Posted: 2/26/08

New exec pledges to lead BGCT to
discover & fulfill ‘kingdom assignment’

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

DALLAS—Commitment to a “kingdom assignment”—ensuring every person in Texas has the opportunity to respond to Christ by Easter 2010—can help unite Texas Baptists, Randel Everett told the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board just prior to his election as executive director.

The board voted 78-6 to elect Everett, pastor of First Baptist Church in Newport News, Va., as executive director at a Feb. 26 meeting in Dallas. He succeeds Charles Wade, who retired Jan. 31. Jan Daehnert is serving as interim executive director until Everett assumes the executive’s post in April.

Chairman Ken Hugghins of Huntsville noted the executive director search committee “came to unanimity” in recommending Everett after seeking God’s direction and listening to Texas Baptists.

Everett’s commitment to historic Baptist principles, effectiveness as a communicator, lack of political agenda, ability to build coalitions, cultural sensitivity, theological soundness, and passion for missions and evangelism led the committee to recommend him, Hugghins said.

“Randel Everett cares about Texas, and he cares about people worldwide,” he said. “He cares across ethnicities and across generations. He relates well to people.”

God has a “kingdom assignment” for Texas Baptists as they seek to share the gospel in an increasingly diverse context, Everett told the board.

“We no longer live in Acts 2,” when the Apostle Peter was able to address an audience with a shared understanding about God’s acts in Israel’s history, Everett said.

“We live in a pluralistic Acts 17 world,” he continued, comparing postmodern culture to the time when the Apostle Paul addressed a philosophically and theologically diverse crowd at Mars Hill.

Many non-Christians today remain unimpressed by rational, linear evidence or proof of the gospel, but they crave something spiritual beyond themselves, he added.

“They want authenticity,” he said. “They want hope.”

Everett challenged Texas Baptists to take risks and set high goals, casting off anything that weighs them down and encumbers them.

“If we are not operating in the arena where great failure is a possibility, we are not operating in the arena of faith,” he said.

Challenging Texas Baptists to discover and fulfill their “kingdom assignment,” he presented a two-year evangelistic goal.

“By Resurrection Sunday 2010, give every person living in Texas the opportunity to respond to Christ in his own language and context,” he urged.

Rather than categorizing and labeling people, Everett urged Texas Baptists to focus on Jesus.

“Some want to know if I’m an SBC guy or a CBF guy or a BWA guy. I hope you’ll come to the conclusion I’m a Jesus guy,” he said of questions regarding his affinity for the Southern Baptist Convention, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and Baptist World Alliance.

Everett responded to questions from the board regarding:

• Cooperation. A director asked if he would reach out to Christians from “the other state Baptist convention”—the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention.

Everett noted his involvement in a Scripture distribution campaign in Newport News, Va., that included both Baptist General Association of Virginia and Southern Baptist of Conservatives of Virginia churches, as well as congregations of other denominations.

“I pray that we will work with anyone who shares our kingdom assignment,” he said.

• Longevity. Pointing to George W. Truett as a “hero” and model, Everett said as a young pastor, he dreamed of serving one urban congregation 40 years. Instead, most of his pastorates have been relatively short in tenure.

“Almost every church I served was a church in crisis of some kind,” he noted. “That has been the kind of ministry to which it seems we have been called.”

But Everett said he believes the varied experiences as pastor of diverse churches and leader of an educational institution “makes sense” when seen as preparing him for the role of BGCT executive director.

“I hope to spend the rest of my vocational life with you,” he said.

• Unity. A director asked how Everett would promote healing and unity in a climate of “disharmony” among BGCT-related churches.

“I believe we are united around a common goal—a simple, clear vision,” he said.

By uniting around a short-term goal—such as a two-year evangelistic emphasis—Texas Baptists can clarify their identity and begin to discover a longer-range vision, he stressed.

• Diversity. Texas Baptists must demonstrate racial and ethnic diversity, both in terms of staffing and in the selection of people to responsible leadership positions, Everett said.

“If we don’t, it will be at our own peril,” he said.

But Texas Baptists should recognize the opportunity to bridge racial and ethnic divisions as a privilege, not a burden, he stressed.

“I thrive on diversity,” Everett said. “I see it as an expression of the mosaic of God’s love.”

Everett, 58, served nine years as president of the John Leland Center for Theological Studies in Arlington, Va. While he was at the helm, the center received accreditation from the Association of Theological Schools.

His last three years at the Leland Center overlapped the beginning of his pastorate in Newport News. He also served five years at Columbia Baptist Church in Falls Church, Va., a 3,000-member congregation in suburban Washington, D.C.

Previous pastorates were at First Baptist Church in Pensacola, Fla.; First Baptist Church in Benton, Ark.; Inglewood Baptist Church in Grand Prairie; and First Baptist Church in Gonzales. He also was assistant minister of missions at First Baptist Church in Dallas.

Everett was chairman of the Baptist World Alliance’s education and evangelism commission from 2000 to 2005 and has held other positions with the BWA.

He served on the BGCT Executive Board from 1978 to 1979. Other denominational leadership posts included president of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention Executive Board, moderator of Peninsula Baptist Association, trustee of Florida Baptist College, and a member of the national ministry partners study committee and the budget committee for the Baptist General Association of Virginia.

Everett earned his doctorate and master’s degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and his bachelor’s degree from Ouachita Baptist University. He also holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Richmond.

He and his wife, the former Sheila King, have been married 35 years. They have two children—Jeremy, 32, who works as a community ministries director with Baptist Child & Family Services in San Antonio; and Rachel Froom, 28, of Ramrod Key, Fla. They have two grandsons.

Posted: 2/27/08

Bible Studies for Life Series for March 9

Hey yous guys–or, faith in
the second person plural

• 1 Corinthians 3:16-17

By Gary Long

Willow Meadows Baptist Church, Houston

Urban slang of the northeast United States is as rich and as different as the two-step cadence of the Texas drawl. In fact, every region of our country has deeply rooted ways of verbal expression. A notable difference is the word used for the plural second person pronoun. For you non-grammarians I’m referring to “ya’ll” or “yous.”

Allow me to illustrate. When I call all three of my kids to dinner I say, “Ya’ll come downstairs, supper’s on the table.” If I were from Joisey (that’s New Jersey), I would say, “Hey yous, get down for da dinner.” Either way, all three children know I’m talking to all three of them.

What in the world does that have to do with today’s Bible study? A lot, actually.

In 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, Paul is using the second person plural form of the pronoun “you” to speak to the church about being God’s sanctuary. It’s extended imagery that essentially says to the Corinthian church member, “All of you (yous/ya’ll) are the ones who make up the sanctuary of God, you are the body of Jesus.”

In other words, church, we’re in this together.

The primary thrust of this lesson has to do with making morally good choices because we play host to the living God with our bodies as God’s sanctuary, but an important feature of the choices we make is the work of living the faith together. If “no man is an island” unto himself, this is distinctly so, Paul would argue, among those of us who make up the church.

You might call it a “You Plural” kind of faith. Yous Guys. Ya’ll. You’ns.

The church has been criticized fairly by the dominant culture for being hypocritical and divisive. There is, however, a way that you and I as individuals can help overcome our negative reputation. It lies in remembering this: We are the hands and feet of Christ and we are the body of Christ.

While the metaphor may be overused, it is no less accurate due to usage. And if we are the body of Christ, we need to live like we love God. In a world critical of the church, every act of kindness, every act of inclusion, every way you get to know your neighbor, helps gain ground for the church’s reputation.

The church honors God when we live out our inseparable links to one another—faith in Jesus Christ. It’s an invigorating idea to know we are not alone in the faith journey. We can draw precious energy and positive support from one another as we study Scripture, worship together and fellowship with one another. Sometimes church life is just a bowl of blissful togetherness.

Other times, it seems to me the faith journey would be simpler and less argumentative if I didn’t have to deal with the others in my church family. I’ve pondered the perfect church on more than one occasion and basically have decided that at certain times the perfect church would have three things: me, a study, and a steeple. That’s because sometimes I’m embarrassed, frustrated or confused by the things churches do. There are times when I want to just drop the forms of institution and yell “Abandon ship!” to everyone, thinking every person for him or herself would be the ideal.

But for some mysterious reason unknown to me, I never yell “Abandon ship!” For some reason, I stay plugged in to the church despite the bickering and odd ways of shared life. I suppose it has to do with recognizing that the institution of church has been good to me. More than it has been a place of frustration, the church has been a place of refuge, comfort, safety. More than it has been a place of disagreement, the church has been a place of edification, strength and grace in the Gethsemane moments/days/seasons of life.

After all, I don’t think I could teach my preschooler that “God is love” all alone. And I know my teenage daughter wouldn’t be the spiritually mature young lady she is without the care of adults and youth ministers who care passionately about people in the worst phase of all of human development—adolescence. And three weeks ago, when I was stuck on my sofa for six days with the flu, who brought me soup and tissues and oranges? You know who. The body of Christ.

Posted: 2/27/08

Explore the Bible Series for March 9

Learning about God’s faithfulness

• Genesis 29:16-27; 31:1-3, 38-42

By Donald Raney

First Baptist Church, Petersburg

How many times have you heard someone ask, “Where was God when that happened?” Perhaps if you really were honest, you would have to admit you have asked the question. The Bible is full of God’s promises to bless and protect his followers, but the difficulties and tragedies of life can lead even the most mature believer to moments of doubt and questioning those promises.

While this is seen most vividly during times of national crisis, individuals also can experience times of doubt in their daily lives. Perhaps he or she is passed over for a deserved promotion at work or experience unexpected financial or health problems. These questions appear even more acute when we see those around us with no apparent relationship to God prospering.

The story of Jacob presents the reader with a picture of one who gradually came to understand that all he had was due to God’s blessing. From being the deceiver who stole his brother’s birthright and blessing to a man of faith and reliance on God, the life of Jacob can teach us much about the faithfulness of God and how we can come to rely on it. Whether facing deception, hardship or hostility, God calls every believer to maintain faith and trust that God always will remain faithful to us.

Faithful despite deception (Genesis 29:16-27)

It is part of our sinful human nature. In our quest to get the most out of life, we can resort to deception and manipulation of others. We see this every day. Politicians make promises in order to gain votes only to forget them after the election. Advertisers twist and distort facts about their products. Characters on television and in movies lie and cheat to gain the upperhand while the canned laughter response subtly suggests it not only is okay, but humorous. It can be easy to overlook or dismiss such actions until we are the victim of deception.

For most of his life, Jacob lived up to his name, “deceiver.” He had used trickery to gain most of what he had. Knowing this, many, especially those who have been the victim of deception, may come to Genesis 29 and think, “It finally caught up to him. The deceiver was deceived.” Yet these thoughts should not prevent us from seeing that God continued to bless Jacob in fulfillment of his earlier promises. God was faithful in spite of Laban’s deception and, in fact, would use the results of that deception to bless Jacob even more as Leah would give birth to four sons. Jacob’s story teaches us that while the believer may occasionally be deceived by someone else, God’s faithfulness to his word is more than able to overcome human deception.

Faithful despite hostility (Genesis 31:1-3)

In addition to our willingness to deceive to get what we want, humans also possess a predisposition toward hostility in response to a perceived injustice against us. This hostility may not be physical in nature, but always will be an attempt to balance the scales or tear down the one who committed the injustice. This is perhaps most clearly evident in the vast number of personal injury lawsuits filed each year. Whether there is merit in the claims or not, our perception is that we have been injured, and someone needs to pay. In such cases, there is always a victim who is left to wonder why it happened.

During his time living in Laban’s household, God continued to bless Jacob. Genesis 30:25-42 records that God enabled Jacob to acquire a sizeable flock of his own from Laban’s flock. While these verses describe Jacob’s actions in securing the sheep, the reader should not lose sight of the fact that it was God acting on his behalf. This ultimately created jealousy and animosity toward Jacob among Laban’s servants and they sought to turn Laban against Jacob. Their efforts apparently worked as the relationship between Laban and Jacob became strained. Yet God clearly still was working to protect and bless Jacob even to the point of enabling him to return home.

Any believer who desires to “let their light shine” before non-believers should expect to face criticism and even hostility. But we should never forget that God’s faithfulness is certain regardless of what anyone else might do or say.

Faithful despite hardships (Genesis 31:38-42)

Living in line with the promises and purposes of God is hard. A life of surrender to God’s leadership is diametrically opposed to the way the world operates. It is contrary to our natural predispositions. Because of this, our human nature along with forces beyond our control can create difficulties along our path. At these times, it is easy to begin to wonder if we are on the right path or if God is helping us.

Jacob initially had planned to work for Laban seven years. Instead, Jacob had been required to work 20 years. He still bore the divine promises, but still was separated from his home. For 20 years he had toiled, doubtlessly wondering about how, when or even if God’s promises would be fulfilled. He certainly had to ask God numerous times how his current situation and hardships fit into the big picture. Yet God was indeed working in not only blessing Jacob within the situation in spite of the hardships, but also in preparing the way for Jacob’s eventual return to his family home.

Whenever we face problems or hardships in our Christian lives, we need to remember these are not signs God has forgotten or abandoned us. We simply need to raise our eyes, get a look at the larger picture of what God is doing, and praise God he is constantly faithful to his word to us despite our current circumstances.

Posted: 2/25/08

Bible Studies for Life Series for March 2

Did You Take Your Smart Pill Today?

• 2 Timothy 3.16-17

By Gary Long

Willow Meadows Baptist Church, Houston

According to USA Today, Americans are spending more than $1 billion a year on dietary supplements, many of which are aimed at increasing brain power. “You can rub Rogaine into your scalp to try to regain the hairline of your youth. You can inject Botox into your forehead to smooth time's inroads, at least temporarily. And, some scientists predict, you'll eventually be able to pop a pill to freshen up the inside of your head as well.” (USA Today, July 7, 2004).

It seems that many of us want a mental jump start. College kids who aren’t diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) are taking Ritalin to cram for finals. Professional public speakers are popping a drug called Provigil (made to treat narcolepsy) so they’ll be alert during presentations.

What’s this all about? Why are we so eager to be smart that we’re willing to pop pills?

There is a hunger in our culture for knowledge because we believe that in this information age that knowledge equals power.

The apostle Paul would agree.

I would suggest that a great deal more practical knowledge could be gained if we took seriously the guidance offered in 2 Timothy. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3.16-17).

The problem for most of us, though, is that we are a generation (or two or three) of the quick fix, the easy solution, the microwave meal. The reality is that, while Christians would agree that all scripture is God-breathed, few of us are willing to do the work of inhaling God’s word into our souls.

Today’s lesson in Bible Studies for Life tells us that the Bible can help us live confidently in a fearful, uncertain world. Agreed. But today’s lesson also says that we have to make a commitment to study the scriptures on a regular basis. Yea, verily, even daily.

Paul urges Timothy to be brave, to take encouragement in suffering, and to have no shame in the gospel. He tells him to persist in proclaiming proudly the message of Christ, and to keep doing the things he had learned from the Scriptures. Paul assumes that Timothy has studied his Scriptures and has learned the life lessons they contain.

That may have been a safe assumption for Timothy, but it’s not likely a safe assumption for Christians today. Our modus operandi is to find the smart pill, but reality is that the process of being spiritually formed humans requires time, love, and tenderness. Like the nurture of a house plant or a farm crop, growth comes slowly – sometimes it’s visible, and sometimes it’s not. But the bottom line is that it calls on us to put our energy into the discipline of daily reading of Scripture at the same time it calls on us to wait on the work of the Holy Spirit to manifest the teachings of Scripture in meaningful ways.

What’s more, there is sometimes pain in the spiritual growth that comes through the discipline of reading the Scriptures. That’s because, when we submit to the authority of the Bible for living our lives, there is a cost associated with living by the Book. Playing by the rules that the Bible proffers necessarily reshapes our ethics in a countercultural way. Playing by the rules of the Word of God redefines our values, our consumer choices, our parenting, our birthing and our dying.

While submitting to the authority of Scripture is sometimes a painful and hard way of living, it is also a victorious way of life. While God doesn’t necessarily bless or curse based on our moral behavior, there is a certain peace in the believer’s life that comes from living by the Book. The Hebrews refer to this as shalom, or peace and wholeness that comes from God. It is based in the truth that the authority of Scripture in our lives does not provide a set of rules to prevent us from having fun, but rather that Scripture offers wisdom and guidance that protects us from the consequences of bad decisions.

A personal story elucidates this best. Once I went snowboarding with a group of friends. Coming out of a restaurant, one of my friends accidentally picked up a snowboard that didn’t belong to him, rather than his own. He didn’t realize his error until the next morning when we were about to hit the slopes again. He called the rental shop stamped on the board, but couldn’t figure out how to get the board back to the rightful owner, nor could he figure out what happened to his board. We all assumed that the other person had his board.

We snowboarded that day; he used the board he’d inadvertently picked up. The next day we returned to the restaurant and, lo and behold, his board was still there. This is when the ethical conundrum became apparent – he had two boards and one didn’t belong to him.

I could tell that my friend deliberated this a lot. After all, he could have returned to Texas with two boards, both worth well over $300. No one would have ever pursued the matter, after all, insurance would cover the lost board. Even the manager of the restaurant and the worker at the resort lost and found “winked’ and encouraged him to keep the board.

My friend was not content with this alternative. The next morning he diligently tracked down the rental shop and we all departed our vacation early so that he could go 40 miles out of his way to return the board. I asked him privately why he didn’t just keep the board.

His answer?

“I guess I’ve just been readin’ my Bible too much lately.”

Updated: 2/25/08

Meet Our Bible Study Lesson Writers

Gary Long, writer of the Bible Studies for Life series, is a “husband to one wife, father to three children, and pastor to a whole herd at Willow Meadows Baptist Church in Houston.”

Kenneth Jordan, author of the BaptistWay lessons, is pastor of First Baptist Church in Alpine, Texas.

Don Raney, author of the Explore the Bible lessons, is pastor of First Baptist Church in Petersburg. He holds a doctorate in Old Testament from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Posted: 2/22/08

Pastor-politician points to Muslims as
source of Kenyan violence; experts disagree

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

DALLAS—Religious extremism prompted much of the violence surrounding Kenya’s disputed presidential elections, according to a Kenyan expatriate and Baptist pastor who lost a bid for a seat in parliament. But international experts with contacts in the region point to ethnic and political divisions—not religion—as precipitating the bloodshed.

International media reported widespread violence erupted throughout Kenya’s rural areas after the nation’s electoral commission declared incumbent President Mwai Kibaki defeated challenger Raila Odinga, and Odinga’s supporters claimed the voting was rigged.

Solomon Kimuyu

But Solomon Kimuyu, a Dallas resident who has maintained his Kenyan citizenship, said he saw televised images of the violence long before the polls closed, just prior to a media blackout in Kenya. And he asserted members of Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement with close ties to the National Muslim Leaders Forum orchestrated much of the rioting.

Muslim extremists tied to the opposition party pledged long before the election that if certain conditions were not met prior to the Dec. 27 voting, violence would result, he insisted.

But Joel Barkin, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Iowa and senior associate with the Center for Strategic & International Studies, said his sources in Kenya reported no involvement by Muslim extremists in orchestrated violent demonstrations.

“The violence has been interethnic, not religious,” he said.

Barkin pointed to different types of violence surrounding the elections. Some violence was organized, but he insisted it was generated by rival political factions who seized on tribal differences, not fomented by Muslim extremists.

Some violence was spontaneous, breaking out in reaction to the allegations of rigged elections. And some of the violence was caused by police who were “overly aggressive and who killed more than 100 people,” he said.

William Zartman, director of the conflict management program at Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, agreed some violence was planned well in advance of the election.

“Militias were prepared and ready to move,” he said.

But like Barkin, he saw the differences in Kenya in terms of ethnic groups and political parties, not along lines of religion.

“I’ve heard nothing about Muslim involvement,” he said. “Of course, that’s not proof to the contrary. But I don’t see religion as a major element in this conflict.”

Kimuyu, however, insisted he had a one-of-a-kind vantage point for observing the developments surrounding Kenya’s election.

“I was in a unique position as both a pastor and a politician. I was in meetings where I heard what the politicians were saying, and I was in meetings where I heard what the bishops were saying,” he said.

Kimuyu participated in interfaith meetings with religious leaders as a representative of the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya, he explained. And he joined political strategy meetings as a candidate for parliament.

In early fall, Kimuyu appeared almost certainly headed to a parliamentary seat to represent Machakos township, about 35 miles east of Nairobi. He had received the nomination by the Kenya African National Union, he represented the Akamba tribe who dominate the area and polls showed him receiving 80 percent of the expected vote. He was the first Kenyan in the United States—living his what his countrymen call “the diaspora”—to be nominated by a major political party.

But when the party that nominated him was folded into a coalition Party of National Unity, another candidate was given the new party’s endorsement. Kimuyu ran as the United Democratic Party of Kenya candidate, but he was soundly defeated.

While violence in Kenya has been portrayed as a spontaneous reaction to injustice and vote fraud, Muslim radicals planned much of it in advance, Kimuyu insisted.

And while “we will never know” if the election was rigged by the party in control, he maintains voters unquestionably were threatened and harassed by Muslim supporters of the opposition party.

“People were prevented from going to the polls, and people were prevented from counting votes,” he said.

He also pointed to a controversial document the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya posted on its website. It was purported to be a memorandum of understanding between Odinga and his party and the National Muslim Leaders Forum. The document appears to have been signed by Odinga and Sheik Abdullah Abdi on Aug. 29, 2007.

The posted document states Odinga agreed to rewrite Kenya’s constitution within six month to declare Sharia, or Islamic law, legally binding in the country’s Muslim-declared regions in exchange for the Muslim leaders’ endorsement. It also includes provisions banning open-air Christian meetings in Kenya’s northeastern and coastal areas and ordering primary schools in those regions to conduct daily madrassa classes promoting Islam.

The National Muslim Leaders Forum disputed the document’s authenticity. On Nov. 27, BBC News reported the Muslim leaders dismissed as propaganda the claim that they made a deal with the opposition political party to impose Sharia anywhere in Kenya.

Muslim leaders did not deny making a pact with the Orange Democratic Movement, but they insist it was intended to end discrimination against Muslims in Kenya.

Regardless of the exact nature of the agreement, division among Kenyan evangelicals in general—and Baptists in particular—enabled the Muslim minority with the power to broker a deal with a national political party, Kimuyu asserted.

“The church has failed its own people,” he said. “The church is split.”

On that point, Barkin and Kimuyu agreed, at least to some degree. Divisions within the churches of Kenya, who had sent representatives to serve as election observers in recent years and had helped keep the peace, contributed to the problems surrounding the December election, Barkin noted.

Kimuyu has lived in the United States more than two decades, earning degrees from Howard Payne University, Dallas Baptist University and the University of North Texas and launching several homes for home for children and youth.

Before moving to Texas, he served as pastor of Athi River First Baptist Church in Kenya, general secretary of the Baptist Convention of Kenya and vice president for the All-Africa Baptist Union.

When he ran for office, Kimuyu made the Micah Challenge a centerpiece of his platform. The Micah Challenge is a church-based campaign in developing nations of the Southern Hemisphere to achieve the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals—cutting global poverty in half by 2015, reducing child morality and fighting HIV/AIDS, malaria and other preventable diseases.

Kimuyu remains committed to those goals. And while he is concerned about the “loss of moral authority” by multiple parties both inside and outside Kenya, he wants to stay engaged in both political and religious reform in his homeland.

“I will be back,” he said.

Posted: 2/22/08

Gloer named to Garland Chair
of Preaching at Truett Seminary

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

WACO—Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary paid tribute to two faculty members simultaneously when Hulitt Gloer was installed as inaugural holder of the school’s David E. Garland Chair of Preaching—an endowed post named in honor of the seminary’s dean.

Garland joined the Truett faculty in 1997 after more than 20 years at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Garland, a New Testament scholar, serves as the William M. Hinson Professor of Scriptures and was named dean last year.

Gloer left the pastorate at First Baptist Church in Corpus Christi in 2000 to become professor of preaching and Christian Scripture at Truett Seminary. Previously, he served 13 years as a professor at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He also taught at North American Baptist Seminary and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Gloer earned his undergraduate degree from Baylor University, his master’s degree from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and his doctorate in New Testament studies from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

A $1 million gift by an anonymous donor—together with $500,000 from the Eula Mae and John Baugh family foundation and gifts from a half-dozen other donors—established the endowed chair of preaching at Truett Seminary in Garland’s honor.

Randall O’Brien, Baylor University’s executive vice president and provost, called the anonymous donor “our Theophilus,” referring to the individual to whom Luke addressed his Gospel and the New Testament book of Acts and whose name means “lover of God.”

While the donor’s name remained unknown, several characteristics of the person seemed apparent—the person loved God, possessed wealth and generously invested his or her riches in God’s work, he observed.

“Although we cannot serve God and mammon, we can serve God with mammon. My guess is that a camel just went through the eye of a needle,” O’Brien said.

In a sermon following the installation, Gloer challenged seminary students attending the chapel service to embrace their calling as ministers of reconciliation.

He pointed to Jesus’ healing of a demon-possessed man who lived among the tombs as a picture of what God did for humanity through Christ, and what Christ’s followers are commissioned to do.

“God in Christ reached into our world and picked up the pieces—broken, scattered, fragmented—and put them back together again,” he said.

Gloer presented the Amish community’s ministry to the family of the gunman who shot 10 children, killing five, in the West Nickel Mines School as a modern parable of reconciliation.

“The world was stunned, but the Amish understood the ministry of reconciliation,” he said. “The world could not understand and said they must have been crazy. They weren’t crazy. We are crazy. They were in their right minds—the mind God gave them, the mind of Christ.”

Posted: 2/22/08

Panhandle speakers encourage personal
evangelism, trust in God’s provision

By Teresa Young

Wayland Baptist University

PLAINVIEW—Obedience to God requires seeing people as God sees them, as well as trusting him to provide for needs. That was the advice two keynote speakers offered the 87th annual Panhandle-Plains Pastors’ and Laymen’s Conference at Wayland Baptist University in Plainview.

Supported by eight area Baptist associations, the conference featured Bible study by Wayland religion professors and special messages by Calvin Miller, Christian author and professor at the Beeson Divinity School at Samford University in Birmingham, Ala.

Sandy Maddox urges Baptists to see past the masses to individuals who need Jesus.

Others on the program included Sandy Maddox, inspirational speaker from Orlando, Fla., who also led the women’s lunch session, and Leighton Flowers, director of youth evangelism with the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Christian singer Blake Bolerjack presented a concert.

In his message, Miller read from 1 Kings: 21-22 about the downfall of King Ahab due to greed and selfishness. He referred to the passages about the prophet Elijah being fed by ravens and the widow during a hard time.

Miller told a parable of his own—the story of a televangelist who met his fall after planning to deceive a sick woman so her insurance policy would allow him to purchase a new jet plane.

“It is an irrational, absurd season. We are living in a selfish, egotistical day,” Miller said, noting that the same attitudes plague people now that existed in Ahab’s time. “We have the call of God on our lives, and we’re never going to get rich, at least in money, but I wonder if the ravens can really keep us alive.”

Miller’s message focused on the “irrational, wonderful providence of God,” which he said should be the sustenance for pastors and other laypersons when struggling with financial issues.

Calvin Miller, author and professor at the Beeson Divinity School at Samford University, speaks about the “irrational, wonderful” provision of God.

Relating a story from his own experience, when unexpectedly an anonymous donor provided a year’s tuition at Oklahoma Baptist University, Miller encouraged believers to trust in God for provision and let those answered prayers sustain them.

“We often look at how bad our life is, and though hard times hit we try to hang on, but the honesty is that the irrational providence of God can carry you a long way,” he said. “If you love God and trust him, he will give you the desires of your heart, as long as your desires are for him. He doesn’t care if you have things; he wants you to love his Son.”

Maddox drew from the Apostle Peter’s encounter with Jesus when Christ asked, “Who do men say that I am?”

She encouraged the conference participants to make a point of taking Jesus to people, one at a time.

“There is a world full of people out there beyond these walls who know something about who Jesus is but not everything,” she said. “The world is clamoring for our time and attention, and we often rush through our day and past the masses. We see the people, but we don’t see them at all. And they are hungry for us to tell them about Jesus.”

Maddox recounted a challenge her pastor had presented his congregation—to focus on faces in the masses as they pass by, even snapping photos on a camera to encourage close-up encounters with people.

The key, she said, is to focus on the face, and then focus on the heart and soul and take Jesus to the people.

“Too many times, we walk by people maybe every day, and they may just waiting for us to show them Jesus,” she said.

Posted: 2/22/08

New Baptist Covenant criticism
continues to come from both left & right

By Hannah Elliott

Associated Baptist Press

NEW YORK (ABP)—Although organizers hailed a recent Baptist gathering as a success, some critics have leveled a wide array of charges against the celebration of a New Baptist Covenant.

Critics of the event, held in Atlanta in late January and early February, include conservatives who continue to accuse it of having a thinly veiled liberal political agenda. But they also include moderates and liberals who say the gathering was not inclusive enough of ethnic and sexual minorities.

The Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant drew an estimated 15,000 Baptists to discuss working together despite denominational, ethnic, political and economic differences. Its headline organizers were the two living Baptists who have held the presidency—Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. Many observers praised the event as a momentous occasion that generated new unity, energy and focus for Baptists across North America.

But Carter’s and Clinton’s involvement in the event and the lack of official participation by the Southern Baptist Convention on a denominational level led many conservatives to criticize the celebration soon after it was announced in 2007. Although organizers made an effort to include prominent Baptist Republicans in the program, some conservatives have continued to criticize it.

Paul Proctor, in a column for the Nashville Tennessean, said the celebration achieved only an “image of unity,” which validated conservatives’ critique that liberals tend to promote “symbolism over substance.”

“As far as I’m concerned, outgoing SBC president Frank Page, who incidentally declined the invitation to attend, was right on calling the meeting a ‘smoke-screen left-wing liberal agenda,’” Proctor wrote.

“Carter can preach Christian unity all he wants, but he was the one who spurned the Southern Baptist Convention back in 2000. If anyone is guilty of promoting division among Baptists, it is the presidential peanut farmer from Georgia.”

More progressive Baptists also criticized the event for insufficiently displaying unity amid diversity.

Laura Cadena, a graduate of Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary and a member of Peachtree Baptist Church in Atlanta, said the meeting’s rhetoric of Baptist unity appealed to her, and she attended to observe it as well as see friends from her Texas seminary days. But, she added in an opinion column for EthicsDaily.com, the meeting proved to be a letdown when it came to representing all Baptist groups.

“I think that we could have done better, but it’s a beginning,” Cadena, 33, said. “I think that if the planning committee could have been more diverse—and by that I mean including more women, more young people, more Asian Baptists, maybe more Ghanaian Baptists—that would have been good.”

Cadena—a fifth-generation Texan of Hispanic background—also wondered why participants from her ethnic group were not better represented at the meeting. She asked whether there is “room in the family photo for Latino Baptists?”

“Where do we fit? Here in the South, Latinos are relatively new … there are not enough people that speak Spanish, there are not enough doctors that speak Spanish, there are not enough teachers that speak Spanish,” she said. “So what does a Hispanic church look like? I don’t know.”

Cadena said the meeting should have included specified time for networking between people from the same region or affinity group so that Latinos and other Baptists could have gotten to know each other better and exchange ideas about meeting needs in their community.

Todd Thomason, pastor of Baptist Temple Church in Alexandria, Va., wrote in a column submitted to Associated Baptist Press that he’s not convinced there is much new about the covenant celebrated at the meeting, especially when it comes to the issue of homosexuality.

Organizers decided not to allow the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists or the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America—two pro-gay groups—to participate in the event in an official manner, although they shared a booth in the exhibit hall.

The decision to exclude them, Thomason said, smacks of the “top-down exclusionary action” used by Southern Baptist leaders during the narrowing of the group’s policies in the last 20 years.

Champions of the New Baptist Covenant “cried foul when the leaders of the so-called ‘conservative resurgence’ seized the reins of power within the SBC and then circled the wagons, forcing out all who wouldn’t accept their narrow ideology or who dared to ask questions,” he wrote. “For these same Baptists to turn around now and disenfranchise other Baptists in much the same way (if not on the same scale) is the height of biblical hypocrisy.”

Covenant leaders like Leo Thorne, associate general secretary of American Baptist Churches USA, said the diversity of political opinion actually adds quality to the discussion.

“It doesn’t make any difference what decision you make or action you take, there are always people who use their freedoms to express disagreement,” Thorne said. “That’s rich. That’s energizing. That’s wonderful that we can have a diversity of opinions of issues. … If there are those who disagree, that is OK with me.”

Posted: 2/22/08

Endorsement prompts IRS
to investigate California pastor

By Robert Marus

Associated Baptist Press

WASHINGTON (ABP)—Outspoken California pastor and former Southern Baptist Convention officer Wiley Drake is being investigated by the Internal Revenue Service.

The candidate for the SBC presidency this year is under scrutiny for using his church letterhead and church-sponsored radio show last year to endorse Mike Huckabee.

Drake confirmed he recently received an IRS letter noting he was under investigation for using church resources to endorse Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, Southern Baptist minister and Republican presidential candidate. Federal tax law prevents churches and similarly organized non-profit groups from endorsing candidates or political parties.

Drake, pastor of the First Southern Baptist Church of Buena Park, Calif., made the endorsement last August. Americans United for Separation of Church & State filed a complaint with the IRS.

Drake referred reporters’ questions regarding the investigation to his attorney. Attorney Erik Stanley did not return a phone call for this story, but he told the Associated Press Drake did not violate federal tax law by endorsing Huckabee because it was a personal endorsement, not done on behalf of the church.

“Our position on this is that … churches and pastors have First Amendment rights just like anybody else, and that includes the right to speak out,” he said. “They can feel free to personally endorse candidates. It was not a church endorsement, and he made that very clear.”

Stanley is representing Drake on behalf of the Alliance Defense Fund. The group is a national network of attorneys who often offer legal defense of individuals and causes supported by the Religious Right.

In August, after Americans United announced their complaint, Drake told the Los Angeles Times that he wasn’t worried about federal tax regulators.

“They don't scare me,” he said. “I don't give a rip about the IRS. I don't believe in the separation of church and state, and I believe the IRS should stay out of church business.”

Posted: 2/22/08

San Antonio parenting education
program seeks to break cycle of abuse

By Haley Smith

Baptist Child & Family Services

SAN ANTONIO—Through its Precious Minds, New Connections program, Baptist Child & Family Services is trying to break the cycle of child abuse by offering specialized parent-training courses.

According to the Center for Public Policy Priorities, the number of confirmed victims of child abuse in Bexar County was 5,755 in 2006—and most abusers reportedly were parents or caregivers.

The Precious Minds, New Connections program is an annual $3.6 million initiative funded by the Kronkosky Charitable Foundation. It is carried out through annual grants to 26 organizations in the foundation’s four-county service area, which includes Bandera, Bexar, Comal and Kendall counties. The Baptist Child & Family Services program is the largest in both size and reach.

Fili Garcia

“Parenting education enables parents to understand early childhood development and develop realistic expectations for child behavior,” according to the Kronkosky Charitable Foundation. “All of this knowledge is known to lead to less likelihood that a child will be abused and his or her development neglected.”

A small number of participants are mandated to attend the classes by Child Protective Services. But most enter the classes due to Baptist Child & Family Services’ community outreach, said Megan Kromer, who directs the parenting education program for the foundation.

Baptist Child & Family Services provides eight-week parenting training classes with 17 sessions offered at any given time at select locations across Bexar County. Locations include churches, schools, Volunteers of America offices, closed emergency shelters for women and children and the Bexar County Detention Center. The courses include instruction about respecting the child, child development and the difference between punishment and discipline.

In cases where the classes are mandated by Child Protective Services, only well-behaved, non-violent offenders are permitted to attend.

“These classes are some of the hardest and most telling classes, because we can’t use props or offer any sort of incentive for attendance,” program director Ivette Martinez explained. “The material and the facilitator speak for themselves in that situation.”

Reaching more 800 parents in 2007, Baptist Child & Family surpassed its contracted expectation by 163. The agency expects to serve more than 1,000 parents in 2008. While the program specifically targets parents with children age 4 and younger, all parents are welcome to attend.

“We often have parents of teenagers attend, and they tell us that the material is just as relevant and beneficial to their family even then,” Martinez said.

Martinez credits the success of the program to the passion of the Baptist Child & Family Services staff—and to their incorporation of spiritual concepts into the curriculum.

Parent education facilitator Fili Garcia and her husband took the class on a voluntary basis more than a year ago. That led to her position as a contractor and now a part-time facilitator.

“Fili has a beautiful smile, which makes it easy to see her sincerity and genuine spirit right off the bat,” noted Martinez. “Her success in the job can be accredited to her personal experience and passion for the program.”

Garcia’s story of student-turned-teacher does not end with her. Many former graduates of the program, including class child care workers, express an interest in serving on the program’s staff due to their previous experience with the program. An initiative to incorporate volunteers as parent education facilitators is on the horizon.

“Not only does our staff work to make the program successful, but I believe our clients respond and appreciate the spiritual aspect we introduce into the class which contributes to our high level of graduates,” Martinez said. “We simply share with them God’s word in regards to raising a family.”

The staff wraps up the year with two events. An appreciation banquet recognizes the contributions of coordinators, teachers, directors and all who open their doors for the program. And an annual family event honors graduates with perfect attendance.

Posted: 2/22/08

Craig Turner to step down
as Hardin-Simmons president

ABILENE—Craig Turner, Hardin-Simmons University’s 14th president, will resign effective May 31, 2008, to become president of Catawba College, a private liberal arts school in Salisbury, N.C.

“The two most important words in this transition are the names Payton and Madeline—the names of my granddaughters,” Turner said. “This position is an opportunity to be near family, and that’s been the critical factor in this decision.”

Turner was inaugurated Sept. 11, 2001, during the attack on the World Trade Towers and Pentagon, and said he wanted the university to become “the best small Christian university in the Southwest.”

During his tenure, Hardin-Simmons exceeded or met his goals to increase endowment, establish an honors program, dedicate resources to community outreach, and improve spirit, pride and ownership of the University by all its constituents. Turner moved HSU into the Top Tier of peer universities.

Looking over his administration, Turner said working with the university family has been his most satisfying accomplishment.

“Just having the opportunity to work with people like the vice presidents, deans, directors, faculty, staff, students, alumni, donors—it’s been phenomenal,” he said. “That, by far, tops the chart in terms of accomplishments. We’re very proud of the endowment, and I was privileged to be a part of the beginning of the physical therapy program, the honors program, the leadership program—all great additions to the institution. But the things I’ll take away from Hardin-Simmons will be the relationships with the people.”

During almost seven years at the university’s helm, Turner’s achievements included:

• Endowment and similar funds grew from $72 million to $125 million. Only Baylor University among Texas Baptist schools has a larger endowment.

• Total enrollment reached record levels—2,435 this year—necessitating a move to managed growth as the university nears its enrollment cap and becomes more exclusive. Only 26% percent of students who apply to HSU were admitted this year versus 54 percent in 2004.

• Establishing the Honors Program and the Leland Honors Scholarships, fostering competition among the region’s top academic performers for admission to HSU.

• The Securing the Future development campaign reached its goal a year early—more than doubling previous efforts, with a total of $49.7 million in funds raised.

• The Skiles Building, Patty Hanks Shelton School of Nursing Building, the Alumni Wall, the Holland Health Sciences Building (a historic collaboration between a university and public school district to build a magnet school on a university campus), Linebery Boulevard, and the Linebery Clock Tower were completed. The Grape Street Athletic Complex is in the advanced phase of construction. As executive vice president, he was instrumental in the design and construction of the Connally Missions Center.

• Major renovations were completed to Caldwell Hall, Hunter Hall (converting the former lobby into the Dyess Welcome Center), Cowden-Paxton, Richardson Library, Sandefer Building, and the university heating and air conditioning plant. Other refinements include relighting the campus and the effluent water project.

• Established endowments for the Kelley College of Business, the Cynthia Ann Parker College of Liberal Arts, the Shelton-Lacewell Endowed Chair in Physical Therapy, the Dodge Jones Chair in Reading Disabilities and other endowed scholarships.

• Established Logsdon Seminary, including an extension campus at Wayland Baptist University; partnered with the Acton School of Business in Austin, a master of business administration program; secured reaccreditation for the university through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools; and accreditation for Logsdon Seminary through the Association of Theological Schools. Initiated quality enhancement initiative in ethics education for pre-professional degree programs, and laid the groundwork for doctor of ministry and a bachelor of fine arts degree programs.

Turner said he expects HSU trustees to move quickly to form a search committee to select his successor, and he be believes the university is well positioned for the next step in its history.

He lauded the university’s advancement under the tenures of his two predecessors, Jesse Fletcher and Lanny Hall.

“Dr. Hall built on what Dr. Fletcher did, I’ve had an opportunity to build on what Dr. Hall did, and that’s been a great stair-step progression to watch as the institution continues to grow and advance,” he said. “There are some opportunities to grow some doctoral programs, for example in the School of Theology and perhaps a Doctor of Psychology, plus there are opportunities to work with health care—the sciences are looking for an undergraduate degree in health sciences that would help prepare people for a number of health sciences careers.

“I think the addition of the track and field program will bring some new students in and I think the oil boom will make our endowment grow, so the opportunities are very real and significant for the next step.”

Turner noted he sees significant challenges at Catawba, “Their endowment is in need of strengthening, and that’s something I know something about,” he explained. “I also think they need to look at some new programs. They are in the heart of the financial center of that part of the country, and they don’t have a finance major at the college. That’s something I can look at from the outside and say ‘gee whiz’ with all the opportunities, this is something you need to look at.”

Turner joined Hardin-Simmons’ administration and faculty in 1992 and served as vice president for academic affairs from 1992 to 1996. He then became executive vice president and chief academic officer until becoming chief operating officer in June 2000. Turner served as executive vice president and chief operating officer at HSU for a year before becoming the 14th president.

Turner predicted the presidential succession will be virtually transparent to the Hardin-Simmons family.

“HSU has a great board of trustees,” he said. “They will be concerned that the institution continues moving in the direction it has been moving, and I’m sure they will look for a president who wants to continue the same kinds of growth, programs and successes that we’ve had—probably a different vision, but the same general directions.

“The administrative council (the vice presidents) are all veterans committed to what they are doing. They love Hardin-Simmons, and they work extremely well together, so the day-to-day operations of the university are not going to change a bit—not even a small speed bump of change.

“One thing the HSU family has to look forward to is that rejuvenation process that happens when new blood comes in. Someone else may bring in a little more energy and some fresh ideas, and we should welcome that. I know the HSU family will be supportive of the next person because they’ve been tremendously supportive of me—and I can’t thank them enough.”

Looking to the future, Turner said: “I can offer nothing but thanks and best wishes, and I can promise that my prayers and support will continue here. Annette (his wife) and I are leaving behind three endowed scholarships that we will continue to contribute to, because we very much believe in Hardin-Simmons and what it stands for. My time here has been so pleasant because of the support and encouragement the HSU family has given me, and I can only hope that I get a percentage of that at Catawba.”