Posted: 1/29/04

Paul Piper, Baptist donor, dead at 86

Philanthropist Paul Piper, whose generosity provided funds for many Texas Baptist causes, died Jan. 17 in Apollo Beach, Fla. He was 86.

Piper borrowed $17 from his parents when he dropped out of college in 1937 and from that small investment built a diversified company with 1,000 employees in 15 manufacturing plants.

He later sold his shares in Piper Industries and used the money to begin four charitable foundations–Christ Is Our Salvation and three branches of Christian Mission Concerns.

His contributions to Texas Baptist causes ranged from buying a tool trailer for the Texas Baptist Men Retiree Builders to helping new churches pay their pastors' salaries.

Piper's gifts helped Texas Baptists start more than 300 new churches around the state, and he supported apartment ministries in San Antonio, Fort Worth, Arlington and Austin.

Piper also established a low-interest loan fund to help Texas Baptist churches finance their first buildings.

He contributed to various River Ministry programs along the Rio Grande, helped to build a hospital in Paraguay, supported the True Love Waits sexual purity campaign and provided scholarships for Baptist university students.

Piper is survived by his wife, Katy, one son, a sister, six grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

Posted: 1/29/04

Emerging cultures a challenge to evangelism

By Ferrell Foster

Texas Baptist Communications

RICHARDSON–In today's postmodern world "there's a real cry for spiritual mothers and fathers," said John Berryhill, chief director of Emerging Church Network.

People who are part of this new culture are looking for others "who will care about their lives," Berryhill told participants at a workshop during the Texas Evangelism and Missions Conference.

Such a "spiritual family" gives a person "a place to connect, a place to hare their stories, their journey," he said. "It can happen in lots of different forms."

Postmodern people also need healing and empowering, Berryhill said. Small, simple groups where people can relate "in a community" are effective at reaching postmoderns with the gospel.

A key is that "people first have to belong," he said. "Can people participate in your community in their pre-Christ state?"

After belonging, then a person begins to behave differently and belief comes last, Berryhill said. "It's a little different path to evangelism."

Today, however, there are many different emerging cultures. "Thousands of diverse people … do not readily fit into our way of doing church," he said. "… Now it is a really wide-open road."

Christians interested in reaching people in emerging cultures, first must understand the culture, he said.

Christians need to be observant to discover the "tribes" that live in an area and learn their distinctive characteristics, he added.

Understanding can then lead to relationships. "What gives credibility in this culture is not titles, it's relationships," Berryhill said. "We want to see transformation, … but we have to be smart in how we go about that."

Posted: 1/27/04

TBM volunteers glad Alabama
group paved the way in Iran relief

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

From hurricanes in Latin America to famines in Africa and Asia, Texas Baptist Men volunteers have been some of the first responders among faith-based disaster relief providers over the last three decades. But the Texas Baptists who recently returned from Iran were glad an Alabama group had paved the way for them.

A 15-member Texas Baptist Men team, along with three Baptist volunteers from Georgia, worked Jan. 12-20 at a refugee camp on the outskirts of Bam.

The crew cooked meals and provided medical care for displaced residents of the earthquake-ravaged city. A massive quake the morning after Christmas left three-fourths of the ancient city in ruins.

The volunteers served under the auspices of a non-governmental agency recognized in Iran.

They followed an Alabama Baptist disaster relief team. Since "Ala" sounded like the Iranian word for God, "ba" like "with" and "ma" like "us," the group became identified locally as "God with us disaster relief."

Fortunately for the Texans who came behind them, the Alabama group lived up to their lofty name and earned a solid reputation in the region. When the Texas Baptists arrived in Iran, they initially received a cold greeting from a stern governmental worker, according to team leader John LaNoue of Lindale. But when he told the official they were related to the "Ala-ba-ma" group, "it was an open door," LaNoue said.

The Texas Baptists worked in a 341-tent refugee camp that housed more than 1,700 people.

"There was not one empty tent in the camp," LaNoue recalled. "There may have been three tents with one person in them, but there were some with as many as 14 in them."

The Texas Baptist Men cooked more than 3,000 meals and 5,000 cups of hot tea each day for the camp, plus an additional 1,000 meals daily for another camp that was being established nearby. The volunteers worked 14-hour days, cooking rice, lentils and occasional helpings of lamb in massive four-foot-wide pots.

"Our men ate what the people in the camp ate, but they never sat down to eat until all the people had been served. It was a powerful statement to those people," LaNoue said.

Through interpreters, LaNoue learned that many of the people in the camp were asking: "Why have these old men come to help us? We see them working when we get up in the morning and working when we go to bed at night."

While the crew included one 36-year-old volunteer and a 41-year-old doctor, the average age was 63. The oldest volunteer was 78.

"I called them the 'over the hill gang,' but they're on the side of the hill that knows how to do the work," said LaNoue, who is just a few months shy of 70.

One image that indelibly branded itself on LaNoue's memory was an old Iranian man in Bam climbing to the top of the rubble where his house once stood, removing one brick at a time. He repeated that process for hours each day.

"One brick was all he could carry at one time. He was trying to find his family, who were entombed there."

While the residents of the refugee camp publicly expressed a growing love and appreciation for the American volunteers, the Texas Baptists remained under close scrutiny by governmental officials. Some crewmembers were interviewed up to three times a day by authorities who wanted to know why they had come to Iran.

"We told them we had not come because of politics, but because our hearts were broken by the tragedy of the people. We told them God loved the Iranian people so much, he had instructed us to come help them," LaNoue said.

When asked, the Texas Baptists identified themselves as Protestant Christians, but they were careful not to be perceived as proselytizing. "We're Christians. Nobody talked about it much, but everybody knew it," LaNoue said.

Looking back on the experience, he added, "My prayer for the people of Iran is that they will have the opportunity to recognize the truth, that God will bless them with the knowledge of himself … that their physical needs will be met in such a way that they will come to recognize the Giver of good gifts."

Texas Baptists can contribute financially to the disaster relief project by designating checks "Iranian relief" and sending them to Texas Baptist Men, 333 N. Washington, Dallas 75246-1798.

Posted: 1/27/04

Children's ranch supplies relief
to thousands on both sides of Rio Grande

By George Henson

Staff Writer

QUEMADO—In the barren, sun-baked terrain between Eagle Pass and Del Rio, a mustard seed of faith grew into a ministry much larger than Steve and Lori Mercer ever imagined.

The couple came to Texas from Indiana with an eye to opening a children's home in South Texas. They had been foster parents for many years and wanted to expand their ministry by sharing their love with even more children.

After they joined First Baptist Church in Quemado, they initially wanted their new ministry, Cornerstone Children's Ranch, to be linked directly to the church. But Pastor Terry Simons counseled them to remain an independent organization so non-Baptists might be more likely to help.

State regulations soon quashed the couple's plans for a children's home. Mercer had earned an undergraduate degree in social services, but the state required a master's degree in the specialty to administer a children's home.

That stumbling block became a stepping-stone, however. Now, rather than ministering to a few dozen children, they are meeting the needs of more than 26,000 people of all ages. "My God had better ideas than we did," Mrs. Mercer said.

They launched a relief ministry that helps to provide food, clothing, medical supplies, automobiles and other supplies to individuals and institutions on both sides of the Rio Grande, she said.

"We work with unwed mother homes, orphanages, medical clinics and churches. We take it to the churches, and they distribute it to the people they minister to in their communities. Also, some of it has to go to the pastors themselves because some of them give all they have to just to keep their churches going," Mrs. Mercer said.

They also help a ministry to illegal aliens who are being deported to Mexico. Most are far from home with no money and no food.

Many of these people, mostly men, receive Christ as they have reached rock bottom and are open to the possibility that something is missing from their lives, she said. After listening to the message of the gospel, they are given food and encouraged to take the message they have heard back to their villages.

As the Cornerstone ministry has grown, so have its needs. Del Rio-Uvalde Baptist Association helped the ministry secure a 10-acre site for construction of a 6,000-foot warehouse. It stores washing machines, dryers, food, clothing, medical supplies and even an optical machine that is being kept until construction is completed on an eye clinic in Mexico.

"Just about anything someone can put on a truck, we can find a home for," Mrs. Mercer said.

The Mercers' ministry filled a niche in the region, said Jack Calk, retired director of missions for Del Rio-Uvalde Baptist Association.

"Bringing all these things together in one place and then distributing them is one of the things we needed to have done in the area, rather than trying to do it piecemeal," he said.

While financial, food and medical donations always are needed, the ministries most crucial needs are prayer and volunteers, Mrs. Mercer said.

"Prayer will always be our No. 1 need," she said. "All of this depends on God's provision."

The answer to some of those prayers would be in the form of more volunteers. "Piedras Negras has a population of more than 1 million people. River Ministry does an awful lot of work down here, but there are still so many people whose needs are not being met," she said.

The Mercers plan to build a new headquarters for Cornerstone Children's Ranch, complete with apartments for volunteers. But finances dictate the construction be done by volunteers. Currently the camp has hook-ups for two RV campsites, and it is to be expanded.

Volunteers also are needed to install the camp's meat lockers so the ministry can store and distribute more meat.

None of that is anything like what the Mercers thought they were coming to Texas to do, but they say it's all right.

"I think the Lord sometimes uses your plans to gets you where he wants you until you realize what he wants you to do as he reveals his will for your life," she said.

Cornerstone Children's Ranch can be contacted at (830) 757-1993.

Posted: 1/27/04

Hispanic, Anglo congregations swapping emphasis

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

Hispanic and Anglo congregations are trading places as Anglo churches become worship-driven and their Hispanic counterparts move toward a Bible study-driven model, according to some Texas Baptist leaders.

Anglo churches increasingly emphasize worship services as the entry point for newcomers and the catalyst for ministry while de-emphasizing the Bible study model that powered the church growth boom of the 20th century, said Dennis Parrott, director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Bible Study/Discipleship Center.

Tim Studstill, director of the BGCT music and worship office, views large sales numbers of praise music directed toward Anglo churches and increase in worship model packages for sale as signs of a surging emphasis on worship in Anglo churches.

Church leaders are coming to realize worship represents a congregation's identity and its values, Studstill added.

"What I'm seeing is more and more churches realize worship is integral in who they are," he said.

On the other hand, Hispanic churches are moving away from the worship-driven model they historically have used and toward Bible study groups as vehicles for church growth, Parrott said.

This is visible along the Texas-Mexico border, where churches expand along large stretches of land through small Bible studies, but it also can be seen across the state. According to statistics from the BGCT research information service, 65 percent of Hispanics enrolled in Bible studies attend the classes, well above the 46 percent average of the entire convention.

In contrast, 44 percent of people enrolled in Anglo Bible studies actually attend them.

Jim Garcia, director of the BGCT office of Hispanic work, and Jorge Diaz, general director of the Baptist Spanish Publishing House in El Paso, noted a continuing strong emphasis on worship in Hispanic churches. But their growth is occurring through small groups.

Groups typically meet in houses on any day of the week. Members often dress casually, and activities may include a meal and singing, along with the Bible study.

"There is a hunger for Bible study," Garcia said. "There is not a hunger for the structure we call Sunday school."

Small groups urge fellowship and community, important aspects in Hispanic culture, Garcia and Diaz said. For this reason, the small-group approach will gain strength, Diaz added.

The shift to a small-group-driven church has pushed Hispanics to look for resources to make their effort on par with those in Anglo churches, Parrot noted.

Hispanics are coming to BGCT-sponsored Bible study and leadership training events in stronger numbers than Anglos. Hispanics are open to ideas from Hispanics and non-Hispanics, Spanish speakers and non-Spanish speakers, he added.

About one-fourth of BGCT-affiliated Hispanic churches are using the BaptistWay Press curriculum, including the publisher's Spanish materials that parallel the English studies. Many use the free online materials.

They also have taken particular advantage in seeking the BGCT Bible Study/Discipleship Center's help with the Add LIFE program, certification efforts and ministry development.

Many Hispanic church workers are laypeople who were placed in leadership positions without having any formal training, Parrot said. The BGCT events provide an opportunity to gain more knowledge.

"I think that a lot of the Hispanic churches are just coming of age in the sense they are realizing their need for training," Parrott explained.

Posted: 1/26/04

Hands of Luke ministry helping
children in El Paso and Juarez

By George Henson

Staff Writer

EL PASO—Hurting people need healing for both body and spirit, according to Marco Samaniego. And that philosophy has guided the Hands of Luke medical ministry since he founded it 10 years ago.

The ministry, in addition to being the primary medical care provider for many, also seeks to make sure the children in the area are well fed. Every day the ministry feeds 500 to 700 children in three nutritional centers and two orphanages in Juarez, Mexico.

It is a ministry based totally on faith in God, said Samaneigo, bivocational pastor of Lakeside Baptist Church in El Paso.

"We don't ever know where it's going to come from, but God always provides. Sometimes churches and businesses and individuals give us money to buy food, and sometimes the food itself is donated, but God always finds a way," he said.

In addition to providing health care and food, Hands of Luke also offers Bible studies and Sunday worship services.

"Through all these outreach ministries, we really get to know the people and make a difference in their lives," he said.

As an example, he pointed to 17-year-old Luis Armando. The young man formerly led a gang, but about a year ago he accepted Christ after getting to know ministry volunteers. "Now he works with one of the mission pastors and has led six other gang members to Christ," Samaniego said.

That desire to make a difference especially was evident to Samaniego during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, especially when he considered his family's blessings compared to needs in nearby Mexico.

"It's hard to be thankful when there is a big bird on the table and family all around and know that nearby there are families with little if anything to eat," he said.

Just before Thanksgiving in 1993, he felt God was leading him to find the means to feed 1,000 people that holiday. "I didn't know how to do it, but I told my wife, 'This is what the Lord told me to do, and we need to get busy because it's only two weeks until Thanksgiving.'"

That year, through the help of area churches and individuals, 1,000 people had a Thanksgiving meal they would not have had otherwise. Each year since, the ministry has grown. In 2003 more than 13,000 people were fed, including 5,000 people in a Mexican prison.

More than 300 volunteers from 25 churches are needed now to prepare and distribute the food.

Volunteers prepare the food, freeze it and reheat it at an orphanage in Juarez, one of the 25 places food is distributed. Wherever the food is served, God's word is preached, he said.

"We don't do feeding without preaching," he said. "Our main goal is to have people come to know the Lord, and then for the churches in the colonias to disciple them afterward."

At the prison, 300 men made professions of faith in Christ, he noted.

At Christmas, the ministry distributed gift bags to 6,000 children. Each bag contained a toy, fruit, peanuts, socks, underwear and a Bible.

While the ministry has grown each year, Samaniego said he doesn't know what next year will bring.

"This is a ministry of faith. Whatever the Lord gives us to do, that's what we're going to do. It's all under his leadership," he said.

Posted: 1/26/04

Pastors shouldn't 'doctor' title unless
it's merited, researcher says

By George Henson

Staff Writer

GORDONVILLE–Some pastors touting the title "Dr." before their names need a refresher course in ethics, according to a paper awaiting publication in the journal Christian Higher Education.

The treatise by Rusty Waller, pastor of First Baptist Church in Gordonville, is titled "Higher Education Credentials of American Clergy: Ethics or Antics?"

A bivocational pastor, Waller also is dean of institutional research and effectiveness at North Central Texas College in Gainesville, where he ensures the college meets regional accreditation standards.

Waller also has helped Baptist University of the Americas in its quest for accreditation. The San Antonio school recently gained national accreditation from the Accrediting Association of Bible Colleges, which qualifies it to offer a bachelor of arts degree. The school now seeks regional accreditation, which is harder to obtain.

Regional accreditation is important, Waller contended, because it provides a clear standard of academic requirements.

Attorneys, teachers, architects, doctors and other professionals are required to earn degrees from regionally accredited schools, he noted. Such accreditation indicates the level of scholarship mandated to attain the degree.

So when a pastor begins calling himself "Dr." when he does not hold an accredited doctoral degree, it hurts his witness, Waller contends.

"Pastors need to be aware that the use of the title 'Dr.,' without having a regionally accredited degree is deeply offensive to those in other professions who have to work to maintain their credentials," he explained.

Waller said he first considered writing on this topic as he saw televangelists taking on the title "Dr." He was unable to ascertain the source of most their degrees, he said, "which tells me it's a very bogus situation."

His investigation revealed a number of places where an unaccredited doctoral diploma can be secured for a minimal amount of cash. One site for the Progressive Universal Life Church currently will throw in a doctor of divinity degree for free if a doctor of philosophy in either religion or theology is ordered for $175.

Waller went a step further, however, and decided to see what he could determine about the credentials of a sample of Baptist General Convention of Texas pastors.

He sent questionnaires to 200 pastors whose churches matched a representative sample of the size and ethnicity of the convention. Only 105 of those surveys were returned, of which 35 pastors claimed doctoral degrees. Seven of those 35 doctorates, 20 percent, came from non-regionally accredited doctoral programs.

Waller said he would stop short of saying only 20 percent of the sample had degrees from non-regionally accredited schools, however, because only 52 percent of the pastors in the pool responded.

"I have questions about the non-respondents and where their credentials are from," he said. "I would speculate that those who returned their questionnaires didn't see anything wrong with having non-regionally accredited degrees."

He postulates that some who did not respond may have been more aware.

He does admit, however, that there is a wide spectrum of sources of non-regionally accredited degrees, "from the most bogus of diploma mills to actual institutions" of merit.
At the high end of that spectrum, Waller places Luther Rice Seminary, the most common source of non-regionally accredited degrees among those surveyed. However, while not a place to buy a diploma without study, the independent seminary should not be viewed on an even par with fully accredited seminaries such as Logsdon School of Theology at Hardin-Simmons University or Baylor University's Truett Theological Seminary, he asserted.

Luther Rice Seminary is accredited by the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools, a certification that requires less strenuous examination than that offered by regional commissions such as the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

The United States Department of Education views TRACS on the same level as the Association of Theological Schools, the nation's primary accrediting agency for mainstream theological education. However, both Logsdon and Truett are accredited not only by ATS on the national level but by SACS on the regional level.

And to Waller's perspective as an educator, that makes a huge difference.

"Other professions require doctorates from regionally accredited institutions," he said. "Why should pastors settle for less?"

Waller does not suggest that a regionally accredited degree should be a requirement for the pastorate, or that the education that can be gained at some schools, such as Luther Rice, is not without merit.

"I have no problem with a person pursuing an education wherever they choose, but I do have a problem with them putting 'Dr.' in front of their name" if they do not hold a regionally accredited degree, he said.

That is especially true if a pastor knowingly obtains a degree not acquired by scholarship on the doctoral level, Waller said. "Credentials without education can only be for men to look at."

Likewise, it is unethical for a pastor who receives an honorary doctorate, such a doctor of divinity degree, to affix "Dr." to his name, Waller said.

Reading his paper probably won't change the minds of those who already have secured non-accredited degrees, Waller admitted. But he does hope to impact future decisions.

"I don't really think writing this will stop anyone who is using the title 'Dr.' from using it, but I hope that some young pastors out there considering this will get their doctorates from regionally accredited institutions," he said.

"I've been a pastor from 29 years, but I can understand how a young man might look and see that he can have a doctorate here for $700, and over there it's going to take years of commitment and ask 'What's my motivation to do that?' if they don't understand all the issues."

Posted: 1/26/04

BGCT crosses halfway point toward church-starting goal

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

Despite a tough fiscal year, the Baptist General Convention of Texas Church Multiplication Center crossed the halfway point toward its goal of helping start 777 churches by the end of 2004.

The center has helped start 423 churches through two years of the three-year Genesis Project. Staff facilitated 159 church starts last year, down from 264 in 2002.

Last year's church-starting efforts were hurt when the center had committed its budget by mid-June. A large financial commitment to previously started churches coupled with decreased giving to the convention contributed to a smaller-than-expected supply of funds, according to Abe Zabaneh, director of the BGCT Church Multiplication Center.

Despite the drop in funding and church starts, Zabaneh remains upbeat about this year and attempting to reach the goal set in 2002. Center staff members are looking for ways Texas Baptists can partner to support new churches.

"We still are shooting for 777, but we're going to have to be creative," Zabaneh said.

The surge in church starts during the past two years is important to reaching non-Christian Texans, Zabaneh noted. Studies reveal new churches are highly effective at reaching unchurched and previously churched individuals. They also help Baptists keep pace with an increasing Texas population.

Church starting efforts help meet the needs of the state's variety of cultures and ethnicities, Zabaneh added. Last year, staff helped launch 75 Hispanic, 32 Anglo, 22 African American, 20 multi-ethnic and two Indian churches.

Staff efforts helped lead to two new Vietnamese churches. They also facilitated Argentinian, Arab, Brazilian, Guatemalan, Korean and Laotian church starts.

The diverse work is essential to provide a place of worship for each culture in Texas, Zabaneh said.

"People are different. People need the opportunity to worship and fellowship with people similar to them," he said.

This year, the center has taken church starting in multi-housing complexes under its wing. Many urban residents live in apartments, but few are connected with a church, Zabaneh said. Center staff aims to change that by starting churches in their complexes.

"It's an unchurched people group that needs to be reached," he said. "We need to work on taking the church to the apartments."

With an expanded ministry and a difficult challenge before them in 2004, Zabaneh asks that Texas Baptists lead out in starting churches as they see opportunities around them. He also asks Christians to pray for the effort in the coming year.

Every area in Texas needs more churches to serve the population, he added.

Posted: 1/23/04

Around the State

Gaye Christy has been hired as administrative assistant to President Bob Riley, and Joey Sutton is a new admissions counselor at East Texas Baptist University.

Karl Tingle, pastor of Casa View Church in Dallas, recently received the doctor of ministry degree from New Orleans Seminary, and Blake Shipp of Austin, pastor of New Henleyfield Church in Carriere, Miss., received the doctor of philosophy degree.

Primera Iglesia in Schertz recently celebrated the retirement of the bank loan on the land where its building soon will stand. Taking part in the ceremony were church trustees Albert Rios and Juan Rodriguez, Frank Urias and Pastor Gregorio Gomez.

Events

First Church in Colleyville provided Christmas presents and fed 250 families as a part Mission Colleyville, an outreach to the impoverished near the church. Frank Harber is pastor.

The women's ministry of Park Cities Church in Dallas is sponsoring a retreat Feb. 27-28 at the Crowne Plaza Suites. Janet Denison is the featured speaker for the “Comfort in the Cross” retreat. Ticket sales are underway and will continue through Feb. 15. Costs per person range from $85 to $150. A Friday- or Saturday-only ticket is $40. For more information and ticket sales, call (214) 860-1526.

A singles' retreat sponsored by San Jacinto Association will be held Feb. 27-28 at Lake Tomahawk Encampment, between Livingston and Woodville. Ron Hill will be the speaker. The cost will be $44, and check-in will be from 6:30 to 9 p.m. To register or for more information, call (281) 422-3604.

Anniversaries

Odell Daughtry, fifth, as pastor of North Bay Church in Ingleside, Jan. 10.

Judson Church in Cayuga, 150th, Sept. 19. Former pastors and members are asked to send their address to maryfrank58-@tvec.net or mail it to the church at P.O. Box 308, Cuyuga 75832. William Snidow is pastor.

Pioneer Drive Church in Abilene, 50th, Sept. 26. Former staff and members are asked to send addresses to pdbc@-pdbc.org or call (325) 692-6776. Stan Allcorn is pastor.

Retiring

Tom Pesnall, as pastor of County Line Church in Bullard after 10 years. He served in the ministry more than 30 years.

Pollock Church in Pollack honored Brunette Duncan for 85 years of service to the church. Although now 92, she still rarely misses a service. Joe Carriere is pastor.

Deaths

Hazel Moseley, 96, Dec. 19 in Mineola. She was on the staff of First Church in Amarillo 40 years as youth director and later as minister to international students. She also served on the staffs of the First Baptist churches in Dallas and San Antonio. She also taught at Southwestern Seminary. She is survived by her sister, Charm Norris.

Mildred Swanner, 97, Jan. 6 in Amarillo. A 1927 graduate of the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, she taught school in Plainview, Kress and Lockney. She later taught at Hardin-Simmons University and chaired the science department. After retiring, she moved to Mc-Kinney, where she was active at the Heard Museum and First Church. She is survived by her daughters, Peggy Patterson, Rebekah Noel and Brenda Brown; eight grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren.

Wilton Davis, 74, Jan. 15 in Dallas. Davis was a standout football player at Hardin-Simmons University and prominent Baptist layman. A retired real estate investor and former Dallas bank president, he was a past member and past chairman of both the HSU board of trustees and its board of development. Both he and his wife, Eddye, were members of the HSU President's Club and were longtime supporters of the university. He was the recipient of an honorary doctor of humanities degree at HSU in 1999. He also was named a recipient in 1969 of the Keeter Service Award, the highest honor for alumni of HSU, and was inducted into the school's athletic hall of fame. He was an active Texas Baptist Men Retiree Builder and was president of Texas Baptist Men from 1986 to 1989 and from 1992 to 1994. He took part in 147 building projects. He was president of the TBM Forever Foundation at the time of his death. He was an active member and deacon at First Church in Dallas 40 years. He was preceded in death by his wife of 53 years in 2003. He is survived by his daughters, Dana Smith, Deon Spearman and Darice Rutledge; sisters, Patsy Dillard and Barbara Miles; eight grandchildren; and one great-granddaughter.

Licensed

Paul Harris to the ministry at First Church in Carey.

Ordained

Brandon Webb to the ministry at Westbury Church in Houston.

Justin Lopez to the ministry at Alamo Heights Church in Port Lavaca.

Brent Neumann to the ministry at First Church in Denton.

Rodney Norville to the ministry at Lindale Church in Houston.

Archie Baker as a deacon at Midway Church in Dayton.

Thomas Burke as a deacon at Westbury Church in Houston.

Rob Banta, Pat Cullum, Jack Dodgen, Jeff Hampton, Gayle Lawson and Mellissa Moudy as deacons at Wilshire Church in Dallas.

Jody Cummings, Eddie Garner, Brad Moyer and Steve Sappington as deacons at First Church in Lampasas.

John Richey, Neal Edwards and Stan Smith as deacons at First Church in Breckenridge.

Dan Ball, Joseph Booker, Brad Christen, Alan Currie, John Davidson, Ray Ford, James Harkness, Randy Hazlewood, Greg Lowery, Shane Peck and Rick Pitman as deacons at First Church in Friendswood.

Crews McCulloch and Hans Kreupeling as deacons at First Church in Graham.

Alan Waggoner and Lawson Lemons as deacons at First Church in Crowell.

DeValse Cox and Lane Davis as deacons at First Church in Wichita Falls.

Bob Akers and James Brokenbeck as deacons at First Church in Richardson.

Revivals

River Bend Church, Amarillo; Jan. 25-28; evangelist, Bruce Edwards; pastor, Micah Meurer.

Belvue Church, Kermit; Jan. 25-28; evangelists, Bailey Stone and Dennis North; music, Joe McClary; pastor, Gene Cannon.

Posted: 1/23/04

BGCT leaders affirm reorganization

By Marv Knox

Editor

Baptist General Convention of Texas leaders have affirmed Executive Director Charles Wade's intention to bring the convention's structure and budget in line with its priorities.

They expect the process to produce the most comprehensive reorganization of the BGCT and its Executive Board in decades.

Five elected BGCT leaders lent their support to the plan during a Jan. 21 meeting in Dallas.

It calls for Wade and BGCT President Ken Hall to appoint three study committees–one comprised of laypeople with extensive expertise in business and organizational structure, another of leading pastors and the third of Executive Board staff. Each committee will have seven to nine members–“loyal and informed BGCT people.”

The committees will act separately, each considering what must be done to make the convention most effective.

Specifically, they will suggest ways to reorganize and streamline BGCT structure and functions so maximum resources can be channeled to meet spiritual and physical needs across the state.

Each committee will report to Wade, who will work with the officers to analyze the findings and draft a reorganization/implementation proposal.

That proposal is to be presented to the BGCT Administrative Committee April 29-30 and the Executive Board May 25. If approved by the Executive Board, it will go before messengers to the BGCT annual session Nov. 8-9.

Leaders who affirmed the process included BGCT President Hall, president of Buckner Baptist Benevolences in Dallas; First Vice President Albert Reyes, president of Baptist University of the Americas in San Antonio; and Second Vice President Dennis Young, pastor of Missouri City Baptist Church in suburban Houston.

Also Bob Fowler, chairman of the Administrative Committee and a lay member of South Main Baptist Church in Houston, and Wesley Shotwell, vice chairman of the Executive Board and pastor of Ash Creek Baptist Church in Azle.

Wade was attending a funeral and could not participate in the leaders' meeting. Phil Strickland, director of the Texas Christian Life Commission, represented Wade from the Executive Board staff.

David Currie, executive director of Texas Baptists Committed, a political organization created more than a decade ago to protect the convention from fundamentalism, also attended.

The leaders called for reorganization that will strengthen BGCT endeavors, as well as make the convention's resources more accessible and useful to the churches.

“We're about ministry and missions. That's really who we are,” Hall said. “I want to get (the convention's structure) to the practical and not the ethereal. The practical question is: What are the simple handles where the churches can tie in to the BGCT.”

The leaders cited several items they hope will be priority concerns as the reorganization committees do their work:

Educate and support Hispanic Baptists in Texas.

Strengthen partnerships with Baptists in Mexico and South America.

Expand the BGCT's connection with and support for the Baptist World Alliance. Southern Baptist Convention leaders recently proposed eliminating the SBC's support for and participation with the BWA, which affiliates with 211 Baptist conventions around the globe.

Increase support for theological education, particularly at Baylor University's Truett Seminary, Hardin-Simmons University's Logsdon School of Theology and Baptist University of the Americas.

Broaden the convention's racial and ethnic diversity, so that the elected leadership and employed staff of the convention “look like who we are as Texas Baptists.”

Create a “new image” of Texas Baptists across the state that will benefit churches and the convention.

Boost the BGCT's “prophetic public policy presence.”

Strengthen the BGCT's institutions and challenge institutions that are affiliated with the BGCT but “not supportive” of the convention.

Quit processing financial contributions from churches to national conventions, such as the SBC and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

Welcome pastors and churches from other states that wish to affiliate with the BGCT.

Reorganize the Executive Board staff structure to help accomplish the goals.

Although some of the leaders' priorities touch on relationships with the Southern Baptist Convention, proposed reorganization is not fueled by controversy between the conventions, they said.

“This is not about politics; this is about vision,” one said. “We're not going to be a part of this fight anymore. We've got to focus on being more effective in missions, human welfare, public policy, church starting and … all the other tasks we as Texas Baptists face.”

“This is not about the SBC. It's about the future of the BGCT,” Hall insisted.

The need for reorganization is not surprising, Wade said in an interview.

“When we reorganized three years ago, I told the staff, the Administrative Committee and the Executive Board that it wouldn't be the last time we looked at the issues of structure and organization,” he said.

“I have felt for some time we need to take another look at how we are organized as a staff to ensure we are structured in a way that provides for the best possible service to our churches and institutions as we work together to advance the cause of missions throughout our state and around the world.”

The reorganization committees' work will be deliberate and prompt, he predicted.

“I don't intend for this to be an extended or complicated process. I will be looking for their best wisdom and ideas, which I can use to help us be most effective.”

Wade applauded the convention officers' willingness to take on a reorganization process.

“You've always got to be looking for the best way” to do missions and ministry, he stressed. “All of us really do want to stretch the dollars as far as we can and accomplish as much as we can. …

“But the first point is to be as effective as we can be and help the churches–meeting the real needs they have, not just the needs we think they have.”

Posted: 1/23/04

BGCT must change to avoid continued decline, officers say

By Marv Knox

Editor

The Baptist General Convention of Texas must change or continue to decline, the convention's three top officers predicted.

President Ken Hall, First Vice President Albert Reyes and Second Vice President Dennis Young announced their support for BGCT Executive Director Charles Wade's intention to reorganize the convention this year.

As the officers see it, keeping pace with the mammoth changes transforming both Texas and the BGCT is absolutely necessary.

“The evidence reveals the BGCT is a convention of malaise,” Hall conceded. “We're in decline financially. Our people are divided in our churches. They express a lack of concern for the BGCT, which indicates the need for dramatic change.”

The BGCT has lost churches since 1998, when a rival fundamentalist convention formed in the state. In addition, the recent economic recession has meant declining revenues for several years.

Reyes cited those factors as evidence of decline. “Given the indicators we have–numbers of churches, cooperative giving–I would agree we're not in the place where we once were.”

Beyond that, thorough evaluation of the convention is vital, he added, noting, “We have a whole lot of indicators that are not in place.”

For example, the convention does not know how many trained church leaders it will need by 2010.

“We need more scorecards,” Young added.

That's important because the BGCT must understand its strengths and weaknesses, as well as needs of the state and Texas Baptist churches, he said, insisting the convention cannot afford to stand still in the face of swirling change.

“The status quo is dangerous,” Young said. “Whatever the organization, we should ask each day: Can this be done differently?

“Texas demographics are changing, and the status quo is dangerous. With the status quo, there's no vision. The status quo leads to plateauing, and the only place you go is down.”

The officers, who were elected to one-year terms last November, listed several goals for the year–goals that strengthen their resolve to shepherd the convention through change.

“We've inherited the faithfulness of every Baptist who preceded us,” Reyes said. “We have the responsibility of stewardship of that faithfulness.”

Recalling Jesus' parable of the master who entrusted his resources to three of his workers, Reyes called the BGCT a “five-talent organization,” stressing God will hold the convention accountable for how it uses what it has been given.

“We must assess our resources and needs with a blank slate. We may find we have the resources we need. We may have to develop new resources.”

“Or reallocate resources,” Hall added. “Effective institutions, companies and churches occasionally evaluate resources and determine if those resources are being allocated to meet their priorities.

“Much of the BGCT's structure is organized around a 1950s and '60s model for churches. That may be best, but we need to evaluate it in light of our priorities.”

Confronting change responsibly also is a matter of credibility, Reyes said. Texas Baptists entrust their tithes and offerings to their churches, and the churches entrust a portion of those funds to the convention.

“If we don't exercise wise stewardship, then our credibility is called into question,” he explained. “However, if we are responsible, if we are willing to deal with these issues in order to be responsible stewards, then we can generate more trust.”

Another way to confront Texas' demographic changes and build trust is to diversify the convention's leadership, Young stressed.

The current officers reflect some of that diversity. Hall is Anglo. Reyes is Hispanic. Young is African-American. However, that diversity doesn't permeate all spheres of the convention, he noted.

“One of the goals I see is that the convention become even more diversified,” he said.

“We've talked about it, but it hasn't happened. If we're going to reach Texas with the gospel, then our leaders need to be representative of the diversity of the state–Anglo and Hispanic and African-American and Asian-American and all the groups that make up Texas.”

Such diversity will “add value to the kingdom” of God as outsiders see the convention's inclusive, affirming nature, he predicted.

That points to a key priority for the convention–missions and ministry, Reyes suggested.

“I know that sounds simplistic, but it's basic, helping churches do what they say their mission is,” he said. “And each church's mission will be slightly different, according to its context and needs. We shouldn't presuppose we know what the churches need.”

Responding to churches' needs is critical, Hall concurred. “Missions and ministry is a domestic, local, state, national and worldwide issue. We must help churches and individuals fulfill the Great Commission. … And on the ministry side, I see the issues primarily in the areas of education and human justice. You can't do one without the other.”

In addition to confronting demographic and social change, the BGCT must respond to apathy toward the convention, particularly among laypeople and younger pastors, the officers agreed.

“If the BGCT went through an organizational paradigm shift–toward service, helping the churches be effective according to the missions they have set for themselves, if we went to apathetic pastors with offers to help, that would turn the focus of the convention on the churches,” Reyes predicted.

“If we were not projecting needs and solutions, but asking, 'What are your church's greatest needs, and how can we help you meet them?' then it would not be a hop, skip and a jump for the churches to support the BGCT.”

That's how WorldconneX, the BGCT's new missions movement, got started, Young said, noting, “We asked the churches how we could help them meet their needs.”

“Apathy with the BGCT is due to the status quo,” he said.

“If there were a change, if the convention were to help the churches according to their individualistic scenarios, you would see apathy derailed.”

Since two of the three officers are presidents of BGCT institutions, they acknowledged some Texas Baptists may question if they have conflicts of interest over convention reorganization. But they noted the convention also has come full circle back to historical precedent.

“It was pastors in the 1800s who created our oldest institutions,” Reyes said, pointing to a chronological progression.

“It was institutions that trained our pastors, who started churches, which organized associations and started the convention. … We're right in line with our heritage.

“And just because we're institutional leaders does not mean we're not loyal Texas Baptists who are concerned about winning our state to Christ.”

Hall attributed his election to his institutional position.

“Don't think the president was elected because of his extraordinary gifts, but because I'm president of Buckner,” he said.

“Our founder (R.C. Buckner) was there at the beginning of the convention, served as convention president for 19 years during some of its darkest days and presided with a rose in his hand, leading the convention to reconciliation.”

Citing the BGCT's 23 institutions by name, Hall said: “The BGCT only has a bright future when it rallies around its strengths and not its weaknesses. We are some of its strengths.”

The officers affirmed their role in the midst of changing circumstances.

“The people who asked us to run said, 'We need dramatic change,'” Hall reported as the other two nodded in agreement. “We've been perceived as change agents.”

“Everything about our society has gone through radical change, from technology to demographics,” Reyes said.

Organizations that refuse to change are doomed to failure, he added.

“We must ask two questions: What's our business? How's our business?” he added.

“We have the opportunity to lead, to say, 'This is how you stay effective in a post-modern, post-Christian … era.'”

Posted: 1/23/04

Baptist Briefs

BWA comes to Texas. Baptist World Alliance President Billy Kim and BWA General Secretary Denton Lotz will address a rally at Plano's First Baptist Church, 1300 E. 15th St., at 7 p.m. Jan. 27. The event also will feature performances by the 60-member children's choir from Central Baptist Church of Suwon, Korea. Earlier that day, the choir will present a chapel concert at Dallas Baptist University, and Kim will speak during a luncheon at the university.

FBC Dallas sets Lottie record. First Baptist Church of Dallas gave more than $1 million through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for international missions in 2003, more than four times its gift the previous year. It was twice as large as the biggest sum ever sent through the Lottie Moon Offering to fund Southern Baptists' mission work beyond North America. As of Dec. 28, the church's offering stood at $1.16 million.

Patterson appoints first faculty. Steven Smith has joined the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary faculty as professor of preaching, and Octavio Esqueda has been named professor of Christian education and administration. They mark the first presidential faculty appointments by Paige Patterson at Southwestern. Smith, the son of evangelist Bailey Smith, has been pastor of Salem Baptist Church in Richmond, Va., for eight years. He is a graduate of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and holds a doctor's degree from Regent University. He has served on the Southern Baptist Convention's Committee on Committees and Committee on Resolutions, and he has been president of the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia pastors' conference. Esqueda, a graduate of the University of Guadalajara in Mexico, received a master of arts in Christian education degree from Dallas Theological Seminary and a doctor of philosophy degree from the University of North Texas.

New Orleans approves new housing. New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary trustees have approved a new suite-style apartment for single students. The complex will house 120 students and is expected to be open for occupancy in January 2005.

CBF sponsors retreat. The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship will sponsor its annual "current" retreat for young leaders Feb. 18-21 at Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas. Worship leaders include Wilshire Pastor George Mason, Diana Garland of Baylor University and David Burroughs of Passport. For more information about the retreat schedule and registration, see www.currentonline.org.

Endowed chair established. New Orleans Seminary received a gift from William and Carolyn Heard to establish the Greer-Heard Chair of Philosophy and Culture and to fund the Greer-Heard Point-Counterpoint Forum. The Heards endowed the chair to establish a permanent professorship in philosophy. The forum will be a lecture and dialogue series held annually on the New Orleans campus. Speakers will discuss critical issues in philosophy, science, religion and culture from evangelical and secular perspectives.

CBF receives $2 million gift. The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has received a $2 million anonymous contribution from a member of First Baptist Church in Gainesville, Ga. The gift will be distributed among CBF Global Missions and CBF of Georgia in keeping with the donor's wishes.

Akin elected seminary president. Trustees of Southeastern Baptist Theological seminary unanimously elected Daniel Akin as the school's sixth president. Akin, who previously served at Southeastern as assistant professor of theology and dean of students from 1992 to 1996, was vice president for academic administration and dean of the school of theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is a graduate of Criswell College, Southwestern Seminary and the University of Texas at Arlington.