Posted: 10/31/03

A man (left) who came up short in paying the tax collectoir (right) is about to be taken away by Roman guards in one of many scenes portrayed throughout the Bethlehem village in Burnet.

Burnet readies for Bethlehem role

By George Henson

Staff Writer

BURNET–While political unrest will keep tourists away from the city of Jesus' birth this Christmas, more than 20,000 are expected to descend on Bethlehem in the Texas Hill Country.

First Baptist Church of Burnet will mark a decade of turning back time inside its version of Bethlehem–a walled compound at the corner of Boundary and Washington streets.

Ed Keyser, new director of Main Street Bethlehem in Burnet, looks out from a balcony on the inn, where as in the biblical story, there will be no room for Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus. More than 20,000 people are expected to visit the attraction.

On some nights, more people will tour Main Street Bethlehem than the population of the 4,500-person town. In years past, the line to get in has stretched down the block, five people wide.

Event organizers work hard to keep the crowds moving. Entertainers and food vendors also add special interest.

Once inside the walls of the permanent village, guests meet more than 130 actors who portray traveling families living in tents, tavern patrons, merchants, Roman soldiers, tax collectors, jailers, villagers and various craftsmen who actually demonstrate their skills as candle makers, butter and cheese churners, bakers, leather workers, blacksmiths and cane rug makers.

Structures in the small village include a two-story jail and an inn elevated above a stable. As in biblical times, there is no room at the inn for Joseph and Mary, who are forced to find shelter in a hollowed-out cave.

Main Street Bethlehem did not start out nearly so large or populated. Acutally, it started primarily within the confines of Norman Leftwich's mind.

Actors from the community who portray blacksmiths demonstrate their skills.

While driving to Austin on business in 1993, the layman ruminated on a conversation he'd had earlier with his son. He told Leftwich of a church that had built a Bethlehem-like village out of cardboard. Leftwich wondered why his church couldn't do something like that.

He took the idea to his pastor and members of the missions committee, all of whom gave him the go ahead. But he still had to figure out how to make it happen.

Leftwich traveled to Glorieta, N.M., that summer with a group of youth, and while there he tried to figure out how to construct the buildings. At Glorieta, he first drew the designs for structures made of wooden frames with cloth coverings for walls.

From that humble beginning, Main Street Bethlehem has evolved into a village that is more sturdily constructed than most homes.

The wall around the biblical city was constructed in 1997 with prison labor, as were several of the buildings. More elaborate buildings have been constructed in years since, bringing the total number of permanent structures to 11.

Until this year, Mary and Joseph's shelter had been made of wood and straw, but it burned in February. A new birthplace of Jesus, a realistic-looking cave that appears to be cut out of a sandstone ledge, will debut this year.

The village has no electrical lights visible, so open fires and lanterns light the village as it opens to visitors each evening of the re-enactment from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. This year's dates are Dec. 5, 6, 7, 12, 13 and 14. Friday and Sunday evenings are typically less crowded, organizers said.

This also marks the first year Leftwich hasn't directed Main Street Bethlehem. He left First Baptist Church earlier this year to help start a new church. That doesn't mean he isn't still an integral part of things, however, said Main Street Bethlehem's new coordinator, Ed Keyser.

“If Main Street Bethehem has a mother and father, Frankie and Norman Leftwich are it,” Keyser said. “They have given so much time, money, prayer, love and coordination to this event, there wouldn't be this for people to bring their families to without them.”

The Leftwiches also continue to care year-round for the many animals used in the production.

Because of the scope of the production, it has become a community event. Most of the cast members are First Baptist members, but friends from a number of other churches also contribute their time and talents.

“If anyone wants to be involved, we can find a place for them,” Keyser said.

That help may be especially needed on Friday nights if Burnet progresses in the state football playoffs as expected. “A cast member who can step in anywhere is a very valuable person,” Leftwich said.

Typically, cast members develop two or three monologues they repeat throughout the evening, Keyser said. “In five minutes, they have an entirely new group of people, and the ones who heard it the last time have moved on.”

Extensive efforts are made to keep the experience authentic.

“Historical accuracy is a huge focus for us and is one of the things we're continually asking people to help us with,” Keyser said. For example, the prayer bench in the synagogue faces Jerusalem, and women are kept a distance from it. Also, the priest makes sure everyone knows the birds carried in cages hanging from a yoke on a woman's shoulders are not for sacrifice. “Sacrifices are only done in Jerusalem,” he explained.

Most of all, the Burnet Baptists want to keep Jesus Christ the focus of Christmas.

“Coming at the beginning of December, we hope this helps families set the tone for the entire Christmas season,” Keyser said. “Already the advertisements have started bombarding children about the newest toys, but we want to remind that the focus of Christmas is the gift that God gave through his Son.”

At Main Street Bethlehem in Burnet, volunteer actors portray a variety of people who would have been found in the biblical town of Bethlehem at the time of Jesus' birth there. Visitors may see tax collectors and Roman guards, camels and other common animals, and craftsmen such as blacksmiths, who actually demonstrate their skills. More than 130 actors, mainly members of First Baptist Church of Burnet, fill the roles. The village has evolved into a permanent structure.

Posted: 10/31/03

Posted: 10/31/03

CBF not a denomination but becoming
more like one, Vestal tells council

By Greg Warner

Associated Baptist Press

ATLANTA (ABP)–The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship is not really a denomination, says CBF Coordinator Daniel Vestal, but it is becoming more like a denomination and indeed functions as one for some churches.

The question of what CBF will become has been a constant topic of speculation and some controversy since the organization was formed by moderate Southern Baptists in 1991. Vestal told members of the group's Coordinating Council CBF has undergone a “progression in the development of our identity.” And while no final answer has emerged, some consensus is developing around the CBF's mission, he said.

Vestal spoke during the council's fall meeting in Atlanta, during which the group adopted a budget goal of $16 million for 2004-05, began a study of funding for “partner” ministries such as seminaries, and agreed to re-evaluate the vacant position of resource center coordinator, the organization's chief operating officer.

The CBF most often describes itself as a “network of churches and individuals.” When it was founded, Vestal said, CBF served as “a relief and rescue operation” for moderate Baptists and their causes.

But it soon became a movement centered on Baptist principles, he said, and in 1993 it became a “missionary sending and supporting organization.”

“In the last three to five years,” he continued, “we have become something of a denomination-like organization for some people.”

“We have about 150 to 175 churches … that do not have any kind of relationship to the Southern Baptist Convention,” Vestal said. For those churches that relate to CBF and no other Baptist body, CBF serves in the role of a denomination or convention, he said.

“When I get past that, however, I get real squishy about numbers,” he added.

About 5,000 churches have contributed funds to and through the CBF since its inception, including about 2,000 that did so last year, Vestal said. But those churches identify with the CBF in various ways and for various reasons, so those relationships become difficult to classify, he said.

“Our emphasis has been not so much on membership as on partnership,” he explained.

While the CBF is taking on more traits of a denomination or convention, Vestal said, “we are not a denominational magisterium, we are not a denominational headquarters, and God knows we are not a denominational authority” for churches.

Instead, Vestal said, CBF is becoming more defined by its vision and mission.

“We are gaining something of a consensus around our vision. We want to be the presence of Christ. We want to incarnate the presence of Christ in the world. Our mission is to serve Christians and churches as they discover and fulfill their God-given mission. And the goal of that mission in every context is to become the presence of Christ.”

Some people use terms like denomination, convention and mission-sending organization to describe CBF, Vestal acknowledged, “but the word 'fellowship' captures us more than any other word because it describes relationships and partnership.”

The Coordinating Council heard about new or expanding partnerships with several other Baptist bodies. In July, CBF was granted membership in the Baptist World Alliance, an international network of Baptist conventions and bodies.

“We can't fully grasp the significance of what that is going to mean for us and for Baptists and for the Baptist witness around the world,” Vestal said. Already the CBF is well known and respected by BWA members, Vestal said, adding, “Our missionaries are held in high esteem around the world.”

Additionally, the CBF is collaborating with the American Baptist Churches in the USA, the Baptist General Convention of Texas, the Baptist General Association of Virginia, the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas, the North Carolina Baptist State Convention, the District of Columbia Baptist Convention and Canadian Baptist groups, among others.

Philip Wise, pastor of Second Baptist Church in Lubbock and chair of the Coordinating Council's finance committee, reported that through the first three months of this fiscal year, which began in July, revenues are keeping pace with the budget. That is an improvement over last fiscal year, when the CBF had to reduce its budget.

The council adopted a “not-to-exceed” figure of $16,008,000 for the 2004-05 annual budget, the same as the reduced budget for 2003-04. Specifics of the budget will be drafted by the CBF staff and presented to the council later in the year.

The study of partner funding was prompted in part by budget constraints that forced CBF last year to cut funding for its partners, which include 13 theological schools, the Baptist Joint Committee, Associated Baptist Press, Baptists Today, the Baptist Center for Ethics and others.

The study committee's assignment included a suggestion to reduce CBF funding of partners by another 30 percent. Vestal said he is aware of “a lot of anxiety among our partners” over the study.

The partner study committee met for the first time during the council meeting. Chair Charles Cantrell of Mountain View, Mo., reported the group began by defining the questions the committee needs to address and setting the parameters for the committee.

“My hope is that this process can be about far more than money,” Vestal said. “I want it to be a celebration of our partners.”

The personnel committee announced it is evaluating the scope of the resource center coordinator position, which became vacant in August when Reba Cobb resigned to accept another position. A search committee was named.

Posted: 10/31/03

BGCT-endorsed chaplains urged
to keep going, to fulfill their calls

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

BURNET–Comparing chaplains to marathon runners, Bob Vickers urged chaplains endorsed by the Baptist General Convention of Texas to “finish the race” of fulfilling their call.

Chaplaincy is a seed-sowing ministry, Vickers reminded nearly 100 chaplains at a BGCT-sponsored retreat at Camp Buckner. While people may not necessarily come to Christianity in front of the chaplain's eyes, the ministers lay the foundation for other believers to build upon, said Vickers, former director of chaplaincy for the Southern Baptist Convention's North American Mission Board.

Unfortunately, many chaplains feel isolated in their work, Vickers said. They believe few people inside or outside the church understand their servant ministry. There is no visible crowd to appreciate a chaplain's individual efforts meeting needs in various settings.

“You're trying to go along and do what you know God is calling you to,” Vickers said. “You strive for the finish line. You know it's out there, but you're doing it alone.”

Because chaplains do not always see the results of their work, they can begin to wonder if they have an impact, the former military chaplain said. But their ministry is powerful, he testified.

David Sandifer, a Kentucky military chaplain, told the story of how he bonded with a young man years ago. The boy followed him around, and the duo went to movies and did other activities together.

One day, the chaplain told the boy to get a haircut before they went to the movies. The boy ran down the street to meet the chaplain at the movies with a military buzz cut to be just like him.

The chaplain eventually had to move away, and the two lost contact with each other. Years later, when the minister was teaching younger chaplains how to hold a service in a combat situation, he told the story and mentioned the kid's name.

A young chaplain smiled and told the minister, “Let me tell you the rest of the story.”

The boy had grown up and become involved in a traveling ministry team in college. He led that young chaplain to faith in Christ one night in a Southern Baptist church, Sandifer said, tears rolling down his face.

“I think there are a lot of time we wonder if what we do makes any difference. My friends, it does,” Vickers affirmed.

Chaplains must cling to the purpose of making a difference in people's lives in the name of Christ, Vickers urged. This will spur them to continue their ministry no matter the obstacles–self-created or from outside sources.

“Even though some things did not turn out well for me in the job I loved with all my heart, the race goes on,” said Vickers, who by some accounts was forced out of his NAMB job due to denominational politics. “I keep serving.”

No matter how difficult the work becomes or how alone a chaplain feels, a heavenly crowd is cheering them on, Vickers said as he spoke from Hebrews 12:1-3. The encouragers spur ministers to complete their calling.

“There's this cloud of witnesses that is cheering us on,” he said. “Even though you feel like you are alone, they are there urging you to the finish line.”

Posted: 10/31/03

Personal stories called pathway to faith

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

BURNET–Stories may be the pathway to faith, but few believers know how to put their personal narratives together, according to a Houston chaplain.

The minister's role is to help people put the pieces together, said Steve Spidwell, a Presbyterian chaplain at Texas Medical Center.

Every story includes change, but individuals do not consciously mark life changes, Steve Spidwell told chaplains.

People often have snippets of their faith stories, but they have not thought about how those parts connect, he said.

Every story includes change, but individuals do not consciously mark life changes, he added. ”A story is something that moves with a flow and has a crux to it. There's got to be change. What happens is for many of us change happens on a level we don't realize.”

Change is not a singular event, Spidwell reminded nearly 100 people at the Baptist General Convention of Texas Chaplains Retreat. It happens through a series of events that sway a person's perspective.

Churches should remember this notion in discipleship, the chaplain noted, explaining that personal mountains and valleys will happen, but how believers respond is important.

“That is how life is. It is not a straight line,” he said. “It is filled with dips and incredible reversals. We have not told their story very well. It is not if bad things happen. It is when bad things happen, this is what faithful people do.”

Church leaders should help people realize the changes they are experiencing and show how to put them together to provide depth to their faith, Spidwell said. The resulting stories speak to the heart of people and help give meaning to their beliefs.

For ministers to do that, they first must examine their own lives and determine their own stories, Spidwell suggested. They must know what has strongly affected them as people. They must know the perspective and bias they bring to each situation.

Gathering the narrative involves being a good listener, Spidwell added, noting that listening for what a person leaves out can be as important as hearing what they say.

Ministers serve at unique points in people's lives that make it easier for them to tie stories together, Spidwell reported.

Posted: 10/31/03

Oldest Chinese church faces toward the future

By Craig Bird

Special to the Standard

SAN ANTONIO–The past is a great place to visit, but it's not where First Chinese Baptist Church of San Antonio believes God wants the church to dwell.

That was the unofficial but unifying theme as the oldest Chinese church in the Southern United States celebrated its 80th anniversary.

First Chinese Baptist Church's longest serving pastor, Alvin Louis (1979-89) greets the church's oldest member, 102-year-old Sai-Mun Wong, during anniversary festivities.

Three days of activities and a series of messages from former pastors–delivered in person, by video or in writing–re-enforced the “Congregational Vision Summary” that Pastor Timothy Yin presented to the congregation. The detailed, four-pronged challenge covered ministry to God, ministry to believers, local missions and world missions.

This vision presents an ambitious stretch for a congregation that averages 150 in worship attendance. But, Yin insisted, it is both a faithful response to the opportunities God has given the church and a logical continuation of what God has done in and through the congregation over the past decades.

“We desire to live our vision, not just talk it,” Yin explained. “Everything we do as a church should relate directly to evangelism or missions or discipleship.”

First Chinese Baptist Church didn't wait for the anniversary to get started with new plans. Within the past six months, the church has begun a Bible study program for children that is attracting new families, launched a Chinese school to teach Mandarin that already is running out of classroom space, approved hiring a college/youth minister, and begun meeting in cell groups for discipleship.

Yin, a 2000 graduate of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, is in his first pastorate after a 25-year career as a civil engineer with Shell Chemical Co. He admits that “changing traditions and concepts in an 80-year-old church is difficult unless God's Spirit is guiding those changes.”

Opening day at the Chinese Gospel Hall on May 22, 1921

With estimates of the Chinese population of San Antonio ranging from 8,000 to 20,000 and a steady influx of new Chinese immigrants and students, the opportunity is vast.

Alvin Louis, the longest-serving pastor in the church's history, was the featured speaker at the Sunday morning worship service.

“We are not called to be a cultural or social club,” said Louis, pastor of Chinese Independent Baptist Church in Oakland, Calif. “We are called to be soldiers for Christ.”

Staying true to the vision, the anniversary activities contained strong elements of outreach. A Friday evening potluck dinner and concert by a Chinese Christian rock band from Austin was promoted as an opportunity for members to invite unchurched friends and neighbors, as was a family carnival and free hot dog and fried chicken dinner on Saturday.

After the Sunday service, another free meal, this one catered from a local Chinese restaurant, served up big portions of reminiscing, aided by a slide show that projected history and memories for all to see.

There were images of the 257 Chinese who followed Gen. John “Black Jack” Pershing out of Mexico to escape the ethnic cleansing vowed by Pancho Villa, photos of the Chinese Gospel Hall where Christian converts from that group worshipped before organizing First Chinese Baptist Church, reminders of more recent youth camps, revivals, pastors, weddings, parties, mission trips and building projects.

For almost-70-year-old Shewsun “Sonny” Lew, who has attended the church all his life, it was a special time indeed.

“In the 1980s, the Southern Baptist Convention told us there was no need for Chinese churches, that we would just blend in with the Anglo churches as we learned English,” he pointed out. “Now look at where we are and where we want to go.”

Posted: 10/31/03

ANOTHER VIEW: Healthy faith leads to healthy life

By David Gushee

Abundant research evidence now demonstrates a connection between spirituality, moral choices and health. Some of us are, quite literally, making ourselves sick through our spiritual emptiness and misdirected moral choices. Others are moving toward health by reconnecting to God and to the resources of faith.

Harold Koenig of Duke University has argued from research data that church attendance, religious practices and good health are correlated. He reported on a six-year study of 4,000 people over the age of 64. The report found that frequent attendance in religious services was correlated with a lower risk of dying, lower blood pressure and healthier immune systems. He also claimed that prayer “boosts morale, lowers agitation, loneliness and life dissatisfaction, and enhances the ability to cope.”

David Gushee

Similarly, a Dartmouth Medical Center study found that one of the best survival predictors among 232 heart surgery patients was “the degree to which they drew comfort and strength from religious faith and prayer.” A study of AIDS patients at the University of Miami linked long-term survival to prayer and volunteering. A University of Pennsylvania physician has documented changes in blood flow in the brain during prayer and meditation. Other studies have shown connections between spirituality and the prevention of illness, recovery from illness and coping during illness.

If we were made for relationship with God, it makes sense that alienation from our Creator can at times lead to a soul-sickness that often is intimately related to physical illness.

Joanne Coyle, a European researcher, has sifted through these various studies to argue that three main dimensions of spirituality are showing a positive impact on human health. I would restate these dimensions as transcendence, values and community.

Transcendence, the first dimension, means both connectedness with God and development of the potential of the self. Studies are showing that patients who experience such transcendence find meaning and purpose in life and can thus find meaning in illness and in battling it. They enjoy higher levels of motivation to get healthy or recover from illness. And they are more likely to find peace and serenity amid their condition, often rooted in a sense of trust in God's provision.

Second, we have values. Values establish and motivate conformity with rules, principles and goals that affect behavior in health-enhancing ways. Studies routinely show that participation in religious communities reinforces values beneficial to human health, such as prohibitions against drug use, smoking and the abuse of alcohol. More broadly, a religious emphasis on stewardship of the human body and its ultimate “ownership” by the divine Creator reinforces a sense of responsibility to treat it right.

The third dimension is community. Here spirituality aids health by connecting people to religious congregations whose practices provide structure to life and offer love and support. Prayer, attendance in worship, involvement in small groups and organized volunteer activities all have been correlated with enhanced health. Conversely, various studies have found a relationship between lack of emotional support and religious involvement and higher risk of life-threatening illness.

A Christian newcomer to this literature finds a striking confirmation of some of the essential convictions of the historic Christian tradition:

A relationship exists between all aspects of the human self. The person is a body-soul unity rather than a mind-body duality. So, if our minds and emotions are sick, our bodies are likely to be sick as well. We are not disembodied spirits, and our bodies are not mere machines.

Bad choices and health are related. Certainly not all illnesses are caused by bad choices, but many are. A number of illnesses are caused by distorted thinking, destructive habits and damaged relationships and are not just fluke maladies that invade our bodies.

A relationship exists between a sense of connectedness with God and health. If we were made for relationship with God, it makes sense that alienation from our Creator can at times lead to a soul-sickness that often is intimately related to physical illness.

The experiences of community and health are related. God said of Adam, “It is not good for the man to be alone,” and the same is true of us. We flourish in the context of meaningful relationships and wither without them.

The relationship between “spirituality” and health does have its limits.

Keen observers will note spirituality can mean many things other than Christian orthodoxy. And even if one's “spirituality” is Christian, that does not mean people should rush out and “use” God or church in order to get well. Prayer and worship are not mere tools, true religion is not some kind of magic potion, and God is not a prescription.

The evidence ultimately points the one struggling in the wilderness toward God himself, not the health benefits that churchgoing or prayer provide.

David Gushee is the Graves Professor of Moral Philosophy at Union University in Jackson, Tenn. His column is distributed by Religion News Service

Posted: 10/31/03

American Baptist leader says
Dobson misrepresented views

Bob Allen

EthicsDaily.com

American Baptists' top leader has accused religious broadcaster James Dobson of misrepresenting the denomination by fostering “untrue, broadly brushed stereotypes” that American Baptists are strongly pro-homosexual.

In an article opposing gay marriage in the September issue of “Family News from Dr. James Dobson,” the Focus on the Family founder described a “virtual avalanche of gay and lesbian advances that have descended on us.”

“On the liberal end of the religious spectrum, the battle is about lost,” Dobson wrote. “The United Church of Christ, the American Baptist Church, Reform Judaism and the Unitarian Universalists permit the ordination of gay clergy and bless same-sex unions in some form.”

In a letter to Dobson, Roy Medley, general secretary of the American Baptist Churches in the U.S.A., said Dobson's depiction “misrepresented” the American Baptist denomination.

“You imply that gay ordination and the blessing of same-sex unions is pervasive throughout the 5,700 local churches and the regional and national organizations that constitute this denomination,” Medley wrote. “This is far from an accurate picture of American Baptist life.”

While American Baptist churches are autonomous and free to act on matters of conscience, Medley said, the “large majority” of congregations would not view the blessing of same-sex unions or the ordination of gays as supported by Scripture.

The denomination's General Board has spoken twice on the issue. A 1992 resolution termed homosexual practice “incompatible with Christian teaching.” About the same time, the General Board issued a statement calling for dialogue on issues of human sexuality, acknowledging a wide spectrum of understandings on the topic.

“This is perfectly consistent with four centuries of Baptist thought and practice, where dialogue and respectful disagreement have brought clarity to issues and affirm the Baptistic distinctives of soul liberty and the sanctity of the individual conscience,” Medley wrote.

Medley said he had been contacted by a number of American Baptists who support Dobson but were disappointed by his depiction of their denomination.

“I am disappointed that you did not take the time and effort to genuinely understand who American Baptists are before you so readily characterized 5,700 autonomous but interdependent congregations,” Medley said.

Posted: 10/31/03

DOWN HOME:
Furious moments & fervent thanks

Take some deep breaths. Feel your heart beat. Name five people you love. Now, thank God you've still got breaths to breathe and a heart to beat so you can go on loving them.

I admit I took breaths and heartbeats and, yes, even the love of family and friends a little bit for granted until a couple of Sundays ago.

Joanna, our daughter Molly, Molly's friends Ashton and Malsi, and I neared the end of a great weekend. We had driven from our home in Lewisville out to Abilene for Hardin-Simmons University's homecoming.

MARV KNOX Editor

Hardin-Simmons' homecoming is a festive affair for our household: Joanna and I graduated from HSU 24 years ago, and we love that school. That's especially true now, since Lindsay, our oldest daughter, is a sophomore there. We appreciate any excuse to drive out and shower our big girl with hugs and kisses.

Homecoming '03 lived up to its billing. We got to share some meals with Lindsay. The Cowboys won their football game in overtime. All-School Sing was terrific. And we visited with friends we hadn't seen in ages.

But eventually we had to go home, and as we entered Weatherford, we drove in a downpour. That's why the driver of an 18-wheeler bound for Mississippi didn't see our car beside his trailer as he pulled into our lane.

The truck forced us off the road on the left. We hydroplaned right, then left, as I struggled to get back onto and stay on the highway. The left swerve propelled us through the median, where we struck a culvert that slowed us so we stopped–perpendicular to traffic in the westbound lanes of Interstate 20. In the corner of my eye, I saw two 18-wheelers bearing down on the passenger side of our car, where Jo and Molly sat. Fortunately, our engine had not died and responded when I stomped on the gas.

We wound up facing west on the far side of the highway after swerving out of control on the eastbound lanes, plowing through the median, stalling on the westbound lanes and never once touching another car or truck.

Someone asked what I thought during those furious moments, which remain amazingly clear in my mind. The struggle with an out-of-control vehicle is instinctive, not rational, but I remember thinking we were going to pull out OK until we hydroplaned. As we halted sideways on the Interstate, I thought about how vulnerable and exposed Jo and Molly were with those trucks racing toward us.

My life didn't “pass before my eyes,” and the Lord protected me from panic. I didn't fear death, not because I've led a blameless life, but because Jesus is my Savior and “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.”

But standing on the side of the road, my knees nearly buckled as I thought about how close we had come to leaving Lindsay all alone.

Thank God for life and for the loves of your life. Never take either for granted.

Posted: 10/31/03

EDITORIAL:
Promise & peril of president's plan

President Bush's latest trip to Texas illustrates why he's enamored with faith-based initiatives and points to the peril of government entanglement in religion.

The president visited Dallas Oct. 29 to shine a spotlight on Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, already one of the brightest lights in the south part of the city. The trip commemorated completion of the new $25 million, 172,000-square-foot Christian Education Center that houses the church's school, athletics facilities and outreach ministries. It's home base for Project Turnaround, the mentoring program that helps children and youth avoid gangs and drugs.

“I'm glad to be with people who are transforming a community one heart and soul at a time,” Bush declared. Who wouldn't? Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship has grown from 10 people meeting in Pastor Tony Evans' home in 1976 to 7,000 members today, plus ministries that touch many times that number. The church could be Exhibit A in any discussion of how faith-based initiatives can change lives and communities, and it has done so without government funding.

“For the sake of so many people in need, this country should support the armies of compassion,” Bush said. “… Our government should support the good work of people who are changing America.”

While the president's desire to support “armies of compassion” is commendable, his advocacy of government funding of faith-based initiatives is fallacious at several points.

First, Bush represents a political philosophy that distrusts government and wants less government involvement in people's lives. But on this score, he's willing to entangle government in that most sacred and separate of institutions, the church.

Advocates of Bush's brand of faith-based initiatives will argue just the opposite–that he's trying to turn over to religious groups activities that have been bungled by government bureaucracy. That sounds reasonable, but anyone who paid attention in high school civics class knows better. What government funds, it inevitably regulates. So, when government money flows into church coffers, government regulations and entanglement follow.

Do you see the irony? The very bureaucracy blamed for causing government initiatives to fail will be inserted into the structure of faith-based ministries. This is like planting weeds among the wheat and still expecting a bumper crop.

Some might counter that government should give the money to faith-based initiatives and then back out, refuse oversight, decline supervision. The president already has experience with organizations that handle money with timid or no government oversight: Enron, Worldcom, Tyco. That would be terrific for the church.

Second, the president's desire to fund faith-based initiatives defies the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion … .” But wait, strict constitutional interpreters say, Congress isn't making any laws. Exactly. Congress has declined, because many lawmakers understand the Constitution. So, the president has attempted to circumvent the clear intent of the Constitution by executive order. Another irony–a rigid constitutional interpreter who sidesteps the Constitution when it does not serve his purposes.

Third, faith-based initiatives already have presented a legal paradox. An important tenet of faith-based anything is the ability to follow the dictates of religious belief. In this case, that would include the freedom to discriminate in employment due to religious understandings. So, if a faith-based ministry receives government funding, either (a) it will submit to government guidelines that forbid discrimination in employment or (b) the government will sponsor religious discrimination. Churches should not be expected to forego their beliefs, just as government should not be expected to support discrimination.

The president makes a good point: Faith-based initiatives do seem to excel at changing lives. The challenge is to support them without defying the Constitution, undermining religious liberty and corrupting the ministries themselves.

He should work toward success by taking more modest but reasonable steps:

Provide generous tax incentives for contributions to faith-based initiatives. Allow the money that supports them to flow directly from Americans' pocketbooks, not through the government.

Use his “bully pulpit” to encourage giving to faith-based initiatives. He can make charitable giving a badge of patriotism and honor, morally compelling all Americans to lend support.

Lead by example. Every year, we know how much he makes. Let's see at least a tithe go to support faith-based initiatives.

–Marv Knox
E-mail the editor at marvknox@baptiststandard.com

Posted: 10/31/03

EDITORIAL:
World hunger merits response

Little things make a difference, even when you look at the big picture. Take hunger, for example.

All over the world, people are so poor they go to sleep hungry every night. That's not hunger like most Texas Baptists know it, when the preacher goes too long on Sunday morning and our stomachs growl or when we're too busy to stop for lunch and feel like we're “starving” by late afternoon. No, it's deep hunger, malnutrition. Mothers too undernourished to nurse, fathers too weak to work, children dying before they're old enough to go to school if, indeed, they have a school to go to.

All this is horrifying enough, but then one detail brings it right on home. Maybe you saw it in the last Baptist Standard: Americans spend almost 50 times more on fast food than they do on helping poor children. The average U.S. household provides only $5 a year to assist children in poverty, and half of all households had not donated anything to help the poor in the past year.

Wesley Stafford, president of Compassion International, which sponsored the survey with the Barna Research Group, offers an out: “Although it is a disappointment that so many Americans don't feel responsibility for children in poverty, I believe more would participate if they knew who to trust and what to do.”

Well, then, Texas Baptists have no excuse. Every year leading up to Thanksgiving, the Baptist General Convention of Texas collects the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger. Guided by the BGCT Christian Life Commission, the offering provides funds to alleviate hunger and root causes of poverty in Texas, throughout the United States and around the world.

The offering goal this year is $1 million, only a crumb to feed a multitude, but enough to make a difference. It covers:

$36,200 for Mexico and Canada, to support such ministries as building sanitary latrines to break the cycle of disease and providing tuberculosis screenings for refugee children.

$195,800 for Texas, primarily to supply church-based food banks, but also to help fund such ministries as medical clinics and educational programs in at least 17 communities.

$120,000 for nine U.S. states and Puerto Rico. The money will stock food pantries; teach nutrition, job skills and English as a second language; support adult literacy workshops.

$90,000 for Central and South America and $144,000 for Africa, to help families with subsistence farming projects, dig wells for safe drinking water and provide nutrition supplements for children.

$25,000 for Eastern Europe and $78,000 for the Middle East, to supplement the diets of malnourished families, provide agricultural resources and supply clothing.

$111,000 Asia and the Far East, to convert waste to methane gas, provide vocational training and deliver food.

$200,000 for emergency response to meet other urgent and critical needs worldwide.

Make sure your church collects the offering, and give generously. Let's break the cycle of indifference to hunger.

Posted: 10/31/03

LifeWay Explore the Bible Series for Nov. 9

Paul desires 'good things to run wild' in hearts

Colossians 1:24-2:5

By John Duncan

Lakeside Baptist Church, Granbury

G.K. Chesterton in his book “Orthodoxy” commented: “And the more I considered Christianity, the more I found that while it established a rule and order, the chief aim of that order was to give room for the good things to run wild.”

Paul names four things in Colossians 2:2-3 that Christ delivers to the heart, things that run wild when Christ fills the soul–comfort (a Spirit of help), love (Christ's sacrificial love), riches of assurance, treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Paul identifies with the struggle of the Colossian church. He yearns for the church to acknowledge God's good things, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory (1:27). The hope of glory provides inspiration in the struggle and eternal assurance for future days. Paul never strays far in these verses from “Christ in you.” Christ's work in his people builds lives as well as Christ's church. Apart from hope, the good things of God merely survive rather than run wild. What good things did Paul address?

Comfort

Paul's theme of comfort comes through the work of God's Spirit based upon the suffering of Christ (1:24). Christ bridges the gap between our imperfections and his perfection. His suffering on our behalf for our sin qualifies him to understand and to comfort the sufferings in our lives. Christ's comfort instills hope that in turn encourages believers in the crisis of life and ministry.

Paul desires God's comfort to run wild in their lives. Paul never loses sight of the personal nature of God's suffering or the indispensable ministry of comfort for the church to the local community. There is no church without Christ, and there is no church without a Christ-centered mission to the local community.

Sacrificial love of John 3:16

Another good thing Paul wishes to run wild is Christ's love. Love anchors the gospel. Love ministers through the servants of Christ. Love unites the church in purpose and mission (2:2). Christ's love brings the church together, holds the church together, and effectively ministers through the church.

Paul's concern is expressed as he struggles (literally, “agonizes”), concerned and longing to see the Colossians (2:1). The tender pastoral heart of Paul creates an inner agony whereby he might minister to them Christ's love. He also longs to instruct them in the bonds of Christ's love that can hold them together when the world seeks to pull them apart. Love conquers all. Paul wanted God's love to run wild in the Colossian church and for it to impact the community.

Riches of assurance

The Gnostics who denied Jesus' humanity sought to undermine the gospel with philosophical sophistication. Paul aimed for simplicity–Christ's love.

In the simplicity of the gospel that Paul taught, he created assurance, not doubt, in reference to Jesus (2:2). Assurance meant Christ was certainty in a world of uncertainty. The assurance of Christ led to a right knowledge (literally, “gnosis”), based not upon speculative philosophy, but upon the simple cross of Christ along with his resurrection (1:23-29; 2:2-3). Paul purposed the gospel so it would produce truth and certainty in an abundance (John 10:10) of spiritual wealth supplied by Christ. One feels the early church experienced a world of doubt and confusion. Paul wanted the good thing of Christ's assurance to run wild in them.

Paul addresses the fact that life cannot be put in a box or set to a fixed formula. The Christian lives by faith (1:23) and practices faith surrounded by the mystery of God (2:2). Describing “Christ in you, the hope of glory” as the mystery of Christ meant that in serving Christ there is always more of him to know and so much more to seek in relationship. Paul moves toward focusing on spiritual roots and spiritual growth (2:7-10).

The mystery of Christ does three things–gives us pause to pray; keeps us seeking Christ to know him more; and produces a humility of dependence and trust in God because we do not have every aspect of life perfectly placed like pieces of a puzzle or solved like a mathematical equation. The mystery of Christ runs wild when insight into him deepens.

Treasures of wisdom and knowledge

Growing spiritually means gaining insight into the treasure of Christ (2:2-3). His treasure comprises two things: (1) wisdom, the right application of knowledge in practical living; and (2) knowledge, the right understanding of truth as it relates to Christ's suffering. Paul combated worldly wisdom and knowledge. This treasure changed Paul, transformed the Colossians and empowered the church.

In fact, Paul ministers this treasure (1:25). He gains insight into Christ by God's word and encourages others to gain insight by announcing this treasure to others (1:28). How did Paul deliver the treasure of Christ? He did it three ways: (1) preaching: “to proclaim far and wide” (A.T. Robertson); (2) warning or correcting wrong thinking and application of knowledge; and (3) teaching, the step-by-step process of making disciples through disciplined individual instruction about Christ and his church. All in all, Paul earnestly desired for the hope of glory as God's primary good thing to run wild in the people, the church and the community.

Question for discussion

What do want to run wild in your heart?