background or economic status.

Christians expect “the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” when God will bring all things to his appropriate climax and conclusion. Christians live with an assurance of a final completion of their salvation.

While Christians wait, God's grace teaches them to renounce passions not from God. Christians enter God's kingdom by a grace continually transforming them. Christians' lives should please God in a world hostile to God.

Jesus secured redemption. The word “redeemed” was often used in ancient times to indicate the freeing of a slave. Christ freed Christians from enslavement to sin as he gave himself for them. Jesus also came to cleanse sinners into a people as his own unique treasure. God's grace frees believers from the power of sin.

Question for discussion

How should the redeemed live?

Posted: 5/14/04

LifeWay Explore the Bible Series for May 30

Good citizenship should be a mark Christians

Titus 3:1-15

By David Morgan

Trinity Baptist Church, Harker Heights

The Oklahoma license plate read N8V TXN (Native Texan). The owner may have been living in Oklahoma, but I suspect he considered himself a Texan. Christians may live in this world, but their true citizenship is in heaven. Even though this world is not home for Christians, they should be ideal citizens because they are believers.

Doing good to all people (vv. 1-7)

Early Christians affirmed Jesus was Lord. They seem to have wondered how this confession affected their relationship to earthly rulers. Titus needed to remind the Cretans that they remained accountable to earthly kingdoms. While they could not pledge ultimate allegiance to human authorities, Paul taught they should submit to their temporal rulers.

Persecution of Christians was not widespread when Paul wrote, but a generic hostility toward the church was common. Instead of being contentious and uncooperative, Christians should act courteously toward all people. Only when the laws of human governments conflict with God's will should believers resist them. Dissent and protest may be appropriate actions for believers but should be prompted by specific circumstances. "Every good deed" can refer to either Christian acts of kindness or basic conduct that goes with good citizenship. One reason Paul told Christians to submit to the government was they had once belonged to that world.

Paul included himself with the Cretans when he characterized their pre-Christian lives as ungodly. Those without Christ are without spiritual understanding, disobedient to God's will, astray from God's plan and enslaved by all sorts of sinful lusts. Other traits from which God had delivered them include wickedness, envy and hatefulness. Alone they could not overcome sin's controlling power.

Verses 4-7, one sentence in the Greek language, declare God saved them despite their wickedness. What they could not do for themselves, God did. These verses, likely a hymn or a liturgy for worship, summarize the gospel: God saved sinners, filled them with his spirit and gave them a future hope.

Christ's coming, described as God's kindness and love, made salvation possible. “Kindness” includes God's generosity and goodness. The word “love” emphasizes God's affection. The word was used at times when slaves were ransomed. Paul may have been thinking of this when he wrote.

No human effort, no matter how inspired, could gain salvation for the Cretans. Salvation cannot be earned by keeping any moral law or following any certain religious ritual. Salvation originates only with God's mercy.

Paul accented the contrast between human effort and divine action by applying three images to salvation. “Washing” alludes to baptism, which symbolizes the internal cleansing from sin at conversion. This is the only instance in Paul's writings where he used the concept of “rebirth” (“regeneration”). Only Paul emphasizes the idea of salvation as “renewal” (Romans 12:2; Colossians 3:10). “Renewal” suggests an inner transformation, which begins at conversion and continues thereafter. The new Christian is a new creature (2 Corinthians 5:17).

God pours out his Holy Spirit on believers at conversion. The Spirit becomes the operative and sufficient power for Christians to live godly lives.

God saved and poured out his Spirit on believers so they might become heirs. Both “heirs” and “hope” indicate Christians do not yet fully realize all salvation offers them. They anticipate receiving their full inheritance at some future time.

Salvation means God has justified Christians. He has acquitted them though they are guilty. He has declared them righteous and made them righteous. Believers spend the remainder of their lives becoming what they were made to be at conversion. The word “his” is a much stronger term than normally used. It means “of that one” and accents Jesus as Savior (v. 6).

Doing good as Christians (vv. 8-15)

Changed people will lead changed lives. The “trustworthy saying” refers to Paul's statements concerning the Christian's redemption. Paul next instructed Titus to teach that God expects Christians to perform good deeds. These may allude to Paul's initial call for Christians to be good citizens (vv. 1-2) or simply do kind acts. Good deeds will benefit many.

Paul asserted, as elsewhere in the pastorals (1 Timothy 1:4; 6:4; 2 Timothy 2:23), that believers should “avoid foolish controversies.” “Foolish” highlights the stupidity of the factious teachers. The mention of “law” suggests the controversies concerned both keeping the Mosaic law and emphasizing genealogies. Paul has been highlighting the power of God's grace. He obviously would reject the legalism of those who called for radical obedience to the Old Testament law.

False teachers were to receive two reprimands. Paul most likely envisioned the warning being private and not public. The action of these teachers reflected the total perversion of their lives. They continue in sin. Their failure to respond to the warning brings condemnation on them. Believers should shun them.

Paul concluded this note to Titus by encouraging Christians in the church to provide for the needs of others in the congregation.

Question for discussion

What actions can Christians take to be good citizens?

Posted: 5/14/04

LifeWay Family Bible Series for May 23

A touch from God can heal broken relationships

Genesis 27:41; 32:3-5, 9-11; 33:1-5, 10-11

By Rodney McGlothlin

First Baptist Church, College Station

I spent several of my growing-up years fighting in the back seat of a '57 Chevy with another Baptist pastor … my brother! We were not preachers then. We had years to go before content would matter in our preaching. At the time, we just worked on the volume.

I am sure our parents never dreamed we would even grow up to be friends, let alone preacher friends. We did not always get along in those days. Now, I cannot imagine my life without him. I preached at his church on his 10th anniversary. I was introduced by a deacon as “that ratty little brother we have all heard so much about!” I have told a few brother stories of my own over the years. I cherish and embellish them all.

The texts for this week cover too much to dissect in a column of this nature. Let me simply tell the story of two brothers. I offer it as one myself.

Jacob was not his father's favorite, and it bothered him. Esau was. Esau was a man's man. He was a lot like his uncle, Ishmael. Isaac saw his half-brother leave home due to family conflict. He must have looked up to his older brother the way younger brothers have from the dawn of time. Maybe when Esau was born, he reminded father Isaac of his lost older brother.

Jacob became the object of Rebecca's attentions. He stayed near the tents while Esau went hunting. Esau read Field and Stream while Jacob devoured The Ladies Home Journal. He wanted his father's attention and, with the help of his doting mother, came up with a plan or a trick to get it.

While Esau was away on a hunting trip, Jacob fixed some stew and went to see his blind father. He put animal skins on his arms to hide his softer features. Isaac knew it was the voice of Jacob, but it was the arms of Esau. He blessed the wrong son. That is how Jacob stole his older brother's birthright.

When Esau came home, he hated his brother. He said when their daddy died, he would kill his little brother. Jacob took Isaac's blessing and ran off. He found a wife in another land. She was the younger and the prettier of two sisters. The older girl should have married first.

And she did. When Jacob woke up after his honeymoon, he found himself married to the wrong sister. His father-in-law said something like this: “Boy, I don't know where you come from, but around here we respect the birthrights of the older siblings.”

The trickster got tricked. He worked another seven years for the right wife. He did not get two for the price of one. Trust me on this. He paid double for his trouble.

Jacob headed for home, at least 14 years after his theft from Esau. All the way home, he wondered what Esau would do. Would he kill him?

The night before the brothers met, a man came and wrestled with Jacob. The man was later described as an angel, and he touched Jacob a good one right in the hip. He limped until the day he died. In spite of the pain, Jacob wouldn't say “uncle” or “calf rope.” He hung on and said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” So he did! He blessed him by changing him.

He told him he would no longer be Jacob, which means “the trickster.” He changed his name to Israel, which means, “God rules.” Then Jacob figured out he had been wrestling with God all along.

The next day, the two brothers met. They did not fight. No killing took place. They embraced. Everything that ever happened in the back seat of their father's '57 Chevy was forgiven. It seems Esau had done some changing of his own. God is in the changing business.

That is the Reader's Digest version of seven chapters in Genesis. What does it mean for brothers today?

Brothers in Christ are brothers for eternity. Grace has a way of changing the past, whatever it may have held. Jacob and Esau got over their past because they both experienced God in their present.

Do you want to get closer to your brother or sister? Get closer to your Savior. Let him change you first. Nothing will enhance your relationship with others like a growing, life-changing relationship with your Lord. He has not given up on you. He also is at work in your sibling. He is a God who changes everything. And everyone. If your sibling does not know the Lord, share your Savior with them. You will find a new life of love together.

Take it from me–nothing is better than a brother (or sister) who loves you. Except a Savior who loves you both.

Questions for discussion

Do you recall family conflict in your life that you thought could not be overcome but have now seen that relationship healed?

The life of Jacob was changed, and his relationships as a part of that, when he received a special touch. Can you recall a similar circumstance?

Posted: 5/14/04

LifeWay Family Bible Series for May 30

Contentious spirits can hurt the cause of Christ

Proverbs 17:17; 18:24; 27:5-6, 9-10, 17; Philippians 4:1-3, 10, 14-16

By Rodney McGlothlin

First Baptist Church, College Station

Someone has remarked that where two Baptists are gathered at least three opinions will be shared. We have been, and we remain, a contentious people. It may be our heritage, but it is not a birthmark of which we should be proud.

Euodia and Syntyche were not Baptists by name, but they met the prerequisites. They got their names recorded in the Bible because of a disagreement.

These two women were prominent laborers with Paul at one point. Somehow, they got out of sorts with one another. We do not know why. Does it really matter? Paul saw no reason to belabor the causes of their little tiff. He seems to be more concerned about the effects of their dispute and the damage it eventually would bring to the cause of Christ if not corrected.

“I plead with Euodia, and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you, loyal yokefellow, help these women who have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life” (Philippians 4:2-3).

This is the closest thing in the Philippian letter to a rebuke. Of all the churches where Paul labored, this congregation seems to be the least impacted with moral, doctrinal or racial controversy. It was important to Paul to resolve the issue because the growth of the church and its continual involvement in the mission of the church were at stake.

How do we improve relationships between church members?

The place to begin is to celebrate our common experience of grace. Paul referred to numerous people in this text as those “whose names are in the book of life.” How did they get there? It was only God's grace. Neither Euodia nor Syntyche had reason for personal pride or spiritual arrogance. They each were saved in the same way.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). We are all faulty folks. Faulty people who have experienced God's forgiving grace should be able to exhibit the same grace to one another.

Relationships also may be improved by shared involvement in the mission of the church. Paul said these two women had “contended at my side in the cause of the gospel.” There was a time when they worked together in harmony with Paul. In the context of the Philippian letter, our assumption would be that they did this from the beginning of their journey of faith.

Paul commends the Philippians for their participation in the gospel “from the first day until now” (Philippians 1:5). There was a time when personal differences did not take precedence over the work of the gospel. Oh that modern Baptists would put aside personal differences for the sake of a unified witness to the gospel.

The words “agree with” are the same words Paul used in Philippians 2:2 when he said, “make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.” His illustration of this single-mindedness is our Lord Jesus himself. Read Philippians 2:1-11, and you will see Paul's solution to improved relationships in the church. It is to be more Christ-like and less selfish.

Finally, we may need some help from others to improve our personal relationships. We need some accountability. Paul called upon a particular “loyal yokefellow” to intercede in the situation between Euodia and Syntyche.

We do not know for certain the name of this person. What do we know about him or her? We know Paul called them a “yokefellow.” He uses this word to describe his relationship with others in gospel witness in Romans 16:3, 9, 21; Philippians 2:25; and in Philemon 1 and 24. The interesting thing is that this individual seems to be what the feuding females once were; faithful co-laborers with Paul in the work of the gospel.

How will we communicate to the world the love of Jesus Christ? It will not be by the logical purity of our doctrines or the showiness of our worship services. Paul said: “Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:22-24).

It will be by something Euodia and Syntyche forgot. It will be by our love for one another. Jesus said, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35).

Improve your relationships with one another. Our witness is at stake.

Questions for discussion

Why was a disagreement between two women worth Paul addressing?

What attributes do you think the “yokefellow” possessed that made Paul think of him to help make peace between the women?

Posted: 5/14/04

Texas economy the big loser if slots OKed, professor says

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

AUSTIN–Texas could lose more than $520 million from its economy each year if the state's lawmakers approve 40,000 video slot machines, a Las Vegas professor has estimated.

And that doesn't even count the $1.8 billion a year in bad debts, thefts and lost productivity that could be caused by the inevitable increase in compulsive and problem gamblers, said William Thompson, public administration professor at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.

Thompson presented his findings to state officials in Austin at the invitation of Texans Against Gambling, a statewide anti-gambling coalition.

Introducing video slot machines into Texas will “hurt Texas pocketbooks,” Thompson said.

“Each machine will likely take $65,000 a year from players. The trouble is the players are Texans. The money lost to machines is already in Texas. The money will come out of Texas pocketbooks,” he said.

Based on the state's own revenue projections, 40,000 slot machines could result in $2.6 billion in revenue.

But at most, Thompson estimates no more than 10 percent–$260 million–would be lost either by non-Texans or by Texans who would otherwise gamble and lose the money outside the state.

“Assuming that $260 million comes to the state, we can ask how much of the $2.6 billion won by the machines is retained in the Texas economy. Not enough,” he stressed.

Much of the profit will go to out-of-state investors, he said, noting 40 percent of the racetrack owners live outside of Texas.

Machines would have to be purchased out of state, from manufacturers in Nevada for about $480 million, he estimates. And they will have to be replaced periodically.

“A slot machine costs $12,000. A machine will have a shelf life of three years. The 40,000 machines will therefore cost $160 million a year,” he said, adding that other supplies will cost $100 million.

Furthermore, he estimates $104 million lost to the Texas economy through regulation, infrastructure and services not otherwise required.

In all, Thompson estimates a $261.9 million direct loss to the Texas economy.

Basing the total impact on a conservative multiplier of two, the net loss likely would be at least $523.8 million annually, he said.

“But the losses don't stop there. The machines will double the number of compulsive and problem gamblers in the state,” he predicted.

Thompson pointed to findings by the National Gambling Impact Study Commission that the number of compulsive and problem gamblers doubles when casino gambling is introduced within 50 miles of a person's home.

Statistically, introducing 40,000 video slot machines into Texas would likely produce 90,000 new compulsive gamblers and 160,000 problem gamblers, he said.

“Tragically, among the 90,000 new compulsive gamblers, there will be 23,000 suicide attempts, resulting in over 1,000 suicides that would not occur without the gambling opportunities presented by the machines,” Thompson concluded.

Weston Ware, legislative director for Texans Against Gambling, urged concerned Texas Baptists to contact Gov. Rick Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dew-hurst to express opposition to legalized video slot machines in the state.

Call Perry toll-free at (800) 252-9600 and Dewhurst at (800) 441-0373.